Tag: Deer

Wednesday (17-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. My back hurts and it is really hot and humid outside. I only went out for a short time with a much lighter kit — Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens. Bumble Bees, Butterflies (Skippers? and Monarch), and of course the Hummingbird Clearwing Moth. In addition to the Zinnia flowers, one Hummingbird Clearwing spent some time feeding on Larkspur (Delphinium) flowers. Later in the evening, before it started raining a small herd of deer passed through the backyard. I captured these images with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 200 mm f/2 OIS lens with a 1.4x teleconverter. There were only three fawns (used to be four), and one of the fawns has some open sores on its face. Three wary does stayed nearby. They were all being harassed by flies.

Bumble Bee. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Bumble Bee. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Bumble Bee. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Bumble Bee. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)


Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.


Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe) feeding on Larkspur Flowers. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe) feeding on Larkspur Flowers. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe) feeding on a Zinnia Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe) feeding on a Zinnia Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)


Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.


Daily Power Use (67.9 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (71.8 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. More clouds as the day progressed with the outdoor temperatures increasing, but still generated about 3 kWh more power that I used. The GeoThermal HVAC heat pump needed to run at full capacity (stage 2) part of the afternoon just to keep up with cooling the house. It will be interesting to see how the GeoThermal system does Friday to Sunday as the outside temperatures will be approaching 100 °F (38 °C).


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Thursday (04-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

For the Fourth of July, I did my walkabout with a Nikon D850 camera and a different macro lens. This time an older Nikon 105 mm f/2.8 VR lens (some of the time with a TC-E III 2x teleconverter). During the night a racoon knocked down a sunflower plant while trying to climb up the birdfeeder. I was specifically looking for insects that are attracted to the flowers and wildflowers. The larger bumblebees like the Cosmos flowers. The Poppies attract honey bees and hoverflies. The hoverflies also like the Chicory. Lots of Poppy images. The other flowers and wildflowers include: Red allium, Black-eyed Susan, Blue Flax, Chicory, Coreopsis, Cornflower, Cosmos, Godetia, Larkspur, Leopard’s bane, Love-in-a-mist, Phlox, Siberian Wallflower, Sunflower, and Zinnia. While out stalking the flowers and insects, I also got images of a young fawn just outside the electric fence and a neighborhood cat.


Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.


Neighborhood Cat -- was hunting songbirds under the birdfeeder until I came out with the camera. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Neighborhood Cat — was hunting songbirds under the birdfeeder until I came out with the camera. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Power Use (56.5 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (81.8 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. The sun was out most of the day, so I generated more power than the geothermal HVAC system needed to keep the house cool.

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Wednesday (03-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Another hot summer day. Red-bellied Woodpecker at the bird feeder. It likes the sunflower seeds, and is aggressive enough to keep the Blue Jay and Cardinal away. A doe walked by covered with black flies. Some wide views of the wildflower gardens and meadows. Then closeup, macro images of the flowers and wildflowers: Red allium, Black-eyed Susan, Coreopsis, Cornflower, Cosmos, Creeping Daisy, Five spots, Forget-me-not, Godetia, Italian clover, Larkspur, Leopard’s bane, Love-in-a-mist, Phlox, Poppy, Sunflower, Yucca, Zinnia, and several I have not identified. Since it is hotter on the patio where I have my garden towers, the hot peppers are already turning red.

Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.


Hot Peppers. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Hot Peppers. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Hot Peppers. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Hot Peppers. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Power Use (61.6 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (55.4 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. The outside temperatures were high, so the geothermal HVAC system was working hard and I ended up using more energy that the solar panels could produce. You can see in the graph that there were clouds that reduced the solar energy production.

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Tuesday (02-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

There were seven deer in the back section. Two does, four fawns, and a buck. Looks like each of the does had twins. They are staying outside of the electric fenced wildflower meadows (fingers crossed…). Images taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens from my back patio. Click on the following image to access all of the images in the slideshow.


Daily Power Use (54.9 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (66.5 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. The outside temperatures were high, so the geothermal HVAC system was working hard.

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Monday (01-July-2019) — New Jersey

First Day of July. Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

More wildflowers than what I know what to do with. THe deer are staying out of the electric fenced in wildflower meadows. They will nibble on any of the plants that grow out of the area. The Goldfinch love eating the Bachelor Buttons (Cornflowers). Also, lots of insects are attracted to the wildflowers. Some of the flowers include allium, baby’s breath, baby blue eyes, bachelor button (cornflower), black-eyed susan (coneflower), cosmos, coreopsis (calliopsis, tickseed), leopard bane, morning glory, poppy, siberian wallflower, sunflower, yucca, zinnia — and others that I haven’t identified.

Doe Outside the Electric Fence. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Doe Outside the Electric Fence. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)


Cosmos. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Cosmos. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)














Daily Power Use (50.1 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (87.6 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. You can see from the power graph, that there were very few clouds and this is about the maximum amount of solar power that my system can generate.

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