Saturday (28-August-2021) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Black-capped Chickadee, House Finch, American Goldfinch.


Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Flowers of the day: Black-eyed Susan, Blanket Flower, Canna, Chicory, Cosmos, Echinacea, Four O’Clock, Gladiolus, Morning Glory, Description/Caption:
Partridge Pea, Sunflower, Zinnia.


Flowers of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Kermit the Bullfrog in the Pond.


Kermit the Bullfrog. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Spot Twins in the Backyard.


Fawns. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (55.4 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (11.4 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Cloudy all day. A deficit of 44.0 kWh.

Tuesday (03-August-2021) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Blue Jay, Gray Catbird, House Finch, American Goldfinch, Chipping Sparrow, Common Grackle.


Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Flowers of the day: Black-eyed Susan, Canna, Cosmos, Nasturtium, Partridge Pea, Plains Coreopsis, Sunflower, Zinnia.


Flowers of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Flowers of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Both Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and Monarch butterflies feeding on a Thistle flower.


Butterflies of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Other bugs of the day include a pair of tiny Dragonflies mating, and Milkweed Aphids eating a Milkweed plant.


Bugs of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

The local Fawns, still with spots are getting bigger. A groundhog in the back wildflower meadow. Kermit the bullfrog in the pond.


Critters of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (51.0 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (47.2 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Clouds and sun. A deficit of 3.8 kWh.

Monday (02-August-2021) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, House Finch, American Goldfinch, Chipping Sparrow, Common Grackle. In addition to the Canna, the hummingbird was interested in Gladiolus, and Radish flowers.


Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Flowers of the day: Black-eyed Susan, Canna, Cosmos, Nasturtium, Partridge Pea, Plains Coreopsis, Sunflower, Zinnia.


Flowers of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Flowers of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

The local Fawns, still with spots are getting bigger. Soon, I expect them to be raiding my gardens.


Spots. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (58.0 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (75.3 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. The sun returned. A surplus of 17.3 kWh.

Tuesday (01-September-2020) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

The immature Baltimore Oriole is willing to stand up to a gang of Blue Jay’s.

Morning at the Birdfeeders: Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Gray Catbird, House Finch, Song Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole, and Northern Cardinal.


Morning at the Birdfeeders. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Contact me if you are interested in a Time-lapse Video of the Morning at the Birdfeeders. My setup for the birdfeeder images is a Nikon D850 camera and 200 mm f/2 VR lens set to take one image every 5 seconds over a 5 hour period (~3600 images). The new time-lapse video format is 720p (1080 x 720 pixels) and 1 frame/second. The length of the video is about 1 hour in a 1 GB MP4 file. The previous time-lapse videos of the birdfeeders were at 12 frames/second, and to be honest were too fast to identify the birds.

I went out with the DR Power Brush Mower to mow the wildflower meadows. Not much is blooming anymore, and the weeds including the invasive “mile-a-minute” vine are starting to take over. I attempted to capture the exercise with a Garmin VIRB-360 camera both on a fixed tripod, and a tripod I carried over my head. While mowing the sections I kept finding adult Praying Mantis which I tried to move away from the mower. The Praying Mantis are “good” bugs.


Saving the Praying Mantis. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

The fawns still have dots. While cooking dinner I saw these two in one of the wildflower meadow sections that I didn’t mow. You can see that the weeds have taken over. The deer seem to be immune to the electric fence.


Fawns with Spots inside the electric fence. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (51.2 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (32.5 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Lots of clouds. A deficit of 18.7 kWh.

Sunday (26-July-2020) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Something different. Need to catch up with all of the recent images. Time to get out an mow the yard.

Pair of young fawns with spots. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 200 mm f/2 OIS lens and 1.4x teleconverter (ISO 12800, 280 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec) (David J Mathre)
Pair of young fawns with spots. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 200 mm f/2 OIS lens and 1.4x teleconverter (ISO 12800, 280 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec) (David J Mathre)

Daily Electric Energy Used (69.5 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (74.3 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sunny and hot all day. A surplus of 4.8 kWh.

Weekly Electric Energy Used (456 kWh) from Sense. Weekly Solar Electric Energy Produced (450 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. A deficit of 6 kWh.