Sourland Mountain Preserve - David Mathre Photography

Tuesday (03-July-2012) — New Jersey

Summertime Nature in New Jersey. Sourland Mountain Preserve.

Kermit the Bull Frog in a Pond. If you look close there is a mosquito below the eye. The resolution with the D800 camera is amazing.

Kermit the Bull Frog in a Pond in the Sourland Mountain Preserve in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D800 and 300 mm f/2.8G VR lens + TC-E III 20 Teleconverter (ISO 360, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)

Saturday (19-May-2012) — New Jersey

Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

Bull Frog at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. I know that tadpoles grow fast, but I don’t think this fast!!!! Compare with 11-May-2012.

Friday (11-May-2012) — New Jersey

Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

I stopped by the nearby Sourland Mountain Preserve on the way home from work to see what is new this spring. I was mainly looking for wildflowers and butterflies. One of the first things I found was hundreds, if not thousands of tadpoles at the edge of the pond. In a few weeks there are going to be a lot of frogs!

Tadpoles -- The Frogs Will Be Coming. Pond at Sourlands Mountain Nature Preserve in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon V1 and 85 mm f/1.4G lens and FT1 adapter. (ISO 100, 85 mm, f/5, 1/250 sec). FOV equiv to 230 mm on a 35 mm full frame camera. (David J Mathre) — Tadpoles — The Frogs Will Be Coming. Pond at the Sourland Mountain Preserve in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon V1 and 85 mm f/1.4G lens and FT1 adapter. (ISO 100, 85 mm, f/5, 1/250 sec). FOV equiv to 230 mm on a 35 mm full frame camera. (David J Mathre)

Saturday (01-October-2011) — New Jersey

Autumn Nature in New Jersey. Sourland Mountain Preserve.

Worldwide Photo Walk 2011. Convergence. Yesterday I was thinking, weather permitting that I should go the nearby Sourland Mountain Preserve to see if I could photograph any late season Monarch butterflies. For the last several years I have seen the last group of Monarch butterflies before they fly south to Mexico the last week of September (+/- 2 weeks). Also yesterday, I was noticing some issues with access to my photo blog (speed to load, and searching results). I woke up very early, and access to the photo blog appeared be working. While checking Google+ I saw a reminder from Scott Kelby about his 2011 Worldwide Photo Walk’s this weekend. When I checked online, I saw that one of the Worldwide Photo Walks (led by Frank Veronsky) would be at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. I signed up (it was 4 AM, and raining). When I woke up again at 8 AM it had stopped raining but still cloudy. I got to there early to scout out if there were any thistle blooms left. Unfortunately, all of the thistles were brown and there were only a few yellow wildflowers. The trails were also very muddy from all of the rain we have been having for the last 2 months. I actually went home at this point to switch to a Nikon D3s camera and 50 mm f/1.4 lens since I knew it would be relatively dark on the trails. I got back in time to meet up with the Worldwide Photo Walk group at the Sourland Mountain Preserve parking lot and started up on the trails a little after 10 AM. The following images are of some of the woodland forest trails in the Preserve. By the end of the Photo Walk, I only saw one Monarch butterfly, and it didn’t stay still long enough for me to get an image.

Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Worldwide Photo Walk 2011. Autumn in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 450, 50 mm, f/8, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre) — Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 450, 50 mm, f/8, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)

Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Worldwide Photo Walk 2011. Autumn in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 280, 50 mm, f/8, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre) — Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 280, 50 mm, f/8, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)

Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Worldwide Photo Walk 2011. Autumn in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 320, 50 mm, f/8, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre) — Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 320, 50 mm, f/8, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)

Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Worldwide Photo Walk 2011. Autumn in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 800, 50 mm, f/8, 1/40 sec). (David J Mathre) — Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Image taken with a Nikon D3s cameraand 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 800, 50 mm, f/8, 1/40 sec). (David J Mathre)

Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Worldwide Photo Walk 2011. Autumn in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 200, 50 mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec). (David J Mathre) — Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 200, 50 mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec). (David J Mathre)

Sunday (21-August-2011) — New Jersey

Summertime Nature in New Jersey: Sourland Mountain Preserve.

Life and Death in Nature. It was a great day to photograph nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Many Butterflies, Clearwing Hummingbird Moths, Dragonflies,Summertime Nature in New Jersey: Sourland Mountain Preserve. Robberflies, and a few Praying Mantis carnivores. I went in with two cameras, a D3s camera with a 300 mm f/2.8 VR with an TC-E III 20 teleconverter and a D3x camera with a 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro. Humidity was high, and I had to spend the first 15 minutes equilibrating the lenses so they were not fogged. The first place I went to was the location I observed a Praying Mantis eating a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth yesterday. The first image is a Black Swollowtail Butterfly on a Thistle bloom. Soon thereafter a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth started checking out the Thistle blooms. DANGER! DANGER! It didn’t see the Praying Mantis. Minutes later the moth was breakfast for the Praying Mantis. Later, another Black Swollowtail Butterfly was breakfast to a brown Praying Mantis.

Black Swallowtail Butterfly on Thistle Bloom. Sourland Mountain Preserve, Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 640, 600 mm, f/16, 1/500 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Black Swallowtail Butterfly on Thistle Bloom. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 640, 600 mm, f/16, 1/500 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)

Danger! Danger! Clearwing Hummingbird Moth being Stalked by a Praying Mantis. Sourland Mountain Preserve, Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Danger! Danger! Clearwing Hummingbird Moth being Stalked by a Praying Mantis. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)

Clearwing Hummingbird Moth as a Meal for a Praying Mantis. Sourland Mountain Preserve, Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 320, 600 mm, f/8, 1/500 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Clearwing Hummingbird Moth as a Meal for a Praying Mantis. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 320, 600 mm, f/8, 1/500 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)

Clearwing Hummingbird Moth as a Meal for a Praying Mantis. Sourland Mountain Preserve, Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (ISO 320, 105 mm, f/8, 1/400 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Clearwing Hummingbird Moth as a Meal for a Praying Mantis. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (ISO 320, 105 mm, f/8, 1/400 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)

Praying Mantis full after a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth Meal. Sourland Mountain Preserve, Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (ISO 800, 105 mm, f/16, 1/125 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Praying Mantis full after a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth Meal. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (ISO 800, 105 mm, f/16, 1/125 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)

Brown Praying Mantis. Sourland Mountain Preserve, Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (ISO 220, 105 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Brown Praying Mantis. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (ISO 220, 105 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)

Black Swallowtail Butterfly as a Meal for a Brown Praying Mantis. Sourland Mountain Preserve, Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (ISO 160, 105 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Black Swallowtail Butterfly as a Meal for a Brown Praying Mantis. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (ISO 160, 105 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)