Birds of the Day — Brown-headed Cowbird, House Finch, Northern Cardinal, Mourning Dove, American Goldfinch, and Eastern Phoebe. It seems like there are a number of juvenile birds showing up. There continues to be lots of action at the Eastern Phoebe nest with both parents feed the new hatchlings.
Adult Birds of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Juvenile Birds of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Spring flowers of the day — Yellow and Orange California Poppy, Red, and Oriental Poppy, Rhododendron
Springtime Flowers of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
I spent the afternoon on the patio assembling the new Grow Towers and transplanting the indoor hydroponic strawberry plants to the outdoor Grow Towers. The activity was recorded by a Garmin VIRB-360 camera and used to create a time-lapse Little Planet video.
Daily Electric Energy Used (47.6 kWh) from meter readings the Sense Home Energy Monitor. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (39.9 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Cloudy much of the day. A deficit 0f 7.7 kWh.
Birds of the Day — American Robin and Eastern Phoebe. Kermit and brothers in the pond. Spring flowers of the day include Gladiolus, Five-spot, Rhododendron, Sweet William, Blue Flax, Baby Blue Eyes, Daisy, Dame’s Rocket, Siberian Wallflowers, California Poppy, and Red Poppy. The Gladiolus is growing up through a crack in the patio blue-stones. I’ve never planted Gladiolus bulbs before so this must have come from some random blown seed??? I spend much of the day cleaning up the patio, and assembling a Grow Tower. The activity was recorded by a Garmin VIRB-360 camera and used to create two time-lapse videos.
American Robin hunting for a worm. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)Eastern Phoebe on a branch. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Kermit in the Pond. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Springtime Flowers of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Daily Electric Energy Used (47.0 kWh) from meter readings the Sense Home Energy Monitor. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (77.0 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Sun with some clouds. A surplus of 30.0 kWh.
I went out just after sunrise to check if any of the poppy flowers started to open, and noticed a very small fawn with spots lying down in the clovers. The Doe left it for daycare while she went out for something to eat.
Young Spotted Fawn. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
I continue to monitor the Eastern Phoebe nest above my door. So far just one of the parents sitting on the nest — no evidence any of the eggs have hatched.
Eastern Phoebe sitting in the nest. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 200 mm f/2 OIS lens + 1.4x teleconverter (ISO 1600, 280 mm, f/2.8, 1/280 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Spring flowers of the day include Five-spot, Dandelion, Johnny Jump Up, Rhododendron, Forget-me-not, Siberian Wallflowers, California Poppy, and Red Poppy.
Daily Flowers — Landscape. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Daily Flowers — Portrait. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Grass grows fast this time of the year and needed to be cut.
Daily Electric Energy Used (53.1 kWh) from meter readings the Sense Home Energy Monitor. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (61.6 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Intermittent clouds all day. A surplus of 8.5 kWh.
Norwegian Independence Day for those in Norway. A busy day today. The trap in the patio was set up overnight for the band of raccoons. Instead, early in the morning the young fox visited several times. Each time circling and sniffing the trap. Then it entered, tasted the apple scraps and backed out. The fox would have been OK, but got greedy. A minute later, it reentered and set off the trap. As soon as it was light out, I let him out of jail.
Springtime Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro OIS lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Birds observed on the patio or while on my daily backyard walkabout include American Crow, Northern Cardinal, House Finch, Brown-headed Cowbird, Gray Catbird, Tufted Titmouse, Eastern Phoebe, and Turkey Vulture. I finally got an image of the Eastern Phoebe sitting on its nest. I also captured an image an immature Northern Cardinal is being fed by its father. I observed this behavior six years ago while on a bird photography workshop in southern Texas. One of the images I took at that time was my most viewed and commented on the now defunct Google Plus.
Birds of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Eastern Phoebe sitting in the nest. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 1600, 261 mm, f/11, 1/45 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Northern Cardinals. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Father feeding Immature Northern Cardinal. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/8, 1/200 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)Male Northern Cardinal Feeding Breakfast to a Young Cardinal at a Private Ranch in Southern Texas. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 500 mm f/4 lens (ISO 500, 500 mm, f/5.6, 1/2000 sec. (David J Mathre)Male Northern Cardinal Feeding Breakfast to a Young Cardinal at a Private Ranch in Southern Texas. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 140, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec. (David J Mathre)Male Northern Cardinal Feeding Breakfast to a Young Cardinal at a Private Ranch in Southern Texas. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1600, 500 mm, f/5.6, 1/2000 sec. (David J Mathre)
Spring flowers of the day include Five-spot, Dandelion, Johnny Jump Up, Rhododendron, Forget-me-not, Daisy, Flax, Sweet William, California Poppy, and Red Poppy.
Wildflowers of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Red and California Poppy Flowers of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Kermit along with his brother, cousin, and uncle (also named Kermit) out in the backyard pond.
Kermit Clan sunning at the backyard pond. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Daily Electric Energy Used (52.3 kWh) from meter readings the Sense Home Energy Monitor. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (67.6 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Lots of Sun and intermittent clouds. A surplus of 15.3 kWh.
Weekly Electric Energy Used (356 kWh) from meter readings the Sense Home Energy Monitor. The weekly Solar Electric Energy Produced (514 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Finely, a week with a decent surplus (158 kWh).
The birds for the day are Brown-headed Cowbird, Mourning Dove, and Eastern Phoebe. The Eastern Phoebes are responsible for the bird nest above my front door. They also appear to be catching the Carpenter Bees that have been drilling holes in my Cedar siding. A good thing, so I will leave the bird nest alone. Yesterday it was very warm, and many California Poppy flowers opened. The California poppy flowers close at night and open again the next day when warmed by the sun. The first outdoor Red Poppy flower of the season bloomed. The poppies this year were self seeded from last year’s flowers.
Birds of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
California Poppies — Portrait. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
California Poppies — Landscape. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Red Poppy. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 160, 224 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)Red Poppy. Composite of 35 focus stacked images taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro OIS lens (ISO 160, 80 mm, f/2.8, 1/60 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and Helicon Focus. (DAVID J MATHRE)I need greens so I can make milk for my new baby. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 500, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Daily Electric Energy Used (49.8 kWh) from meter readings the Sense Home Energy Monitor. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (78.1 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Lots of Sun and clouds. A surplus of 28.3 kWh.
