Birds (Blue Jay, Mourning Dove, Northern Cardinal, American Goldfinch, Red-Bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-breasted Nuthatch, Tufted Titmouse) and Squirrels feeding on my patio. The squirrels have stayed off the bird feeder ever since I gave them last years crop of black walnuts. They carry the walnuts off to be buried as part of their winter food cache. Later in the evening, I got an image of the frozen bird bath. The pump was not able to maintain the fountain, but the underwater LED lights were still on.
Individual images from the slide show can be viewed here.
Frozen Fountain. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens + 1.4x TC (David J Mathre)
Even though it was raining, there was a lot of activity at the bird feeders. Blue Jays, Northern Cardinals, Tufted Titmouse, American Goldfinch, and new for me a Marsh Wren. The squirrels stayed off the bird feeder — I don’t know if that means the electric shock worked.
Individual images in the slide shows can be viewed here.
A pair of wary deer, various birds at the bird feeder, and adding worms to the composting tube in the Garden Tower. It is finally warm enough to start planting seedlings in the Garden Tower.
Pair of Wary Deer. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (David J Mathre)
Small birds at and on the ground below the bird feeder. A number of seeds had been dumped on the ground during the wind storm the other night. Some birds only feed at the feeder, others only on the ground, and some work both locations. In today’s set, House Finch, Goldfinch, Dark-eyed Junco, and Mourning Pigeon. As it started getting dark, the deer came through so I had to up the ISO for the images.
Summertime Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve.
American Goldfinch Really Like Thistle Seeds. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/7, 1/800 sec).
Goldfinch Eating Thistle Seeds. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/7.1, 1/800 sec). (David J Mathre)
It was too hot Wednesday when I did my walkabout through the Sourland Mountain Preserve. I didn’t try it yesterday, but gave it a short try today as I am still recovering from Lyme disease. I told myself that I wouldn’t stay out more than an hour, but ended up spending almost two hours. I have three goals at this time of the year: 1) Monarch Butterflies, 2) Hummingbird Clearwing Hummingbird Moths, and 3) Praying Mantis. Bonus points for Praying Mantis with prey. I got all three plus a couple of bonus images I wasn’t expecting today. I ended up spending nearly two hours out on my walkabout and was really overheated when I got home. A short list of images I took : 1) Turtle; 2) Fritillary butterfly; 3) Hummingbird Clearwing moth; 4) Praying Mantis; 5) Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly mating; 6) Monarch butterfly; 7) Praying Mantis with a Tiger Swallowtail for lunch; 8) American Goldfinch; 9) Frog in the pond; and 10:) American Bittern. I ended up spending two hour in the Sourland Preserve, and was exhausted after getting home. It was way too hot.
Question for those that actually read this far. Should I only do single image in a post, or are albums/collections OK? If albums/collections are OK, only 4 images (so all will be seen, and users understand how to see the image in full screen mode) or as many images as I feel are good? Is it OK when I post images from this day of the year (going back 10 years)? Should they be as processed when first posted, or reprocessed using current photo editing tools (or both)? Is it OK when I post time-lapsed videos? It doesn’t seem like anyone views the time-lapse videos.
Both my “Image of the day” photo blog https://david.mathre.com
and my photo gallery http://davidmathre.com need significant updates and/or redesign. I am interested in comments about what does and doesn’t work as I start on a redesign project.
