David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Turkey Vulture in a Tree Waiting to Warm in the Morning Sun. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 camera, FT1 adapter, and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VRII lens (ISO 160, 200 mm, f/2.8, 1/1600 sec).
Pair of Bucks in My Backyard. Now that it is hunting season, they stay close to the house – and I don’t often see two bucks being peaceful during the rutting season. The turkey vultures were also soaring looking for road killed deer. More deer are killed by automobiles than hunters.
A late-winter walkabout in my backyard. Fresh snow on the ground. Tracks from a neighbor’s cat in the front yard, and tracks from many deer in the backyard. Based on the droppings, there was not much for the deer to eat. There were birds out. A turkey vulture soaring, a white-throated sparrow, a male house finch. I am not sure if the one with the crossed bill is a female house finch or something else.
Cat tracks in my front yard. Late winter snow in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 80 mm, f/11, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)
The temperatures dropped from nearly 70°F (~20°C) yesterday to below freezing most of today. It was sunny most of the day, so the solar panels were generating electricity (50.3 kWh). Later in the afternoon some clouds rolled in, and we had a quick snow storm. I went out to get some pictures of the flowers that recently bloomed across the street with the recent snow before the sun went down. I also got some pictures of a turkey vulture soaring above my backyard in the late afternoon sun.
Although my neighbor got lots of maple sap from his trees this year, the tap he put in my maple tree didn’t produce much. Since it did get cold again, I will drill a new hole and see if I get anything. Maybe, my maple tree feels it already gave too much to the cicadas that live for 13 or 17 years under the tree.
After the storm passed, some clouds lit up as the sun went down.
Backyard Winter Nature in New Jersey: Turkey Vultures.
Images taken while on a walkabout in my backyard with a Nikon D2xs camera and 80-400 mm VR lens. The picture of the Turkey Vulture passing the moon was a lucky “grab shot”. I’ve tried to repeat the shot many times, but have never been successful.
