User: `Rhododendrites`

Long-time Wikimedian who decided, a few years ago, to try to take better pictures to contribute to Commons. I feel like I've learned a lot from this community, and continue to do so. Always welcome photography tips/constructive criticism.

Though I take pictures of lots of things, a few areas of concentration are the New York City area in general, protests, conventions (not so much in 2020), and birds (much more so in 2020). If you're in NYC (or coming to NYC) and want tips or to plan a photography outing, let me know. There are several Wikimedian photographers here.

My main camera is an Olympus OM-D E-M5 mark ii (micro four-thirds format). I like it, but don't know if I can recommend the format any longer. Olympus announced in 2020 that they plan to get out of the camera game. The future of its camera business seems unclear at the moment, possibly being transferred to another company, and Panasonic is the only other company making the gear (with some compatibility issues around the way they do their image stabilization). I hope it'll look up, but we'll see.

This is my main account for contributing to Wikimedia projects. From March-July 2021, I contracted with the Wikimedia Foundation, researching the impact of Suggested Edits on Commons. My WMF account is User:Rhododendrites (WMF), which is now inactive. Edits I make through this account are strictly as a volunteer.

Rhododendrites

rhododendrites AT gmail DOT com

(FP-VI-QI)

 
Featured Pictures - the birds
Image 1Yellow-bellied sapsucker in Central Park
Image 2Gray catbird in Central Park
Image 3Mandarin duck drake in eclipse plumage in Royal Lazienki Park
Image 4Ruby-crowned kinglet in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 5Tufted titmouse with a seed in Prospect Park
Image 6Female wood duck
Image 7Juvenile Forster's tern calling for its parent in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Image 8White ibis in Ocean City, New Jersey (I kind of prefer the uncropped version)
Image 9Bay-breasted warbler in Central Park
Image 10Eastern wood pewee in Central Park
Image 11Piping plover in Queens
Image 12White-breasted nuthatch doing its nuthatchy pose in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 13Tree swallow on a nest box in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Image 14Close-up of a white-throated sparrow in Central Park
Image 15Male northern shoveler in Marine Park, Brooklyn
Image 16Three ring-billed gulls in Red Hook
Image 17Ring-billed gull in flight over Red Hook, Brooklyn
Image 18Snowy egret
Image 19Baltimore oriole (immature/female) in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 20Snowy egret in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Image 21Pine siskin in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 22Western gull sitting on a boat in San Francisco Bay
Image 23Scarlet tanager eating a berry in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 24Ovenbird in Prospect Park
Image 25Great egret stabbing the water in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 26Gray catbird watching a hawk fly overhead in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Image 27Field sparrow in Central Park
Image 28Juvenile yellow-bellied sapsucker in Prospect Park
Image 29Golden-crowned kinglet
Image 30A rescued American kestrel that couldn't be released so is now serving as an "ambassador" bird
Image 31Lesser yellowlegs at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Image 32Green heron in Prospect Park
Image 33Ospreys in a nest on Sandy Hook, New Jersey
Image 34Lesser yellowlegs wading at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Image 35Redhead in Central Park
Image 36Northern mockingbird on a fence in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
Image 37European starlings on a birdhouse on Staten Island
Image 38Blackpoll warbler in a flowering dogwood tree in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 39Piping plover chick in Queens
Image 40Immature cooper's hawk in Prospect Park
Image 41Mourning dove perched in Prospect Park, Brooklyn
Image 42Brown creeper about to be released at a bird banding station in the United States
Image 43Tufted titmouse floofed up in Central Park
Image 44Anna's hummingbird in Pacifica, California
Image 45Cape May warbler in Prospect Park
Image 46Canada goose gosling in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 47First winter laughing gull in Riverhead, New York
Image 48Common grackle showing off its iridescence in Central Park
Image 49Northern flicker looking out from its nest in the Central Park North Woods
Image 50Mute swan and cygnets on a duckweed-covered pond
Image 51European starling in Central Park
Image 52Black-capped chickadee at a feeder in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 53Downy woodpecker with a leaf on its nose in Prospect Park
Image 54Female hooded merganser resting on the Central Park Reservoir
Image 55Ring-billed gull in a rainbow over Niagara Falls
Image 56American robin making a dog whistle-like alarm call in Prospect Park
Image 57Red-tailed hawk, fearsome predator
Image 58Ring-billed gull preening/bathing in Marine Park
Image 59Blue jay in Prospect Park
Image 60Rehabilitated eastern screech owl
Image 61White-breasted nuthatch on a suet feeder in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 62Chipping sparrow on a grave in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 63Huge flock of gulls just after they were spooked by something during a horseshoe crab feeding frenzy in Cape May, New Jersey
Image 64Male house sparrow in Prospect Park
Image 65American avocet
Image 66Great blue heron on frozen pond in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 67Northern cardinal female in Central Park
Image 68Female brown-headed cowbird chattering in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Image 69Red-necked phalarope at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Image 70Male yellow-rumped warbler singing in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 71Immature mute swan in Prospect Park
Image 72Cedar waxwing in pokeweed in Prospect Park
Image 73Immature herring gull manipulating a clam in Marine Park, Brooklyn
Image 74Northern mockingbird in a "tail up" display in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 75Male northern cardinal in Central Park
Image 76American coot in Prospect Park
Image 77Black-and-white warbler in Prospect Park
Image 78Cedar waxwing in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 79Song sparrow on Lookout Hill in Prospect Park
Image 80Blue jay fledgling calling for its parent in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 81Mute swan cygnet pontoon on a duckweed-covered pond
Image 82Great blue heron in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 83American tree sparrow in Central Park
Image 84Palm warbler in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 85American robin
Image 86Downy woodpecker foraging in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 87Male black-throated green warbler in Prospect Park
Image 88Northern waterthrush in Central Park
Image 89House sparrows in Central Park
Image 90Female northern cardinal in Central Park
Image 91American oystercatcher family portrait on Fort Tilden beach
Image 92Winter wren in Prospect Park
Image 93Great black-backed gull in Quogue, NY
Image 94Red-tailed hawk yearbook photo, class of 2022, Central Park
Image 95Killdeer at the South Cape May Meadows
Image 96Marsh wren singing at Hammonasset Beach State Park
Image 97Great blue heron lurching its head back to swallow a brown watersnake in Green Cay Wetlands
Image 98Apricot Mandarin duckling in Royal Lazienki Park
Image 99House wren doing its best eel impression guarding its nestbox.
Image 100Juvenile American robin
Image 101Ring-billed gull in Red Hook, Brooklyn
Image 102Marsh wren singing at Hammonasset Beach State Park
Image 103Gray catbird in Prospect Park
Image 104Purple martin in flight in Cape May, New Jersey
Image 105Northern rough-winged swallows in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Image 106Veery in the Central Park Ramble
Image 107House finch with a sunflower seed at a feeder in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 108Short-billed dowitcher in the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge East Pond
Image 109A rescued Eurasian eagle-owl
Image 110White-throated sparrow in Prospect Park
Image 111Northern shoveler pair "shoveling" together in Marine Park, Brooklyn
Image 112Black-capped chickadee eating seeds in Central Park
Image 113Red-tailed hawk rescue
Image 114Gray catbird with a chokeberry in Prospect Park
Image 115Wood duck drake vocalizing in Central Park
Image 116Western tanager which popped up in NYC, far from its usual range
Image 117Fish crow cawing in Red Hook, Brooklyn
Image 118Semipalmated sandpiper at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Image 119Brown thrasher (snow-nosed variety) in Central Park
 
Featured Pictures - everything else
Image 1Pier 66 and Hudson Yards
Image 2Moss-covered oak trees in the Bothe-Napa Valley State Park
Image 3Composite of a clementine with/without peel
Image 4Daubeny's water lily
Image 5Crook Point Bascule Bridge in Providence. It's been stuck in the open position for 50 years. A local landmark, but slated for destruction soon.
Image 6Eastern gray squirrel in Central Park
Image 7Bigfin reef squid at Monterey Bay Aquarium
Image 8Burberry rainbow cape at the Camp: Notes on Fashion exhibition
Image 9Sarracenia leucophylla
Image 10Rooftop farm on the Lower East Side
Image 11Abandoned building in Floyd Bennett Field
Image 12Black Lives Matter mural in Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Image 13Memorial to the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting, taken just after Stonewall Inn was designated part of a National Monument
Image 14Comme des Garcons at the Met
Image 15White (leucistic) eastern gray squirrel with a peanut
Image 16Prospect Park Vale of Cashmere covered in lesser celandine, with a leucistic white squirrel in the distance
Image 17Ash tree behind a columbarium in Mount Auburn Cemetery
Image 18Male elephant seal resting between fights in Ano Nuevo
Image 19Jun Takahashi dress for Undercover in the Sleeping Beauties exhibition at the Met
Image 20Defunct Chestnut Hill Pumping Station in Boston
Image 21Monarch butterfly caterpillar on butterfly weed
Image 22Northern elephant seals in Ano Nuevo, California
Image 23Male eastern amberwing dragonfly in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Image 24Manhattan at night, looking north from Rockefeller Center
Image 25Redbeckia occidentalis
Image 26Open Ocean exhibit at Monterey Bay Aquarium
Image 27Green iguana panorama in Palm Beach County
Image 28Coleus
Image 29California sea lion in La Jolla. My first experience seeing wild sea lions in person. It was ... loud. This one just looked downright majestic in the sun.
Image 30Quarry in Makhtesh Ramon
Image 31Maroon Bells
Image 32Florence seen from the Duomo terrace
Image 33One World Trade Center through the Oculus
Image 34Eastern amberwing
Image 35Algal mat in Marine Park, Brooklyn
Image 36Immature male blue dasher
Image 37A cavapoo dog chasing a malipoo dog with a ball
Image 38Frizzle sizzle
Image 39Oculus
Image 40Stata Center at MIT
Image 41Bow Bridge in Central Park (panorama)
Image 42A mural of patients in the long-defunct Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital
Image 43Chinese mantis ootheca in Marine Park, Brooklyn
Image 44Two juvenile Nubian ibex
Image 45Monarch butterfly
Image 46Ship in the San Francisco Bay fog. Got lucky with the dramatic fog on this one, which opened up just enough to frame the ship in light.
Image 47Coney Island Mermaid Parade
Image 48Eldridge Street Synagogue
Image 49Group photo of four pears
Image 50Common buckeye in Eagle Creek Park, Indianapolis
Image 51A mural of patients in the long-defunct Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital
Image 52Boston Public Garden
Image 53Makhtesh Ramon
Image 54Glass blower. This was moments before he accidentally dropped it. Heartbreaking (and vasebreaking). Talented folks here, though, and I actually went back a while later and took a class. Got a piece of lit up frozen spaghetti to prove it.
Image 55Pond sliders (red and yellow) and a river cooter fighting for basking space
Image 56Waldemarsviken in Stockholm
Image 57City Hall Station in Manhattan, abandoned since 1945 because it looked cool but didn't
Image 58California sea lion nap time at La Jolla Cove
Image 59Bluebells in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Image 60Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge East Pond
Image 61Bee balm seedhead
Image 62Familiar bluet in the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Image 63The Seaside Sanatorium in Connecticut
Image 64Salix catkins
Image 65Eastern cicada killer perched on a black-eyed susan
Image 66Fulton Center skylight
Image 67Condenser at the defunct Chestnut Hill Pumping Station
Image 68Lower Manhattan panorama
Image 69Panorama of the Apennine Colossus in Tuscany
Image 70The Dyker Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn is known for lots of elaborate Christmas lights, earning the nickname "Dyker Lights"
Image 71Magnolia x veitchii bud
Image 72Eastern chipmunk with stuffed cheeks in Prospect Park
Image 73Sukkah at Congregation Emanu-El of New York
Image 74Raccoon in Central Park
Image 75Red squirrel in Lazienki Park
Image 76White (leucistic) eastern gray squirrel perched on a tree in Brooklyn
Image 77Rice paper butterfly with light shining through in Butterfly World, Florida
Image 78Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco (18-frame panorama)
Image 79Triq San Patrizju facing the Basilica Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Valletta, Malta
Image 80Maroon Bells. Easily one of the most awe-inspiring natural scenes I've experienced.
Image 81Hell Gate Bridge
Image 82Sunset sky over Governors Island, NYC (panorama)
Image 83Window in a cafe in San Gimignano, Italy
Image 84Abandoned car in Marine Park, Brooklyn
Image 85Panorama of the once-active waterfront of Sunset Park, Brooklyn
Image 86Toronto Reference Library interior from the top floor
Image 87An island (with ospreys) in Trustom Pond in the fog
Image 88Lincoln Center during Pride at dusk
Image 89Hudson Yards in New York, taken from the top of Hudson Commons (9-frame panorama)
Image 90Cattlianthe Gold Digger ‘Orglade's Mandarin’ orchid
Image 91Hell Gate Bridge, with a scow being towed along the Hell Gate section of the East River
Image 92TWA Hotel
Image 93Monarch butterfly
Image 94American lady butterfly on a purple coneflower
Image 95Sasheer Zamata at a Time's Up event during the Tribeca Film Festival
Image 96Juvenile Nubian ibex on a wall at the edge of Makhtesh Ramon
Image 97Male tiger swallowtail butterfly in Central Park (missing its tails)
Image 98Pond sliders in Prospect Park
Image 99Coney Island Mermaid Parade (no, this is not a picture of Rhododendrites)
Image 100A [pretty dodgy] bridge along a cliff path at the edge of Makhtesh Ramon
Image 101Quogue Village Wetlands Preserve
Image 102Saint Christopher Street in Valletta
Image 103Great golden digger wasp in Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Image 104Optical illusion on the floor of the Florence Cathedral
Image 105Alexander Hamilton Custom House Collector's Room ceiling. Had to be a bit obnoxious to get this one, setting up a little tripod in the center of a crowded room and actually getting down on the floor to frame it. Who doesn't like a nice ornate ceiling with a nautical theme, though?
Image 106Razor clamshell dress from spring/summer 2001, in the Sleeping Beauties exhibition at The Met
Image 107Wonder Wheel sign on Coney Island
Image 108Crocuses in early spring.