Tag: New Jersey

Saturday (07-September-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Three of the Sourland Spectacular Bicycle routes passed by my house. The Sourland Spectacular is a charity event that supports the Sourland Mountains. I put a Garmin VIRB-360 camera up on my mailbox to record the early morning riders. Unfortunately, the plug to the external battery pack fell out, so the camera only recorded an hour of activity. There were a couple of heavy dump trucks that passed by. I wouldn’t want to be a bike rider on these narrow roads with those trucks passing.

Daily Electric Energy Used (37.1 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (55.8 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Sunny in the morning, some clouds in the afternoon. Still cool enough that the windows can be left open and no need to run the Geothermal HVAC. Overall a net surplus of 18.7 kWh (almost making up for yesterday.

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Friday (06-September-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Although we got a small amount of rain (0.26 inches) this week, the pond is very low. I am only seeing one or two frogs at this time. Not the dozens that were there a few weeks ago. I don’t know if they have moved onto another pond, or if there has been a predator. The ones that remain are very skittish and I can only get close enough to get pictures with the Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens. The field of view for this camera at 300 mm is equivalent to 810 mm on a full frame camera.


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


Daily Electric Energy Used (36.9 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (14.9 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Very cloudy, and cooler for a net deficit of 22 kWh.

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Friday (06-September-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Cloudy, cool, and practically no wind. Hurricane Dorian passed well to the east of the state. During my daily walkabout, I saw a large number (flock?) of Goldfinches feeding on the smaller Sunflowers. A number of the birds must have just fledged, and their parents were feeding them cracked sunflower seeds. Apparently the young birds haven’t figured out how the crack the seeds yet. Another immature Goldfinch appeared to be pecking at the Sunflower stalk for food. Later on I saw an immature Goldfinch appear to be eating Zinnia flower petals

Adult feeding immature Goldfinch Sunflower seed. Image taken with a Nikon 1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Adult feeding immature Goldfinch Sunflower seed. Image taken with a Nikon 1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Adult feeding immature Goldfinch Sunflower seed. Image taken with a Nikon 1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Adult feeding immature Goldfinch Sunflower seed. Image taken with a Nikon 1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)


Click on the above image to access the individual images in the slide show.



Click on the above image to access the individual images in the slide show.



Click on the above image to access the individual images in the slide show.


Immature Goldfinch on wire. Image taken with a Nikon 1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Immature Goldfinch on wire. Image taken with a Nikon 1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (36.9 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (14.9 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Very cloudy, and cooler for a net deficit of 22 kWh.

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Friday (06-September-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Cloudy, cool, and practically no wind. Hurricane Dorian passed well to the east of the state. During my daily walkabout, I didn’t see any butterflies or moths. There were a few bees and bumblebees out. There were a large number of Goldfinches feeding on the smaller Sunflowers. A number of the birds must have just fledged, and their parents were feeding them cracked sunflower seeds. Apparently the young birds haven’t figured out how the crack the seeds yet. The images today are of various wildflowers. Some I am able to identify, and some I need to identify.


Click on the above image to access the individual images in the slide show.


Daily Electric Energy Used (36.9 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (14.9 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Very cloudy, and cooler for a net deficit of 22 kWh.

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Thursday (05-September-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Even though it has been relatively dry, I noticed one of the outdoor trolls happy to find a mushroom that popped up overnight. While set up with the Nikon D850 camera with a 105 mm f/1.4 lens on a tripod to a focus-stacked portrait session, two garter snakes passed by next to my feet. I needed another camera, but didn’t have one with me. ARRG! The troll did jump up on top of the mushroom when it saw the snakes.

Happy Troll guarding his Mushroom. Composite of 50 focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 64, 105 mm, f/1.8, 1/2500 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro Helicon Focus (method C, smoothing, 4). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Happy Troll guarding his Mushroom. Composite of 50 focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 64, 105 mm, f/1.8, 1/2500 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro Helicon Focus (method C, smoothing, 4). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Happy Troll guarding his Mushroom. Composite of 70 focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 64, 105 mm, f/2.8, 1/1000 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro Helicon Focus (method C, smoothing, 4). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Happy Troll guarding his Mushroom. Composite of 70 focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 64, 105 mm, f/2.8, 1/1000 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro Helicon Focus (method C, smoothing, 4). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Happy Troll standing on his Mushroom. Composite of 70 focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 64, 105 mm, f/2.8, 1/500 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro Helicon Focus (method C, smoothing, 4). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Happy Troll standing on his Mushroom. Composite of 70 focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 64, 105 mm, f/2.8, 1/500 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro Helicon Focus (method C, smoothing, 4). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (37.4 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (41.8 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. More clouds, and cooler for a net surplus of 4.4 kWh.

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