Saturday (25-July-2020) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Lots of Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies out today. They were only interested in the Thistle blooms. The Clearwing Hummingbird moths were less selective working the Lemon Mint/Bee Balm/Bergamot flowers. Surprisingly, one was feeding on a Black-eyed Susan. Images taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens.

IF YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO VIEW THE FOLLOWING SLIDE-SHOWS, TRY A DIFFERENT BROWSER — AND LET ME KNOW.


Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly captured with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Clearwing Hummingbird Moth (Hemaris thysbe). Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clearwing Hummingbird Moth (Hemaris thysbe). Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (DAVID J MATHRE)


Clearwing Hummingbird Moths (Hemaris thysbe) feeding on Thistle flowers. Images captured with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Clearwing Hummingbird Moths (Hemaris thysbe) feeding on Lemon Mint/Bee Balm/Bergamot flowers. Images captured with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Morning at the Birdfeeders: Gray Catbird, House Finch, Black-capped Chickadee, Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, Tufted Titmouse, Brown-headed Cowbird, American Goldfinch, Carolina Wren, and Brown Thrasher

Afternoon at the Birdfeeders: Gray Catbird, House Finch, Black-capped Chickadee, Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, Tufted Titmouse, Chipping Sparrow, Brown-headed Cowbird, American Goldfinch, Carolina Wren, Song Sparrow, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and Brown Thrasher.

Daily Electric Energy Used (64.7 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (77.1 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sunny and hot all day. A surplus of 12.4 kWh. As long as the sun is out most of the day, the Geothermal HVAC system keeps the house cool without needed additional electricity from PSE&G.

Friday (24-July-2020) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Early morning thunderstorm, with lots of rain (1.50″). The pond is full, but muddy. It was foggy out early in the morning adding atmosphere to some of the images. The rain brought a bit more life out of the Lemon-Mint, Bee-Balm, and Bergamot — but the butterflies and clearwing moths are preferring the Thistle flowers. In one set of butterfly images, an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail is being chased by a Yellow-jacket Wasp. Morning images are with a Nikon D5 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens.

IF YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO VIEW THE FOLLOWING SLIDE-SHOWS, TRY A DIFFERENT BROWSER — AND LET ME KNOW.


Clearwing Hummingbird Moths (Hemaris thysbe) captured with a Nikon D5 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Clearwing Hummingbird Moths (Hemaris thysbe) captured with a Nikon D5 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Clearwing Hummingbird Moths (Hemaris thysbe) captured with a Nikon D5 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Clearwing Hummingbird Moths (Hemaris thysbe) captured with a Nikon D5 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly being chased by a Yellow-jacket Wasp. captured with a Nikon D5 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Afternoon images are with a Leica SL2 camera and 90-280 mm f/4 lens. They include Clearwing Hummingbird moth and both the common Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly and the Dark morph Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly. This camera sometimes is slow in focusing on close subject, but once it locks onto the subject does a great job keeping focus on the rapidly moving Clearwing Hummingbird moth.


Clearwing Hummingbird Moths (Hemaris thysbe) captured with a Leica SL2 camera and 90-280 mm f/4 lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Clearwing Hummingbird Moths (Hemaris thysbe) captured with a Leica SL2 camera and 90-280 mm f/4 lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Clearwing Hummingbird Moths (Hemaris thysbe) captured with a Leica SL2 camera and 90-280 mm f/4 lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Clearwing Hummingbird Moths (Hemaris thysbe) captured with a Leica SL2 camera and 90-280 mm f/4 lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly captured with a Leica SL2 camera and 90-280 mm f/4 lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Dark Morph Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly captured with a Leica SL2 camera and 90-280 mm f/4 lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Birds of the Day: American Black Vulture and American Goldfinch captured with a Leica SL2 camera and 90-280 mm f/4 lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Morning at the Birdfeeders: Gray Catbird, House Finch, Black-capped Chickadee, Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, Tufted Titmouse, Chipping Sparrow, Brown-headed Cowbird, Mourning Dove, American Goldfinch, American Crow, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and Song Sparrow.

Afternoon at the Birdfeeders: Gray Catbird, House Finch, Black-capped Chickadee, Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, Tufted Titmouse, Brown-headed Cowbird, Hairy Woodpecker, American Goldfinch.

Daily Electric Energy Used (57.3 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (35.8 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Cloudy all day. A deficit of 21.5 kWh.

Thursday (23-July-2020) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Wildflowers of the day: Cosmos, Teazel, and Larkspur.


Wildflowers of the day. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Butterfly of the day: Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly.


Butterfly of the day: Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Moth of the day: Clearwing Hummingbird Moth. The Lemon-Mint/Bee-Balm are starting to dry up, and the Clearwing Hummingbird moths now favor the Thistle flowers. I know some folks consider Thistle weeds because of the spines, but I still like them because they do attract butterflies, moths, and bees. Also, deer hate them.


Clearwing Hummingbird Moths (Hemaris thysbe) captured with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Birds of the Morning: Gray Catbird, House Finch, Black-capped Chickadee, Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, Tufted Titmouse, Chipping Sparrow, Brown-headed Cowbird, Mourning Dove, Downy Woodpecker, American Goldfinch, American Crow, Carolina Wren, and Song Sparrow.

Birds of the Afternoon: Gray Catbird, House Finch, Black-capped Chickadee, Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, Tufted Titmouse, Chipping Sparrow, Brown-headed Cowbird, Mourning Dove, Downy Woodpecker, American Goldfinch, American Crow, Carolina Wren, and Song Sparrow.

Daily Electric Energy Used (59.5 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (48.6 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Rain, clouds, then more rain. A deficit of 10.9 kWh.

Wednesday (15-July-2020) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day: Gray Catbird, Northern Cardinal, American Crow, Tufted Titmouse, and House Finch.


Birds of the Day. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Wildflowers of the Day: Pink Poppy, Red Poppy, and Teazel


Wildflowers of the Day. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Butterflies of the Day: Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Monarch, and Silver-spotted Skipper.


Butterflies of the Day. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

There definitely are two types of Clearwing moths were present. They prefer pink to purple flowers (Bee-Balm, Lemon-Mint, Bergamot, Larkspur, Delphinium). The Clearwing Hummingbird moth (Hemaris thysbe) is larger, and has light-colored front legs. The Clearwing Snowberry moth (Hemaris diffinis) is smaller, and has dark/black colored front legs. I am trying different camera lens combinations to see which is the best to capture images of these moths.


Clearwing Hummingbird Moths (Hemaris thysbe) captured with a Nikon D4 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Clearwing Hummingbird Moths (Hemaris thysbe) captured with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Clearwing Hummingbird Moths (Hemaris thysbe) captured with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Clearwing Snowberry Moths (Hemaris diffinis) captured with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens. Individual images from this slide show can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

NOTE: IF YOU ARE HAVING PROBLEMS VIEWING THE SLIDE SHOWS PLEASE TRY A DIFFERENT BROWSER AND LET ME KNOW WHICH BROWSER YOU ARE USING. THANKS!!!

Daily Electric Energy Used (54.6 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (72.0 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sun and more clouds. A surplus of 17.4 kWh.

Monday (13-July-2020) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

The first day this summer that I observed Monarch and Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies in one of the backyard wildflower meadows. They are attracted to and feeding on Thistle and Bee Balm (Lemon-Mint, Bergamot) flowers. I also observed my first Clearwing Hummingbird (Hemaris thysbe) moth of the year.

Monarch Butterfly on a Thistle flower. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Monarch Butterfly on a Thistle flower. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Monarch Butterfly on a Thistle flower. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Monarch Butterfly on a Thistle flower. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

NOTE: IF YOU ARE HAVING PROBLEMS VIEWING THE FOLLOWING SLIDE SHOWS PLEASE TRY A DIFFERENT BROWSER AND LET ME KNOW WHICH BROWSER YOU ARE USING. THANKS!!!


Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly. Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Clearwing Hummingbird (Hemaris thysbe) Moth. Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Clearwing Hummingbird (Hemaris thysbe) Moth. Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Clearwing Hummingbird (Hemaris thysbe) Moth. Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Clearwing Hummingbird (Hemaris thysbe) Moth. Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (54.6 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (80.2 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Much more sun and a few clouds. A surplus of 25.68 kWh.


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