summer - David Mathre Photography

Friday (06-September-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Cloudy, cool, and practically no wind. Hurricane Dorian passed well to the east of the state. During my daily walkabout, I didn’t see any butterflies or moths. There were a few bees and bumblebees out. There were a large number of Goldfinches feeding on the smaller Sunflowers. A number of the birds must have just fledged, and their parents were feeding them cracked sunflower seeds. Apparently the young birds haven’t figured out how the crack the seeds yet. The images today are of various wildflowers. Some I am able to identify, and some I need to identify.

Click on the above image to access the individual images in the slide show.

Daily Electric Energy Used (36.9 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (14.9 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Very cloudy, and cooler for a net deficit of 22 kWh.

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Thursday (05-September-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Even though it has been relatively dry, I noticed one of the outdoor trolls happy to find a mushroom that popped up overnight. While set up with the Nikon D850 camera with a 105 mm f/1.4 lens on a tripod to a focus-stacked portrait session, two garter snakes passed by next to my feet. I needed another camera, but didn’t have one with me. ARRG! The troll did jump up on top of the mushroom when it saw the snakes.

Happy Troll guarding his Mushroom. Composite of 50 focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 64, 105 mm, f/1.8, 1/2500 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro Helicon Focus (method C, smoothing, 4). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Happy Troll guarding his Mushroom. Composite of 70 focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 64, 105 mm, f/2.8, 1/1000 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro Helicon Focus (method C, smoothing, 4). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Happy Troll standing on his Mushroom. Composite of 70 focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 64, 105 mm, f/2.8, 1/500 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro Helicon Focus (method C, smoothing, 4). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (37.4 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (41.8 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. More clouds, and cooler for a net surplus of 4.4 kWh.

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Wednesday (04-September-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

After the sun went down I noticed thunderstorm clouds with flashes of lightning passing in the distance to the south. The clouds were high enough to catch some sunlight. We need some rain, as my pond is getting low

Distant Thunderstorm at Dusk. Composite of 5 images taken with a Leica CL camera and 23 mm f/2 lens (ISO 1600, 24 mm, f/2, 1/50 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, and the composite created using AutoPano Giga Pro. (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (50.5 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (52.0 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. More clouds, and higher temperatures for a net surplus of only 1.5 kWh.

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Tuesday (03-September-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Daily walkabout with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens. I mainly focused on flowers today. Bumblebee on a Marigold, a Blue Larkspur, various Sunflowers, Zinnias, and a Hummingbird Clearwing moth (white legs) attracted to Lemon Mint flowers. I didn’t see any butterflies.

Bumblebee working a Marigold flower. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 1600, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Larkspur (Delphinium) flower. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 1100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Sunflower. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 450, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Sunflower. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 400, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Sunflower. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 320, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Zinnia flowers. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 220, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Hummingbird Clearwing moth attracted to a Lemon Mint flower. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 1600, 400 mm, f/8, 1/320 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Hummingbird Clearwing moth attracted to a Lemon Mint flower. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 1250, 400 mm, f/8, 1/800 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (47.8 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (63.3 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. More sun, and higher temperatures for a net surplus of 15.5 kWh.

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Monday (02-September-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Daily walkabout with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens. It rained a bit in the morning. I only saw one Monarch Butterfly, and several Hummingbird Clearwing moth (white legs) feeding on Lemon Mint flowers. Note that I previously thought these were Bee Balm flowers.

Monarch Butterfly. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 1600, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec) (DAVID J MATHRE)

Monarch Butterfly. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 1100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec) (DAVID J MATHRE)

Click on the above image to access the individual images in the slideshow.

Daily Electric Energy Used (42.9 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (31.2 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Lots of clouds and cooler for a net deficit of 11.7 kWh.