summer - David Mathre Photography

Friday (26-June-2020) — New Jersey

Early Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day: American Goldfinch, LBJ, Tufted Titmouse, and Chipping Sparrow. Not sure if the LBJ is a female/immature House Finch, or female/immature Brown-headed Cowbird.

American Goldfinch. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 450, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec) (DAVID J MATHRE)

LBJ (not sure if it is a female/immature House Finch or female/immature Brown-headed Cowbird). Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 450, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec) (DAVID J MATHRE)

Tufted Titmouse. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 450, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec) (DAVID J MATHRE)

Chipping Sparrow. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 450, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec) (DAVID J MATHRE)

Early Summer Wildflowers: It appears that at least one Sunflower self-seeded, and grew high enough to bloom out of reach of the ravenous deer. I’ve seen several other sunflower plants clipped off before they could bloom. It looks like the bee (Bumblebee) likes Sunflower pollen.

Bee collecting pollen on a Sunflower. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 800, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Spent some time in the morning working on the patio Grow Towers. Still several to set up and plant.

Daily Electric Energy Used (53.3 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (78.3 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sun and intermittent clouds. A surplus of 25.0 kWh. The solar panels continue to produce more energy than required to keep the house cool with the energy efficient Geothermal HVAC system.

powered by Ambient Weather

Thursday (25-June-2020) — New Jersey

Early Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day: American Crow and Blue Jay.

American Crows in a tree. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 500, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec) (DAVID J MATHRE)

Blue Jay. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec) (DAVID J MATHRE)

Early Summer Wildflowers: Yellow Prickly Pear, Lance-leaf Coreopsis, Onion Grass, Teasel, Pink Poppy, Red Poppy, Bachelor Button, Larkspur, Delphinium, and Forget-me-not.

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

Leica recently updated the firmware for the SL2 camera. One of the new features is the ability to take a 187 megapixel (16736 x 11168) image using the sensor shifting capability. After taking the first image, the sensor is shifted in 1/2 pixel increments to take 8 additional images, then combine the date in camera. The native resolution of the sensor is 47 megapixels (8368 x 5584). To use this feature, the camera must be mounted on a stable platform (tripod), uses the electronic shutter, and turns off both lens and in-camera motion reduction. My first test of this feature is with the Prickly Pear Cactus flower image (full image and cropped 4507 x 3605 image).

Yellow Prickly Pear flowers. Image taken with a Leica SL2 camera and 24-90 mm lens (ISO 400, 60 mm, f/16, 1/10 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (56.2 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (65.9 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sun and intermittent clouds. A surplus of 9.7 kWh. The solar panels continue to produce more energy than required to keep the house cool with the energy efficient Geothermal HVAC system.

powered by Ambient Weather

Wednesday (24-June-2020) — New Jersey

Early Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day: Red-bellied Woodpecker, House Finch, Northern Cardinal, Chipping Sparrow, Blue Jay, and Black-capped Chickadee. I think the Eastern Phoebe has given up on the nest above my front door.

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

Early Summer Wildflowers: Plains Coreopsis, Lemon-Mint, Delphinium, Larkspur, Lance-leaf Coreopsis, Rigid Goldenrod, Blanket Flower, Mexican Hat, Sweet Black-eyed Susan, Cornflower, and Yucca. I managed to save a few of the Yucca flowers from the ravenous deer.

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

Mowed the lawn. Time-lapse video recorded with a Garmin VIRB-360 camera.

Daily Electric Energy Used (61.2 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (82.6 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sun and intermittent clouds. A surplus of 21.4 kWh. The solar panels continue to produce more energy than required to keep the house cool with the energy efficient Geothermal HVAC system.

powered by Ambient Weather

Tuesday (23-June-2020) — New Jersey

Early Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day: Gray Catbird, Mourning Dove, Blue Jay, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, and Tufted Titmouse. The parent Common Grackle was feeding a very demanding youngster — even though junior was as large as the parent.

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

A squirrel was also up at the birdfeeder.

Squirrel at the birdfeeder. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Early Summer Wildflowers: Red Poppy, White Poppy, Pink Poppy, Icelandic Poppy, Foxglove, Daisy, Delphinium, Larkspur, Mexican Hat, and Yucca. The Great Mullein (Common Mullein) is new this season. The large plants are large with flower stalks 4-5 feet tall.

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

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

Daily Electric Energy Used (64.2 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (75.5 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sun and intermittent clouds. A surplus of 10.7 kWh. The solar panels continue to produce more energy than required to keep the house cool with the energy efficient Geothermal HVAC system.

powered by Ambient Weather

Monday (22-June-2020) — New Jersey

Early Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day: Gray Catbird, Mourning Dove, House Finch, Tufted Titmouse, Chipping Sparrow, and Northern Cardinal.

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

Early Summer Wildflowers: Daisy, Red Poppy, and Mexican Hat. The Mexican hat is new for the season. It is starting to get hot out and will be interesting to see what dies off, and what new arrives.

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

Daily Electric Energy Used (61.3 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (75.4 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sun and intermittent clouds. A surplus of 14.1 kWh.

powered by Ambient Weather