Monarch Butterfly - David Mathre Photography

Friday (19-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. My back still hurts and it continues to be hot and humid outside. The high was 93 °F with a heat index of 113 °F according to my personal weather station. I was only out for a short time, but still was able to capture images of Painted Lady, Tiger Swallowtail, and Monarch butterflies. Today only one type of Clearwing moths — the Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe). I saw a large hoverfly on a Sunflower. The hoverflies look like bees. There were also many Bumblebees working the flowers.

Painted Lady butterfly on a Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 VR lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

Swallowtail Butterflies. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Monarch butterfly on a Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 VR lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe). Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Hoverfly on a Sunflower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 VR lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

Hoverfly on a leaf. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 VR lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

Bumble Bee on a Cosmos Flower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 VR lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Power Use (72.5 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (71.5 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Sunny, hot, and humid outside which kept the GeoThermal HVAC system busy (28 kWh). I also did a load of laundry (3.7 kWh) and dishes (~2.5 kWh). Still the Solar Panels almost kept up with only a 1 kWh deficit for the day.

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Thursday (18-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. My back still hurts and it continues to be hot and humid outside. I only went out for a short time with an even lighter kit than yesterday — Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens. Tiger and Spicebush Swallowtail, Monarch, and Skipper (?) butterflies. Two types of Clearwing Moths — Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) and Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis). The deer were out later in the afternoon before the heavy thunderstorm (2.24″, 57 mm)

Swallowtail Butterflies. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Monarch Butterfly. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Skipper (?) Butterfly. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe). Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis). 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 (53.4 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (34.3 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Cloudy most of the day progressing to heavy rain in the afternoon. So I ended up using 19 kWh more energy that the solar panels could produce.

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Tuesday (16-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. The wildflower meadows I planted spring are now in bloom and attracting lots and lots of bee, bumblebees, butterflies, hummingbird clearwing moths, and birds. Each attracted to different types, and even colors of flowers. Today I went out with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens with a 2.0 TC-E III teleconverter (effective 600 mm f/5.6). Not quite as heavy as the 600 mm f/4, but still heavy. Rather than just hand-holding, I used a mono-pod to help stabilize the setup. I was looking to get higher resolution images. Even in bright sunlight, it was slow to focus (lots of hunting). The new butterfly for the day is some type of Skipper. The Monarch butterflies prefer the red and pink Zinnia flowers (and an Orange Marigold). The Hummingbird Clearwing moths prefer the pink Zinnia flowers. Before there were as many Zinnias, they were also attracted to the pink Cosmos flowers (now ignored).

Skipper? butterfly feeding on a Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens + 2.0 TC-EIII teleconverter (DAVID J MATHRE)

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

Daily Power Use (56.8 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (81.5 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Lots of sun but it is getting warmer outside keeping the Geothermal HVAC busy. Still generated 25 kWh more power that I used for the day. Rain predicted for tomorrow (needed in the wildflower meadow) and even hotter for the weekend.

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Friday (12-October-2018) — New Jersey

Home Renovation Project: Back Patio.

The remnants of Hurricane Michael blew through last night with about 0.45 inches (11 mm) of rain. The temperature dropped to the mid 60’s, and this morning the sky was clear with a bright sun. Today may be the first day this month that my solar panels generate more electricity that I use. Alan and Lincoln installed the railings for the rear door landing to the patio. Still more to do, but the project is getting a lot closer to being complete. While they were working on the railings I mowed the lawn, and got some pictures of a Monarch Butterfly in my Zinnia patch.

Garmin VIRB-360 Time-Lapse Video (360 degree panorama, little planet, tunnel view) 720p 24p.

Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed here.

Eleven-Years Ago (08-October-2007) — New Jersey

Autumn Nature in New Jersey.

Monarch Butterfly. Eleven-years ago while driving home from work I saw purple wild flowers on the side of the road at an abandoned golf course in Hillsborough. I pulled over to see if there was a picture. The purple wildflowers attracted dozens of Monarch butterflies providing more colors. I took this image with my favorite 80-400 mm telephoto zoom lens. The hard part was working at the minimum focus distance for the lens (~ 7 feet). I needed to keep stepping back to get the image in focus. One more reason I always have a camera with me.

Every year after that I would check the place at the same time of the year, but never saw as many wildflowers or Monarch Butterflies. The last several years the place became a construction site for a highway bypass and interchange. Now that the construction is complete and the bypass open, it looks like wildflowers may come back. We will see if the Monarch Butterflies come back in the future.

Monarch Butterfly. Late Fall Nature in Central New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)

Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed here.