Tuesday (26-February-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Wintertime Nature in New Jersey.

alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Turkey Vulture Morning Coffee Break. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 160, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec). (David J Mathre)


alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Turkey Vulture Morning Yoga. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec). (David J Mathre)

Thursday (14-February-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Wintertime Nature in New Jersey.

I had some larger birds visit my patio and bird feeder on Valentines Day. I’m not sure if the Black Crow visiting attracted the Turkey Vultures?

alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Turkey Vulture. Image taken with a Nikon D5 Camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. (David J Mathre)




One-Year Ago (13-February-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Wintertime Nature in New Jersey.

The Turkey Vultures keep getting closer. There were nearly 40 in my neighbor’s yard and trees before I went out to take some pictures. I don’t want them on my roof leaving their droppings on the solar panels!

Two Turkey Vultures in the Late Afternoon Sun. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 80-400 mm VRII telephoto zoom lens (ISO 280, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Two Turkey Vultures in the Late Afternoon Sun. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 80-400 mm VRII telephoto zoom lens (ISO 280, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Turkey Vulture in the Late Afternoon Sun. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 80-400 mm VRII telephoto zoom lens (ISO 280, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Turkey Vulture in the Late Afternoon Sun. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 80-400 mm VRII telephoto zoom lens (ISO 280, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)

Sunday (20-January-2019) — New Jersey

Wintertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

The predicted snow didn’t happen. Instead heavy rain last night (~ 1.8 inches. When I woke up it was foggy out and warm (~ 45 °F). During the day the temperature is forecast to drop 30-40 degrees with heavy winds. During the day the sky cleared so I plan to see and photograph the lunar eclipse (“Wolf Blood Moon”). It will be cold, and I will need to tie down the camera tripods.

alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Foggy Winter Morning. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 3200, 600 mm, f/4, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)



Individual images from the slideshow can be viewed here.

Thursday (06-December-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Nature in New Jersey.

I woke up early, and could see some interesting dawn colors developing. I set up a Fuji X-T3 camera and a brand new Fujion 8-16 mm f/2.8 lens to take a series of images for a time-lapse video. I also brought out a Leica T camera with a 11-23 mm lens for some dawn panorama images. I had forgotten how ornery the Leica T camera is in cold weather. It was a little below freezing (26°F, -3°C). I had a hard time changing the camera settings, so did the best I could. I’ve said this before, it is difficult to believe that a German designed and built camera doesn’t work well at temperatures below freezing. When I asked Leica about this their response was the working temperature specifications for the camera only went down to 0°C. Doesn’t it ever get colder than that in Germany??? In addition to the dawn panorama images, I’ve included some showing a swarm of Turkey Vultures starting to soar just before sunrise.

alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Colorful Clouds at Dawn. Composite of seven images taken with a Leica TL camera and 11-23 mm lens (ISO 100, 23 mm, f/4.5, 1/250 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and the composite generated with AutoPano Giga Pro. (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Colorful Clouds at Dawn. Composite of three images taken with a Leica TL camera and 11-23 mm lens (ISO 100, 11 mm, f/3.5, 1/250 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and the composite generated with AutoPano Giga Pro. (David J Mathre)