Saturday (07-October-2017) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Nature in New Jersey

For the last few days, I have been seeing Monarch Butterflies in my wildflower garden/meadow. They seem to like the marigold flowers. I don’t have any milkweed left (too late in the season).

Monarch Butterfly on a Marigold Flower. Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS telephoto zoom lens (ISO 12800, 400 mm, f/13, 1/1800 sec). (David J Mathre)
Monarch Butterfly on a Marigold Flower. Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS telephoto zoom lens (ISO 12800, 400 mm, f/13, 1/1800 sec). (David J Mathre)

 

Monarch Butterfly on a Marigold Flower. Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR telephoto zoom lens (ISO 160, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec). (David J Mathre)
Monarch Butterfly on a Marigold Flower. Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR telephoto zoom lens (ISO 160, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec). (David J Mathre)

Friday (04-August-2017) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

The Monarch butterflies also like the orange marigold flowers in my wildflower meadow. mage taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 80-400 mm VRII telephoto zoom lens (ISO 140, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec).

Monarch Butterfly on a Marigold flower. Backyard summer nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 80-400 mm VRII telephoto zoom lens (ISO 140, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Monarch Butterfly on a Marigold flower.  Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 80-400 mm VRII telephoto zoom lens (ISO 140, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)

Tuesday (01-August-2017) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

First Monarch Butterfly of the season on a Red Cosmos flower in my wildflower meadow. I have seen them along with yellow and black swallowtail butterflies the last few days, but finally found one that stayed in place long enough to have its picture taken.

First Monarch Butterfly of the season on a Red Cosmos wildflower. Backyard summer nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 100, 500 mm, f/4.5, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)
First Monarch Butterfly of the season on a Red Cosmos wildflower. Backyard summer nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 100, 500 mm, f/4.5, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)

Friday (26-August-2016) — New Jersey

Summertime Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve.

Monarch Butterfly on a Thistle Bloom. Not sure about the moth/butterfly below it. Summer Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/600 sec).

Monarch Butterfly on a Thistle Flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/600 sec). (David J Mathre)
Monarch Butterfly on a Thistle Flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/600 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.

Friday (26-August-2016) — New Jersey

Summertime Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve.

Monarch Butterfly on a Bearded Beggarticks (Bidens aristosa) Bloom. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens.

Monarch Butterfly on a Bearded Beggertick Flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/7.1, 1/42 sec). (David J Mathre)
Monarch Butterfly on a Bearded Beggertick Flower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/7.1, 1/42 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.