Waxing Gibbous - David Mathre Photography

Friday (15-October-2021) — New Jersey

Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Mourning Dove, Turkey Vulture, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Black-capped Chickadee, European Starling, American Robin, House Finch.

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

Flowers (and plants) of the day: Chinese Forget-me-not, Cosmos, Marigold, Plains Coreopsis, Teasel.

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

Time-lapse video of a day in the wildflower meadow. This section was plated late in summer with Cosmos and Plains Coreopsis. The earlier planting in this section failed, mainly coming up with tall grass instead of the spring to summer wildflowers. I mowed the grass down, rototilled, and covered with a black-agricultural fabric to kill off the weeds for several weeks before replanting. I am now starting to get some flowers even though the plants are not very tall. Another section was planted with Marigold and Zinnia. They are not growing very fast, and have not bloomed. It also doesn’t help that the Deer and Ground Hog continue to nibble on the small plants. [Click on the full screen button, bottom right corner to view a larger image.]

I haven’t seen any Monarch butterflies until today since August. Usually there are some of the group that migrates south to hibernate around in October. One of the places that I usually see them in October is at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. This year the brush along the high-pressure underground gas line was mowed, and there are no flowers to attract the Monarch butterflies. Today, while rototilling one of my wildflower meadows to prepare for next spring I noticed the shadow of a butterfly flying. When I turned around, I saw a Monarch. It landed on a Zinnia flower. I dropped everything and ran inside to get a camera. When I got back outside, I found the Monarch feeding on a Marigold flower.

Monarch butterfly feeding on a Marigold flower. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Deer in the backyard. They keep trying to get into the fenced off areas. Some look pretty scrawny.

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

Waxing Gibbous moon with my new Sigma 150-600 mm sport (L-mount) lens on a Leica SL2 camera.

Waxing Gibbous moon. (David J Mathre) — Waxing Gibbous Moon. Image taken with a Leica SL2 camera and Sigma 150-600 mm OIS lens (handheld). (David J Mathre)

Daily Electric Energy Used (53.4 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (33.3 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sunny. Deficit of 20.1 kWh.

Monday (28-September-2020) — New Jersey

Early Autumn Nighttime Sky over New Jersey.

Although it was cloudy much of the day, the sky cleared early in the evening. Waxing Gibbous Moon, image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 lens (hand-held).

alt_title. (David J Mathre) — Waxing Gibbous Moon. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens (ISO 100, 500 mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec). (David J Mathre)

Daily Electric Energy Used (48.6 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (31.0 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Cloudy much of the day. A deficit of 17.6 kWh.

Seven-Years Ago (28-August-2012) — North Atlantic Ocean

Gone to see Europe. Semester at Sea. Fall 2012 Semester Voyage on the MV Explorer. Day 06: At Sea, North Atlantic Ocean.

It was another rough night with heavy seas. I got a picture of the waves outside my cabin portal. By dawn all of the water in the pool had sloshed out and the deck chairs were all tied down. During the day the wind reduced and the seas had calmed. By early evening the happy students escaping from cabin fever were out on deck for sunset. While shooting sunset, I looked behind and saw some students on the upper deck with the waxing Gibbous Moon in the sky next to them. I would watch out for this type of moon shot on subsequent Semester at Sea voyages. I am waiting for a camera and telephoto lens combination where both the people and moon are in focus (infinite depth of field, and infinite ISO, with no noise).

Rough Seas at Night from my Cabin Portal. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 25600, 16 mm, f/3.2, 1/60 sec). (David J Mathre)

Click on the above image to access the individual images in the slideshow.

Four-Years Ago (27-August-2015) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Night Sky Over New Jersey.

Star trails looking north and the waxing gibbous moon (both a composite and time-lapse video).

Startrails Looking North. Composite of 60 images taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 10.5 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 100, 10.5 mm, f/4, 120 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro with the composite processed using Phototshop CC Statictics/Maximum. (David J Mathre)

Waxing Gibbous Moon. Composite of 12 images taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/11, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)

Five-Years Ago (14-September-2013) — New Jersey

Backyard Late Summer Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey.

[Updated from five-years ago. Added a slideshow with the 25 individual frames extracted from the video.]

Last night the sky was clear, and the waxing gibbous moon (61%) bright, so I set up a couple of cameras with big lenses out on the deck. One of the systems (Nikon D4 camera TC-E III 20 teleconverter and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 400, 1200 mm, f/8, 1/60 sec)) was set to record video (1080p, 30 fps). While reviewing the videos I noticed one with something (a bird?) passing in front of the moon. Played back at 10 fps shows the transit to occur over 25 frames. The bird is not very clear, or in focus relative to the moon. Someday, I want to catch a satellite transiting in front of the moon.

Individual images from the slideshow can be viewed here.