Tag: Goldfinch

Friday (02-August-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. Today with a Nikon D5 camera and 200-500 mm f/4 VR lens. Lots of activity in the wildflower meadows. The Goldfinch are busy chowing down on Sunflower Seeds. Right now there are lots and lots of Sunflowers — different sizes and colors. A small pink wildflower, a Bee Balm flower, and some Blue Larkspur flowers. There were a couple of Bumble bees and a tiny green bee on a Thistle flower. There were more butterflies than I could count. Skippers, Monarchs, and Swallowtails. I need to be careful with the identification of the Swallowtails. There were two sizes of the Tiger Swallowtails, and some of the Black Swallowtails may actually be dark variants of female Tiger Swallowtails.


Goldfinch Eating Sunflower Seeds. Click on the Above image to access the images in the slideshow in my Photoshelter Gallery.



Flowers. Click on the Above image to access the images in the slideshow in my Photoshelter Gallery.



Skipper Butterflies. Click on the Above image to access the images in the slideshow in my Photoshelter Gallery.



Monarch Butterflies. Click on the Above image to access the images in the slideshow in my Photoshelter Gallery.



Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies. Click on the Above image to access the images in the slideshow in my Photoshelter Gallery.


Daily Electric Energy Used (51.8 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (61.4 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Net Surplus 9.6 kWh.

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Thursday (01-August-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

From the three underused cameras yesterday, I narrowed it down to one — Leica CL with a 55-135 mm zoom lens. More Sunflower, Butterfly, and Snowberry Clearwing Moths. I also captured some images of a Goldfinch feeding on a Sunflower. The Goldfinch have graduated from the Cornflowers to something with larger seeds. My favoriate image of the day is the first one shown — two Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies, one in focus and the other out of focus.

Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 55-135 mm lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Two Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 55-135 mm lens (ISO 100, 135 mm, f/8, 1/400 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)


Sunflowers. Click on the above image to access the individual images from the slideshow at my Photoshelter Gallery.



Tiger Swallowtail, Common Buckeye, and Silver-spotted Skipper Butterflies. Click on the above image to access the individual images from the slideshow at my Photoshelter Gallery.



Snowberry Clearwing (Hummingbird) Moth. Click on the above image to access the individual images from the slideshow at my Photoshelter Gallery.



Goldfinch feeding on Sunflower seeds. Click on the above image to access the individual images from the slideshow at my Photoshelter Gallery.


Daily Electric Energy Used (est. 52 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (64.8 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. The amount used is an estimate because of some technical problems with the Sense monitor. Not as cloudy so solar energy production was up 24 kWh for an estimated net surplus of 13 kWh.

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Saturday (13-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. The new butterfly for the day is a Horace’s Duskywing Butterfly (Erynnis horatius) feeding on a Coreopsis Flower. Many images, and a time-lapse video of the Goldfinch feeding on a Cornflower. There were two Tiger Swallowtail butterflies in one of the back wildflower meadows where the miniature Zinnia flowers are starting to bloom. A Clearwing Hummingbird moth stopped by to feed on Pink Cosmos flowers. It likes pink. Many images, and a time-lapse video of the Hummingbird moth.

Horace's Duskywing Butterfly (Erynnis horatius) feeding on a Coreopsis Flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (David J Mathre)
Horace’s Duskywing Butterfly (Erynnis horatius) feeding on a Coreopsis Flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS 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.



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 (61.5 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (78.68 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. More sun today, but did a load of laundry and ran the dishwasher. Still generated more power that I’m using.

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Friday (12-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. American Goldfinch, Kermit the Bullfrog near the pond, Black Swallowtail Butterfly and Caterpillar. The Black Swallowtail caterpillars really like Dill plants on my Grow Tower. I harvested and froze the dill I wanted for the year so the Black Swallowtails can have the rest.

American Goldfinch. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
American Goldfinch. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Kermit the Bullfrog. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Kermit the Bullfrog. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 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.


Daily Power Use (54.8 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (74.17 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. More sun today, so more than doubled the amount of power generated than yesterday. Even though it was warmer out the Geothermal HVAC was able to keep up, and still send some energy back into the grid.

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Sunday (30-June-2019) — New Jersey

Last Day of June. Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

It hasn’t rained for several days, and is quite warm out. The wildflower meadows are filling in nicely with lots of new flowers. A band of American Goldfinch moved in and started eating the Cornflowers (Bachelor Buttons). Several Sunflowers have opened up. I now have one sunflower plant that is nearly up to my roof.

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






Daily Power Use (51.8 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (72.14 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Power use is up since I did laundry, two loads of dishes and the Geothermal A/C was running. Since it is both the end of the week, and month I’ve also included additional power & solar graphs.

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