Moth - David Mathre Photography

Saturday (01-August-2020) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

My workhorse telephoto zoom 70-300 mm VR lens for the Nikon 1 camera has been acting up. Unfortunately, Nikon discontinued both the mirrorless Nikon 1 cameras and lenses. This lens on the Nikon 1 camera has the field of view equivalent to 189-810 mm on a full frame 35 mm camera sensor. I found a Japanese vendor online that had a 70-300 mm lens listed as practically new for sale. It was a bit more than I paid for the original 70-300 lens, but I felt that I needed the backup in case the original lens failed. The shipment got caught up in customs and I had to pay additional duty because of a tariff on Japanese goods. Thanks twitterer-in-chief for increasing the taxes I have to pay. Many folks don’t understand that it is the US consumer, not the foreign company that needs to pay these extra taxes. Vent over.

I went for an afternoon backyard walkabout with the N1V3 camera and new lens. Harvey the rabbit was out munching on the grass that needs to be cut. It appears that the recent Vultures left the skeleton of a small animal roadkill in the yard. Even though the majority of wildflowers are beginning to die off due to the excess heat, the more hearty Larkspur, Thistle, and Lance-leaf Coreopsis are providing nectar for the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies and Clearwing Hummingbird moths.

Harvey the Rabbit. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Larkspur. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Dark morph of an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Clearwing Hummingbird Moth. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Robber Fly. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (58.5 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (71.6 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Lots of sun. A surplus of 13.1 kWh.

Eleven-Years Ago (24-August-2008) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

North American Gypsy Moth Caterpillars in a Silk Nest. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 280, 400 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec). Since the Gypsy Moths are so destructive, I removed and burned the nest right after taking the picture.

North American Gypsy Moth Caterpillars in a Silken Net. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 280, 400 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)

Wednesday (17-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. My back hurts and it is really hot and humid outside. I only went out for a short time with a much lighter kit — Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens. Bumble Bees, Butterflies (Skippers? and Monarch), and of course the Hummingbird Clearwing Moth. In addition to the Zinnia flowers, one Hummingbird Clearwing spent some time feeding on Larkspur (Delphinium) flowers. Later in the evening, before it started raining a small herd of deer passed through the backyard. I captured these images with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 200 mm f/2 OIS lens with a 1.4x teleconverter. There were only three fawns (used to be four), and one of the fawns has some open sores on its face. Three wary does stayed nearby. They were all being harassed by flies.

Bumble Bee. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

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

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe) feeding on Larkspur Flowers. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe) feeding on a Zinnia Flower. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

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

Daily Power Use (67.9 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (71.8 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. More clouds as the day progressed with the outdoor temperatures increasing, but still generated about 3 kWh more power that I used. The GeoThermal HVAC heat pump needed to run at full capacity (stage 2) part of the afternoon just to keep up with cooling the house. It will be interesting to see how the GeoThermal system does Friday to Sunday as the outside temperatures will be approaching 100 °F (38 °C).

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Eight-Years Ago (28-August-2010) — New Jersey

Summertime Nature in New Jersey: Sourland Mountain Preserve.

Clearwing Hummingbird Moth on a Thistle Bloom. Sourland Mountain Preserve, Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 200 mm f/2 VR lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/4, 1/800 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 8, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CC.

Clearwing Hummingbird Moth on Thistle Bloom. Sourland Mountain Preserve, Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 200 mm f/2 VR lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/4, 1/800 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 8, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CC. (David J Mathre)

Thursday (26-July-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Afternoon walkabout in my garden with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/2.8 macro lens. Flowers & Bugs.

Individual images in the slide shows can be viewed here.