Wednesday (02-June-2021) — New Jersey

Springtime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Lot of images today. Birds, Frogs, Snakes, Insects, and Flowers. The Brood X Cicadas are everywhere and continue singing their love song.

Birds viewed in the backyard and near the patio birdfeeder: American Robin, House Finch. The American Robin was feeding on a Cicada.


Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Kermit the Bullfrog and all of his relatives in the pond are getting fat fast this spring. Presumably out feeding on the Cicadas.


Bullfrogs in the pond. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

While working on the back wildflower meadow, I turned over some cardboard and found this Garter Snake.


Garter Snake. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Insects/bugs observed during the day include Cicada (Brood X), Dragonfly, Damselfly, Grasshopper, Cabbage White Butterfly, Water-walker, and tick(?).


Insects and other bugs. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Spring flowers blooming: Love-in-a-Mist, Red Poppy, California Poppy, Sweet Alyssum, Rhododendron, Baby Blue Eyes, Sweet William, Daisy, Blue-eyed Grass, Beardtongue Foxglove, Siberian Wallflower, Evening Primrose, Clematis, Honeysuckle, and Poison Ivy. The Poison Ivy flowers were on a giant 3 inch diameter vine climbing on a dead tree.


Love-in-a-Mist. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Red Poppy. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


California Poppy. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Spring Flowers. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Poison Ivy Vine and Flowers. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (51.7 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (56.2 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sun and clouds. A surplus of 4.5 kWh.

Tuesday (27-August-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

While harvesting some carrots from my Grow Tower garden several very large grasshoppers jumped out. This one is almost 2 inches long.

Spur-throated Grasshopper. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Spur-throated Grasshopper. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Spur-throated Grasshopper. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Spur-throated Grasshopper. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Spur-throated Grasshopper. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 250 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Spur-throated Grasshopper. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 250 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Spur-throated Grasshopper. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Spur-throated Grasshopper. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (39.2 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (42.9 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Still cool outside but more clouds for a net surplus of 3.7 kWh.

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Wednesday (10-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Walkabout around the house to view the flowers and wildflower gardens. New Poppy flowers are still showing up. More and more sunflowers are appearing. A new small butterfly showed up in one of the rear wildflower meadows. It appears to be a Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos) Butterfly. I am also starting to see more grasshoppers munching on my flowers.


Pink Poppy Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens + 2.0 TC-E (DAVID J MATHRE)
Pink Poppy Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens + 2.0 TC-E (DAVID J MATHRE)
Pink Poppy Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens + 2.0 TC-E (DAVID J MATHRE)
Pink Poppy Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens + 2.0 TC-E (DAVID J MATHRE)
Pink Poppy Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens + 2.0 TC-E (DAVID J MATHRE)
Pink Poppy Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens + 2.0 TC-E (DAVID J MATHRE)
Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos) Butterfly. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos) Butterfly. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos) Butterfly. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos) Butterfly. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Grasshopper Feeding on a Yellow Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens + 2.0III TC-E (DAVID J MATHRE)
Grasshopper Feeding on a Yellow Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens + 2.0III TC-E (DAVID J MATHRE)
Grasshopper Feeding on a Yellow Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens + 2.0III TC-E (DAVID J MATHRE)
Grasshopper Feeding on a Yellow Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens + 2.0III TC-E (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Power Use (62.0 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (76.7 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Lots of sun today, so the solar panels generated more power that I used. Usage was up ~ 4 kWh since I did a load of laundry.

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Friday (07-June-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

I know, it has been a while. I’ve been dealing with Server Upgrades (running out of space to store my images), Lightroom Catalog Upgrades (needed to increase the size of the catalog images to match my new computer and monitor), home renovation, patio garden, and yard work. I am about caught up. I was taking pictures every day, which I will be posting. The wildflower gardens are starting to bloom. Lots of Red Poppy and Cosmos flowers. New flowers this year are Blue Spiderwort and a White Allium. I am starting to harvest Strawberries from the Grow Towers. Today’s bird pictures are a Female Cowbird. The Cowbirds have been laying their eggs in the Robins nests.

Tiny Green Grasshopper on a Daisy. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Tiny Green Grasshopper on a Daisy. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (DAVID J MATHRE)





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


Daily Power Use (est 56 kWh) and Solar Production (64.95 kWh) from Sense. The power use is an estimate since there have been a number of data dropouts beginning about noon. I am waiting on a response from Sense regarding the problem.
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