Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly - David Mathre Photography

Thursday (22-August-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout, today with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens. My favorite lightweight kit, with plenty of reach. The Snowberry Clearwing Moths (with the black legs) are back. They also like the Bee Balm flowers. Monarch Butterfly feeding on a Marigold flower, and Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly feeding on a Zinnia flower. There has been rain all around us, but not here. The pond level is down, and the frogs are skittish. A small sparrow (LBJ) and a fawn trying to hide behind some grass.

Snowberry Clearwing Moth feeding on a Bee Balm flower. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Monarch butterfly feeding on a Marigold flower. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly feeding on a Zinnia flower. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Kermit the Bullfrog. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Little Sparrow. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Fawn Hiding Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (59.7 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (61.3 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. The WaterFurnace geothermal HVAC had to work hard (25 kWh) because the temperature outside went above 90°F. A bit more sun so a net surplus of 0.6 kWh. Cooler weather expected tomorrow!

One note — the WaterFurnace Symphony software indicated the system used 15 kWh, however the Sense Energy monitor indicated that the geothermal heat pump used 25 kWh. I tend to believe the Sense numbers since they more closely the energy being recorded at the external power company (PSE&G) meters. I’ve asked the WaterFurnace folks in the past about the discrepancy, but they didn’t have a good answer. The Sense folks told me they thought that the WaterFurnace/Symphony system was only measuring one phase of the energy even though the system is powered by the 220V circut (using two phases). I wish an electrical engineer that understands this better would correct me here.

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Friday (02-August-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. Today with a Nikon D5 camera and 200-500 mm f/4 VR lens. Lots of activity in the wildflower meadows. The Goldfinch are busy chowing down on Sunflower Seeds. Right now there are lots and lots of Sunflowers — different sizes and colors. A small pink wildflower, a Bee Balm flower, and some Blue Larkspur flowers. There were a couple of Bumble bees and a tiny green bee on a Thistle flower. There were more butterflies than I could count. Skippers, Monarchs, and Swallowtails. I need to be careful with the identification of the Swallowtails. There were two sizes of the Tiger Swallowtails, and some of the Black Swallowtails may actually be dark variants of female Tiger Swallowtails.

Goldfinch Eating Sunflower Seeds. Click on the Above image to access the images in the slideshow in my Photoshelter Gallery.

Flowers. Click on the Above image to access the images in the slideshow in my Photoshelter Gallery.

Skipper Butterflies. Click on the Above image to access the images in the slideshow in my Photoshelter Gallery.

Monarch Butterflies. Click on the Above image to access the images in the slideshow in my Photoshelter Gallery.

Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies. Click on the Above image to access the images in the slideshow in my Photoshelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (51.8 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (61.4 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Net Surplus 9.6 kWh.

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Thursday (01-August-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

From the three underused cameras yesterday, I narrowed it down to one — Leica CL with a 55-135 mm zoom lens. More Sunflower, Butterfly, and Snowberry Clearwing Moths. I also captured some images of a Goldfinch feeding on a Sunflower. The Goldfinch have graduated from the Cornflowers to something with larger seeds. My favoriate image of the day is the first one shown — two Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies, one in focus and the other out of focus.

Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 55-135 mm lens (DAVID J MATHRE) — Two Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 55-135 mm lens (ISO 100, 135 mm, f/8, 1/400 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Sunflowers. Click on the above image to access the individual images from the slideshow at my Photoshelter Gallery.

Tiger Swallowtail, Common Buckeye, and Silver-spotted Skipper Butterflies. Click on the above image to access the individual images from the slideshow at my Photoshelter Gallery.

Snowberry Clearwing (Hummingbird) Moth. Click on the above image to access the individual images from the slideshow at my Photoshelter Gallery.

Goldfinch feeding on Sunflower seeds. Click on the above image to access the individual images from the slideshow at my Photoshelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (est. 52 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (64.8 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. The amount used is an estimate because of some technical problems with the Sense monitor. Not as cloudy so solar energy production was up 24 kWh for an estimated net surplus of 13 kWh.

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Wednesday (31-July-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

I decided to take some cameras out that I haven’t been using much. Looking at the images I can see I need to spend more time using and practicing with theses cameras. Some of the images are not tack sharp. I can’t just use the cameras in auto mode, need to slow down and make sure I have the settings right. The large sunflowers next to the house were up to the roof edge, but got so heavy they bent over. The field of sunflowers in the back wildflower meadow are attracting lots of bees and butterflies.

Sunflowers. Image taken with a Leica T camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Leica T camera and 60 mm f/2.8 lens. Click on the above image to access the individual images in my Photoshelter Gallery.

Leica TL2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens. Click on the above image to access the individual images in my Photoshelter Gallery.

Sunflowers. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 23 mm f/2 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Tiger Swallowtail. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 23 mm f/2 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (49.7 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (41.1 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Cloudy most of the day so solar energy production was down 32 kWh. A bit cooler so the Geothermal HVAC system didn’t have to work as hard so the overall energy used was down nearly 20 kWh, for a net deficit of 8.6 kWh. The monthly stats for July are electric energy used: 1841 kWh, solar energy generated: 2075 kWh, for a monthly electric energy surplus of 234 kWh.

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Friday (26-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Morning Walkabout with the Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm lens. Tiger Swallowtail butterfly on a Sunflower, Hummingbird Clearwing moth on a Zinnia flower, Four O’Clock flower, and Burma Water Gourd flower.

Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly on a Sunflower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) moth. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.

Four O'Clock flower covered with Dew. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE) — Four O’Clock flower covered with Dew. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Burma Water Gourd Flower. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (51.4 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (80.7 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Daily surplus of 29.3 kWh.