Tuesday (07-January-2025) — New Jersey

Nine-Years Ago Today. Sunset from the deck of the MV World Odyssey. Semester at Sea. (07-Jan-2016, Pacific Ocean)

Animal Tracks in the Snow

We had a couple of inches of snow yesterday. This morning, I went on a walkabout looking for animal tracks in the snow. I found bird, cat, fox, and rabbit tracks. I was especially interested in finding where the gaps in the deer fence were. In the past some of the larger critters (raccoons and possums) have enlarged these holes to the point where the deer finally got through. In those spots I needed to install a bottom section of plastic-coated wire fence to close the gaps. First a video of where a neighborhood cat gets under the front gate. She has used this as a way to escape being chased by a fox.

Cat tracks in the snow where it gets under the front gate. Image taken with a Hasselblad X2d camera and 38 mm f/2.5 lens
Cat tracks in the snow where it gets under the front gate. Image taken with a Hasselblad X2d camera and 38 mm f/2.5 lens
Cat tracks in the snow. Image taken with a Hasselblad X2d camera and 38 mm f/2.5 lens
Cat tracks in the snow. Image taken with a Hasselblad X2d camera and 38 mm f/2.5 lens
Rabbit tracks in the snow. Image taken with a Hasselblad X2d camera and 38 mm f/2.5 lens
Rabbit tracks in the snow. Image taken with a Hasselblad X2d camera and 38 mm f/2.5 lens
Fox tracks in the snow attempting to cross the pond.. Image taken with a Hasselblad X2d camera and 38 mm f/2.5 lens
Fox tracks in the snow attempting to cross the pond. Image taken with a Hasselblad X2d camera and 38 mm f/2.5 lens
Field mouse tunnel/tracks in the snow. Image taken with a Hasselblad X2d camera and 38 mm f/2.5 lens
Field mouse tunnel/tracks in the snow. Image taken with a Hasselblad X2d camera and 38 mm f/2.5 lens

Animal Tracks in the Snow. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Animal tracks in the snow used to identify holes in the fence. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Night Sky, Moon, Star Trails, Jet Trails, and Meteor Trails over New Jersey

The night sky started cloud free. I wanted to have the telescopes out but wasn’t really sure how long the sky would remain clear. I set up a Nikon Z9 camera with a 8-15 mm fisheye lens pointed SSE to monitor the sky. Settings for the camera were 15 mm, ISO 800, f/11, and 120 second exposures using the intervalometer with a 4 second delay between exposures. Composites were created using PhotoShop (scripts, statistics, maximum). First image, the sky was relatively clear for the Vespera Pro telescopes to observe the moon. Second image, an 8-minute segment with a meteor trail. Third image, the sky was relatively clear for the Vespera Pro telescopes to observe M42, the Orion nebula. Fourth image, the full night showing lots of clouds passing. I’ve also included a slideshow with 28-minute star trail segments for the night. At the end there is time-lapse video of the night sky.

Winter Night Sky Star Trails Over New Jersey. Composite of images taken with a Nikon Z9 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens.
Winter Night Sky Star Trails Over New Jersey. Composite of images taken with a Nikon Z9 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens.
Winter Night Sky Star Trails (with a meteor trail) Over New Jersey. Composite of images taken with a Nikon Z9 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens.
Winter Night Sky Star Trails (with a meteor trail) Over New Jersey. Composite of images taken with a Nikon Z9 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens.
Winter Night Sky Star Trails Over New Jersey. Composite of images taken with a Nikon Z9 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens.
Winter Night Sky Star Trails Over New Jersey. Composite of images taken with a Nikon Z9 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens.
Winter Night Sky Star Trails Over New Jersey. Composite of images taken with a Nikon Z9 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens.
Winter Night Sky Star Trails Over New Jersey. Composite of images taken with a Nikon Z9 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens.

Star trails slideshow. Individual images are available in my PhotoShelter gallery.

Sunday (26-December-2021) — New Jersey

Wintertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Fox with a rabbit?

Daily Electric Energy Used (49.1 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (31.3 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sunny. Deficit of 17.8 kWh.

Weekly Electric Energy Used (481 kWh) from Sense. Weekly Solar Electric Energy Produced (168 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Deficit of 313 kWh.

Monday (25-October-2021) — New Jersey

Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

My infrared security video camera caught “Thumper” the rabbit on my patio. I’ve not seen the rabbit recently during the day. It does need to be careful as there is a Red Fox that is in the neighborhood hunting every night.

Daily Electric Energy Used (41.6 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (25.5 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Cloudy with some sun. Deficit of 26.1 kWh.

Monday (29-June-2020) — New Jersey

Early Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day: Blue Jay, Gray Catbird, Northern Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse, House Finch, American Goldfinch, and Turkey Vulture.


Summer Birds of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Flowers of the Day: Purple Allium, Red Poppy, Blanket Flower, Teasel, Four O’Clock, Garlic Scapes, Delphinium, Larkspur, Garlic Scapes, Black-eyed Susan, Sunflower, Pink Poppy, and Foxglove.


Summer Flowers of the Day (portrait). Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Summer Flowers of the Day (landscape). Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Critters of the Day: Squirrel, Spots the Fawn, Rabbits, and Red Fox. This was the first time since last winter that I have seen Rabbits in the backyard. Within five minutes, the Red Fox showed up and the Rabbits disappeared.


Critters (mammals) of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed at my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (66.0 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (83.9 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Lots of Sun. A surplus of 17.9 kWh.


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Friday (06-December-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Night Time Nature in New Jersey.

Bunny Rabbit on the patio (infrared video).

Daily Electric Energy Used (80.9 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (17.4 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Overall a net deficit of 63.5 kWh.

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