Friday (22-May-2020) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day — Brown-headed Cowbird, House Finch, Northern Cardinal, Mourning Dove, American Goldfinch, and Eastern Phoebe. It seems like there are a number of juvenile birds showing up. There continues to be lots of action at the Eastern Phoebe nest with both parents feed the new hatchlings.


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


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

Spring flowers of the day — Yellow and Orange California Poppy, Red, and Oriental Poppy, Rhododendron


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

I spent the afternoon on the patio assembling the new Grow Towers and transplanting the indoor hydroponic strawberry plants to the outdoor Grow Towers. The activity was recorded by a Garmin VIRB-360 camera and used to create a time-lapse Little Planet video.

Daily Electric Energy Used (47.6 kWh) from meter readings the Sense Home Energy Monitor. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (39.9 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Cloudy much of the day. A deficit 0f 7.7 kWh.


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Thursday (21-May-2020) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day — Blue Jay, Brown-headed Cowbird, House Finch, Northern Cardinal, Gray Catbird, and Eastern Phoebe. Lots of action at the Eastern Phoebe nest and both parents feed the new hatchlings. It will be interesting to see if they are all Eastern Phoebes or if the Brown-headed Cowbird left any of its eggs in the nest.


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

Spring flowers of the day include Rhododendron, Red Oriental Poppy, Five-spot, Allium, and Foxglove.


Spring Flowers of the Day — Portrait mode. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Spring Flowers of the Day — Landscape mode. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

I spent the afternoon on the patio assembling the new Grow Towers and transplanting the indoor hydroponic strawberry plants to the outdoor Grow Towers. The activity was recorded by a Garmin VIRB-360 camera and used to create a time-lapse Little Planet video.

Daily Electric Energy Used (50.3 kWh) from meter readings the Sense Home Energy Monitor. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (85.9 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Lots of sun in the morning with some clouds in the afternoon. A surplus of 35.6 kWh.



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Wednesday (20-May-2020) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day — Blue Jay, Gray Catbird, American Goldfinch, and Eastern Phoebe. A whole bunch of American Goldfinch showed up today. The eggs in the Eastern Phoebe nest above my front door have started to hatch. The parents are now bringing insects, grubs, and worms to feed the hatchlings. I set up a video camera to monitor the nest.

Blue Jay. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Blue Jay. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Gray Catbird. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 1100, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Gray Catbird. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 1100, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
American Goldfinch. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 220, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
American Goldfinch. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 220, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
American Goldfinch. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 1000, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
American Goldfinch. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 1000, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Spring flowers of the day include Rhododendron, Red Oriental Poppy, Cosmos, and Foxglove. What I thought was a Gladiolus plant growing up through a crack in the patio blue-stones turned out to be a Foxglove plant.


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

I spent most of the day out on the patio assembling the new Grow Towers and transplanting the indoor hydroponic strawberry plants to the outdoor Grow Towers. The activity was recorded by a Garmin VIRB-360 camera and used to create two time-lapse Little Planet videos.

Daily Electric Energy Used (46.3 kWh) from meter readings the Sense Home Energy Monitor. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (81.1 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Sun with some clouds. A surplus of 34.8 kWh.


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Tuesday (19-May-2020) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day — American Robin and Eastern Phoebe. Kermit and brothers in the pond. Spring flowers of the day include Gladiolus, Five-spot, Rhododendron, Sweet William, Blue Flax, Baby Blue Eyes, Daisy, Dame’s Rocket, Siberian Wallflowers, California Poppy, and Red Poppy. The Gladiolus is growing up through a crack in the patio blue-stones. I’ve never planted Gladiolus bulbs before so this must have come from some random blown seed??? I spend much of the day cleaning up the patio, and assembling a Grow Tower. The activity was recorded by a Garmin VIRB-360 camera and used to create two time-lapse videos.

American Robin hunting for a worm. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
American Robin hunting for a worm. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Eastern Phoebe on a branch. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Eastern Phoebe on a branch. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)


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


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

Daily Electric Energy Used (47.0 kWh) from meter readings the Sense Home Energy Monitor. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (77.0 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Sun with some clouds. A surplus of 30.0 kWh.


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Monday (18-May-2020) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

I went out just after sunrise to check if any of the poppy flowers started to open, and noticed a very small fawn with spots lying down in the clovers. The Doe left it for daycare while she went out for something to eat.


Young Spotted Fawn. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

I continue to monitor the Eastern Phoebe nest above my door. So far just one of the parents sitting on the nest — no evidence any of the eggs have hatched.

Eastern Phoebe sitting in the nest. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 200 mm f/2 OIS lens + 1.4x teleconverter (ISO 1600, 280 mm, f/2.8, 1/280 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Eastern Phoebe sitting in the nest. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 200 mm f/2 OIS lens + 1.4x teleconverter (ISO 1600, 280 mm, f/2.8, 1/280 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Spring flowers of the day include Five-spot, Dandelion, Johnny Jump Up, Rhododendron, Forget-me-not, Siberian Wallflowers, California Poppy, and Red Poppy.


Daily Flowers — Landscape. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Daily Flowers — Portrait. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Grass grows fast this time of the year and needed to be cut.

Daily Electric Energy Used (53.1 kWh) from meter readings the Sense Home Energy Monitor. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (61.6 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Intermittent clouds all day. A surplus of 8.5 kWh.


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