Tuesday (16-June-2020) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

Wildflower Meadow -- Little Planet View. Image taken with a Garmin VIRB-360 camera (ISO 100, 1 mm, f/2, 1/1996 sec) (DAVID J MATHRE)
Wildflower Meadow — Little Planet View. Image taken with a Garmin VIRB-360 camera (ISO 100, 1 mm, f/2, 1/1996 sec) (DAVID J MATHRE)

Birds of the Day — Northern Cardinal, Black-capped Chickadee, House Finch, Gray Catbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Blue Jay, and Tufted Titmouse. The Eastern Phoebe continues to sit on the nest.


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

Spring flowers of the day — Red and Pink Poppies, Larkspur/Delphinium, and Blanket Flower


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

Kermit (and his brothers) in the pond.


Bullfrogs in the pond. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

A Groundhog started digging a nest into the rock wall supporting my patio. I need to deal with this before it destabilizes the wall. ARRG!


Young Groundhog on my patio. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (38.1 kWh) from Sense. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (86.9 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Lots of sun. A surplus of 48.8 kWh.


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Monday (15-June-2020) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day — Northern Cardinal, Black-capped Chickadee, House Finch, Gray Catbird, Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and Tufted Titmouse. I’m having a hard time differentiating the female/immature House Finch from the immature Brown-headed Cowbird. One of my photography mentors called all small brown birds LBJ’s (little brown jobs). Good practice to photograph birds, but will drive you crazy trying to identify.


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

Spring flowers of the day — Red Poppies.

Red/Oriental Poppies. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Red/Oriental Poppies. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Red/Oriental Poppies. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Red/Oriental Poppies. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (41.5 kWh) from Sense. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (77.5 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sun and clouds. A surplus of 36.0 kWh.



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Monday (08-May-2020) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

Back Wildflower Meadow. Last year this was a mixture of wildflowers and sunflowers. The sunflowers dominated. In the fall I used the brush mower to cut everything down. I didn’t plant additional seeds and this is the result. The plants that I have identified include Red Poppy, Lance-leaf Coreopsis, Bachelor Button, Cornflowers (various colors — white, pink, purple), Sweet William (various colors — white, pink, red, dark-red), and Evening Primrose. I haven’t seen any sunflowers, so the birds and mice got all of those seeds.

Wildflower Meadow. Composite images taken with a Leica CL camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 400, 35 mm, f/8, 1/80 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Wildflower Meadow. Composite images taken with a Leica CL camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 400, 35 mm, f/8, 1/80 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)


Back Wildflower Meadow. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Birds of the Day — Brown-headed Cowbird, Northern Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse and lots of immature/junior birds.


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

Daily Electric Energy Used (50.1 kWh) from meter reading. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (89.3 kWh) from meter reading. Much more sun. A surplus of 39.2 kWh.


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Friday (05-June-2020) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day — Mourning Dove, Tufted Titmouse, Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, Blue Jay, and Eastern Phoebe. One chick remains in the Eastern Phoebe nest. Waiting to see if it is an Eastern Phoebe or Brown-headed Cowbird.


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

Lots of Poppies. Even after the thunderstorm last night knocked the old flowers down, new ones opened this morning. Spring flowers of the day — Red, Pink, Icelandic, Oriental, and California Poppies. Foxglove, Spiderwort, Evening Primrose, Daisy, Sweet William, Lance-leaf Coreopsis, and Tulip Tree.


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


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


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


Spring Wildflowers. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (44.7 kWh) from meter reading. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (38.7 kWh) from meter reading. Clouds and rain. A surplus of 6.0 kWh. Two days in a row with power outage.



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Monday (25-May-2020) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the Day — Brown-headed Cowbird, House Finch, Blue Jay, Tufted Titmouse, American Goldfinch, Northern Cardinal, Gray Catbird, Black-capped Chickadee, Mourning Dove, Carolina Wren, and Eastern Phoebe. Many of the birds are young. There continues to be lots of action at the Eastern Phoebe nest with both parents feed the new hatchlings.


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

Spring flowers of the day — Poppies (California, Oriental, Red), Dame’s Rocket, Five-spot, Rhododendron, Johnny Jump Up, Babies Blue Eyes, Bachelor Button, Cornflower, Sweet William, Dianthus, Siberian Wallflower, Daisy, Foxglove, Babies Breath, Grass Lily, Forget-me-not, and Tulip Tree.


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


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


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


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

While watching the birds, I caught a squirrel running across the backyard with a black walnut it burried last fall.

Squirrel with a Black Wallnut.  Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)
Squirrel with a Black Wallnut. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)


Squirrel running with a black walnut. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (47.1 kWh) from meter readings the Sense Home Energy Monitor. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (55.0 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Sun and clouds. A surplus of 7.9 kWh.


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