Birds of the Day — Brown-headed Cowbird, House Finch, Northern Cardinal, Pileated Woodpecker, and Eastern Phoebe. I haven’t seen the Pileated Woodpecker in my yard for some time. I’ve heard it working on the neighbors trees looking for grubs. The Eastern Phoebes are back to just feeding the two young chicks in the nest.
Birds of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Pileated Woodpecker. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Spring flowers of the day — Poppies (California, Oriental, Red), Bachelor Button, Crimson Clover, Tulip Tree, Cornflower, Forget-me-not, Rhododendron, Baby Blue Eyes, and Johnny Jump Up, Evening Primrose, and Daisy.
Spring Flowers of the Day – Portrait. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Spring Flowers of the Day — Landscape. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
I got part of the yard mowed before it started raining. Time-lapse video recorded using a Garmin VIRB-360 camera
Daily Electric Energy Used (47.3 kWh) from meter readings the Sense Home Energy Monitor. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (24.9 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Fog in the morning and clouds in the afternoon. A deficit of 22.4 kWh.
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)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 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.
Norwegian Independence Day for those in Norway. A busy day today. The trap in the patio was set up overnight for the band of raccoons. Instead, early in the morning the young fox visited several times. Each time circling and sniffing the trap. Then it entered, tasted the apple scraps and backed out. The fox would have been OK, but got greedy. A minute later, it reentered and set off the trap. As soon as it was light out, I let him out of jail.
Springtime Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro OIS lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Birds observed on the patio or while on my daily backyard walkabout include American Crow, Northern Cardinal, House Finch, Brown-headed Cowbird, Gray Catbird, Tufted Titmouse, Eastern Phoebe, and Turkey Vulture. I finally got an image of the Eastern Phoebe sitting on its nest. I also captured an image an immature Northern Cardinal is being fed by its father. I observed this behavior six years ago while on a bird photography workshop in southern Texas. One of the images I took at that time was my most viewed and commented on the now defunct Google Plus.
Birds of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Eastern Phoebe sitting in the nest. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 1600, 261 mm, f/11, 1/45 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Northern Cardinals. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Father feeding Immature Northern Cardinal. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 1600, 600 mm, f/8, 1/200 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)Male Northern Cardinal Feeding Breakfast to a Young Cardinal at a Private Ranch in Southern Texas. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 500 mm f/4 lens (ISO 500, 500 mm, f/5.6, 1/2000 sec. (David J Mathre)Male Northern Cardinal Feeding Breakfast to a Young Cardinal at a Private Ranch in Southern Texas. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 140, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec. (David J Mathre)Male Northern Cardinal Feeding Breakfast to a Young Cardinal at a Private Ranch in Southern Texas. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1600, 500 mm, f/5.6, 1/2000 sec. (David J Mathre)
Spring flowers of the day include Five-spot, Dandelion, Johnny Jump Up, Rhododendron, Forget-me-not, Daisy, Flax, Sweet William, California Poppy, and Red Poppy.
Wildflowers of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Red and California Poppy Flowers of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Kermit along with his brother, cousin, and uncle (also named Kermit) out in the backyard pond.
Kermit Clan sunning at the backyard pond. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Daily Electric Energy Used (52.3 kWh) from meter readings the Sense Home Energy Monitor. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (67.6 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Lots of Sun and intermittent clouds. A surplus of 15.3 kWh.
Weekly Electric Energy Used (356 kWh) from meter readings the Sense Home Energy Monitor. The weekly Solar Electric Energy Produced (514 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Finely, a week with a decent surplus (158 kWh).
Independent young Fox out on its own again early this morning, captured by infrared video. The young fox is not much smaller than the neighborhood cats. The adult fox seen two nights earlier (03-May-2020) is larger than the local cats.
Daily Electric Energy Used (52.8 kWh) from meter readings the Sense Home Energy Monitor. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (70.4 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. A surplus of 17.6 kWh.
Fox running across the yard early in the morning caught on infrared video.
Daily Electric Energy Used (42.5 kWh) from meter readings the Sense Home Energy Monitor. The daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (57.1 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. A surplus of 14.6 kWh.
Weekly Electric Energy Used (348 kWh) from meter readings the Sense Home Energy Monitor. Weekly Solar Electric Energy Produced (336 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. A small deficit of 12 kWh.
