The flock of feisty Pine Siskin descended on the birdfeeders in the morning. Then all of a sudden the birds disappeared. I noticed a Cooper’s Hawk perched on a tree in the backyard. After the hawk left, some of the local birds (Mourning Dove, Black-capped Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, House Finch, and a few Pine Siskins) returned to the birdfeeders. Also in the afternoon a number of Turkey Vultures and Black Vultures found a dead critter.
Pine Siskins at the Birdfeeders. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Cooper’s Hawk. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Afternoon at the Birdfeeders. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Turkey and Black Vultures. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Daily Electric Energy Used (36.2 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (20.7 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sun and clouds. Geothermal HVAC system off. A deficit of 15.5 kWh.
More bands of rain from Hurricane Delta remnants kept the birds away in the morning. The birdfeeders were then swarmed by a flock of feisty Pine Siskin. Only a few of the local birds were able to get to the birdfeeders
Afternoon at the Birdfeeders: Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, House Finch, Pine Siskin, and American Goldfinch.
Afternoon at the Birdfeeders. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Daily Electric Energy Used (36.0 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (5.1 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Clouds and rain from the Hurricane Delta remnants. Geothermal HVAC system off. A deficit of 30.9 kWh.
Afternoon at the Birdfeeders: Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, House Finch, American Goldfinch, Song Sparrow, and Northern Cardinal.
Afternoon at the Birdfeeders. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Contact me if you are interested in a Time-lapse Video of the session at the Birdfeeders. My setup for the birdfeeder images is a Nikon D850 camera and 200 mm f/2 VR lens set to take one image every 5 seconds over a 5 hour period (~3600 images). The new time-lapse video format is 720p (1080 x 720 pixels) and 1 frame/second. The length of the video is about 1 hour in a 1 GB MP4 file. The previous time-lapse videos of the birdfeeders were at 12 frames/second, and to be honest were too fast to identify the birds.
Daily Electric Energy Used (35.3 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (54.6 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sunny. Geothermal HVAC system off A surplus of 19.3 kWh. Notice the hump in the afternoon solar — has to do with the Sycamore tree shading the roof mid-afternoon
I noticed several articles on the net about scientists testing the 3,200 megapixel camera for the Vera Rubin Observatory’s telescope by taking an image of a Romanesco broccoli. It didn’t look like the Broccoli that I am familiar with but was fascinated by the Fractal pattern. Romanesco broccoli was available online at Whole Foods so I ordered one for my weekly grocery delivery. It looks more like a Cauliflower, but green with Fractal like towers. I used it to create my version of a high-resolution focus-stacked image. I set up a Leica SL2 camera with a 50 mm f/1.4 lens on a tripod with a 10 cm focusing rail. The SL2 camera has the capability to take 187 megapixel images using pixel shifting technology via a Multishot mode (available after a Firmware 2.0 update). I took 87 high-resolution images (ISO 50, 50 mm, f/1.4, 1/10 sec) moving the camera forward in ~1 mm intervals. This resulted in 16,269 megapixels of data. The images were processed with Capture One Pro and then Helicon Focus to afford the following focus-stacked (12510 x 10008 pixel, 717 MB) images. The images is in focus for the full depth of the Romanesco broccoli. I love the natural Fractal patterns. You can see that there are some sections where black mold has started growing. Now to clean it up and figure out how to cook it for dinner.
Romanesco broccoli. Composite of 87 focus-stacked images taken with a Leica SL2 camera and 50 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 50, 50 mm, f/1.4, 1/10 sec, multi-shot mode). Images processed with Capture One Pro and Helicon Focus (Method A (contrast), Radius 8, Smoothing 4). (David J Mathre)Romanesco broccoli. Composite of 87 focus-stacked images taken with a Leica SL2 camera and 50 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 50, 50 mm, f/1.4, 1/10 sec, multi-shot mode). Images processed with Capture One Pro and Helicon Focus (Method B (Depth Map), Radius 8, Smoothing 4). (David J Mathre)Romanesco broccoli. Composite of 87 focus-stacked images taken with a Leica SL2 camera and 50 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 50, 50 mm, f/1.4, 1/10 sec, multi-shot mode). Images processed with Capture One Pro and Helicon Focus (Method C (Pyramid), Smoothing 4). (David J Mathre)
High-Resolution Focus Stacked image of Romanesco Broccoli cropped 1x, 2x, 4x, 16x, 32x. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Morning at the Birdfeeders: Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Gray Catbird, House Finch, American Goldfinch, Song Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.
Afternoon at the Birdfeeders. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Contact me if you are interested in a Time-lapse Video of this session at the Birdfeeders. My setup for the birdfeeder images is a Nikon D850 camera and 200 mm f/2 VR lens set to take one image every 5 seconds over a 5 hour period (~3600 images). The new time-lapse video format is 720p (1080 x 720 pixels) and 1 frame/second. The length of the video is about 1 hour in a 1 GB MP4 file. The previous time-lapse videos of the birdfeeders were at 12 frames/second, and to be honest were too fast to identify the birds.
Daily Electric Energy Used (34.9 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (35.0 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sun and clouds. A surplus of 0.1 kWh.
The birds noticed a cat lurking below the birdfeeder.
Local Neighborhood Cat Lurking below the Birdfeeder. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Morning at the Birdfeeders: Mourning Dove, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Thrasher, House Finch, American Goldfinch, Brown-headed Cowbird, and Northern Cardinal.
Morning at the Birdfeeder. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Afternoon at the Birdfeeders: Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, Brown Thrasher, House Finch, American Goldfinch, and Northern Cardinal.
Afternoon at the Birdfeeder. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Daily Electric Energy Used (75.7 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (66.1 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. More clouds. A deficit of 9.6 kWh. .
