Brown Thrashers In My Backyard

Hello bird lovers!

Since the start of the summer months, these lovely Brown Thrashers (Toxostoma rufum) have been seen in my back yard digging through the grass, taking dirt baths in various patches of loose soil, and occasionally actually eating from my feeder. I've counted at least one adult and one juvenile since mid-July.

Brown Thrashers are a part of the family Mimidae, which also includes mockingbirds. They can be found throughout eastern and central North America in the eastern and central United States and southern and central Canada east of the Rocky Mountains.

These lovely birds live year-round in my home state of South Carolina and the rest of the American Deep South. The Brown Thrasher is also the official state bird of the State of Georgia.

Here are some of the photos I've taken since mid-July and early August of the pair that visit my back yard.

Juvenile Brown thrasher dust bathing.
This helps birds to rid mites and excess feathers during molting.

Monday Meme: How I Learned About Classical Music 01

Night Sky Photography -- 08-14/15-2024 -- Jupiter & Mars Conjunction With Morning Constellations!

The conjunction of Jupiter and Mars as seen from my back yard
just above the treetops about 85 minutes before sunrise.
You can also see the major morning stars of several constellations.

 

Since the start of August 2024, both Jupiter and Mars can be seen shining brightly in the eastern morning sky, moving ever closer to each other in their respective orbits around the Sun. I've been following its progress when clear skies permitted.

On the morning of Wednesday, August 14th, the two planets finally reached conjunction, appearing very close to each other -- less than a full moon’s width apart on the morning sky. Mars passed just over the top of Jupiter and will continue to appear to be close to the gas giant planet for at least one more early morning on Thursday, August 15th before the two planets move farther away from each other.

The following are the photos I took early this morning of the conjunction.

In my cover photo for this post above taken about 85 minutes before sunrise, y'all can see the two planets together in the early morning sky as I saw them from the vantage point in my back yard seeing them rising just above the tops of the tree line; along with some of the brightest stars of the morning constellations.

Both Jupiter and Mars can be see together just inside the Constellation Taurus The Bull near the bright red-giant star, Aldebaran -- the Eye of the Bull.

In my next photo, I labeled the two planets positions, along with all the nearby bright stars and the Hyades and Pleiades Star Clusters, and Orion's Belt asterism. I also included the approximate location of the distant planet Uranus near the Pleiades. This was taken about 75 minutes before sunrise.

In addition to the bright planets in close conjunction, y'all can see nearly all the major stars of the Constellations Orion, Taurus, Auriga, and Gemini. I outlined the constellations in their exact locations in my next photo. Both Jupiter and Mars are virtually in the center of the four visible constellations inside of Taurus.

My final photo for the morning of the 14th is a really good close-up of the conjunction of Jupiter and Mars, along with two of Jupiter's largest moons: Europa and Callisto, both visible in the shot. Europa is the smallest of the four Galilean Moons, and Callisto is the second largest of Jupiter's moon -- as well as the third-largest moon in our Solar System after Ganymede and Titan (Saturn's largest moon).

The next morning on Thursday, August 15th, I took two more photos of the conjunction and the morning stars, this time capturing both of the Gemini Twin stars just above the trees. Y'all can see now that Mars has begun moving past Jupiter and closer towards the east and sunrise. The close up shot of the plants now shows all four of the Galilean Moons now visible -- Io is just barely visible coming from just behind the gas giant planet.

While Mars appears close to the giant planet from our vantage point here on Earth, in reality the two planets are separated by a mean distance of around 342 million miles (or, about 550 million kilometers, or around 3.7 AUs give or take). Still, it makes a very impressive sight in the morning sky.

Well, once again I hope y'all enjoyed my photos of the conjunction. To all my fellow amateur stargazers out there: be sure to keep your eyes to the evening skies, y'all hear.

Summer Birds In My Feeder

Well, its August in my corner of South Carolina once again.

Over the last few days I've been able to capture some really beautiful shots of the summer birds in North America stopping in my back yard to feast in my bird feeder. These beautiful feathered visitors include: Sparrows, Chickadees, House Finches, Cardinals, and the occasional Brown Thrasher.