Fawn - David Mathre Photography

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)

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 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.

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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Friday (20-July-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Day and Nighttime Nature in New Jersey.

While moving some of the wood being used build the stairway to my patio, I noticed some holes in the ground with a relatively large cicada larva. It had spent the last 13 or 17 years in the ground, and is waiting for a rain storm before crawling to the nearest tree. There it will crawl up and got through the final metamorphosis to the insect phase. We can expect the loud noise of the cicada in the near future as they look for a mate.

Cicada Larva just out of the ground. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Later in the afternoon, I saw a scruffy Cardinal at the bird feeder. Probably an immature bird just getting its adult red colored feathers. There were a large number of deer in the backyard. At least four fawns with spots, four or more doe’s, and one buck with its new antlers.

After dark, I could see both the waxing gibbous moon and mars peaking in and out of the clouds. I couldn’t get both in the field of view with a Nikon D4 camera and 600 mm lens. Switching to a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm lens I was just barely able to get both in the same image. The image of the moon was sharper with the Nikon D850 camera since it was shot with the mirror up, silent mode. With the exposure being used, Mars was just barely visible as a disk.

Waxing Gibbous Moon. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 600 mm f/4 VRII telephoto lens (ISO 100, 600 mm, f/11, 1/100 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Waxing Gibbous Moon and Mars (tiny disk near the bottom of the image). Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VRII telephoto lens (ISO 64, 500 mm, f/11, 1/125 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Waxing Gibbous Moon. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VRII telephoto lens (ISO 64, 500 mm, f/11, 1/125 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Mars. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 500 mm f/4 VRII telephoto lens (ISO 64, 500 mm, f/11, 1/125 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Saturday (23-June-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Early Summertime in New Jersey.

There were three young fawns with spots in my backyard. Two of the fawns were very rambunctious running after each other as their mothers stayed still and watched. The new bird for the day at the bird feeder was a Hairy Woodpecker. A variety of Lily flowers have been blooming in my neighbor’s yard. The ones I planted last year didn’t make it being taken over by the “mile-a-minute” vine. Individual images from the slide-shows can be viewed here.

One-Year Ago (12-August-2016) — New Jersey.

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Ever Wonder How a Deer Scratches its Ear? Then the Doe stuck her tongue out in response to me taking pictures of her fawn. Images taken through my screened kitchen window with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens.

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

Five-Years Ago (24-August-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Pair of Fawns Resting in the Shade to Escape the Heat. Backyard summer nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D700 camera and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 800, 300 mm, f/5.6. 1/40 sec).

Pair of Fawns Resting in the Shade Image taken with a Nikon D700 camera and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 800, 300 mm, f/5.6. 1/40 sec). (David J Mathre) — Pair of Fawns Resting in the Shade. Image taken with a Nikon D700 camera and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 800, 300 mm, f/5.6. 1/40 sec). (David J Mathre)