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 1Eastern wood pewee in Prospect Park
Image 2Downy woodpecker with a leaf on its nose in Prospect Park
Image 3Black-capped chickadee eating seeds in Central Park
Image 4Gray catbird watching a hawk fly overhead in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Image 5Scarlet tanager eating a berry in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 6Northern mockingbird on a fence in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
Image 7Ovenbird in Prospect Park
Image 8Palm warbler in a meadow in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 9Blue jay fledgling calling for its parent in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 10Hermit thrush at Brooklyn Bridge Park
Image 11Green heron in Prospect Park
Image 12Western kingbird at Bush Terminal Park
Image 13Dark-eyed junco in Brooklyn
Image 14European starlings on a birdhouse on Staten Island
Image 15Male house sparrow in Prospect Park
Image 16Pine warbler in Brooklyn, NYC
Image 17Ring-billed gull in a rainbow over Niagara Falls
Image 18Tufted titmouse with a seed in Prospect Park
Image 19Male yellow-rumped warbler singing in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 20Common grackle in Prospect Park
Image 21White ibis in Ocean City, New Jersey (I kind of prefer the uncropped version)
Image 22Black-and-white warbler in Prospect Park
Image 23Great blue heron on frozen pond in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 24Killdeer at the South Cape May Meadows
Image 25Anna's hummingbird in Pacifica, California
Image 26Lesser yellowlegs at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Image 27Pine siskin in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 28Western gull sitting on a boat in San Francisco Bay
Image 29Redhead in Central Park
Image 30Juvenile yellow-bellied sapsucker in Prospect Park
Image 31Ring-billed gull in Red Hook, Brooklyn
Image 32Field sparrow in Central Park
Image 33Veery in the Central Park Ramble
Image 34Gray catbird with a chokeberry in Prospect Park
Image 35Huge flock of gulls just after they were spooked by something during a horseshoe crab feeding frenzy in Cape May, New Jersey
Image 36House wren doing its best eel impression guarding its nestbox.
Image 37Ring-billed gull preening/bathing in Marine Park
Image 38Male northern cardinal in Central Park
Image 39American woodcock in Bryant Park
Image 40Chipping sparrow on a grave in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 41American avocet
Image 42Dark-eyed junco at Bush Terminal Park
Image 43Purple martin in flight in Cape May, New Jersey
Image 44Ospreys in a nest on Sandy Hook, New Jersey
Image 45White-throated sparrow in Prospect Park
Image 46Palm warbler perched in Prospect Park
Image 47House finch with a sunflower seed at a feeder in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 48Pine warbler perched in Prospect Park
Image 49Snowy egret
Image 50Red-necked phalarope at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Image 51Northern flicker looking out from its nest in the Central Park North Woods
Image 52Winter wren in Prospect Park
Image 53Male black-throated green warbler in Prospect Park
Image 54Female brown-headed cowbird chattering in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Image 55Canada goose gosling in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 56Apricot Mandarin duckling in Royal Lazienki Park
Image 57Blue-gray tanager in La Fortuna, Costa Rica
Image 58Immature cooper's hawk in Prospect Park
Image 59American robin
Image 60American coot in Prospect Park
Image 61Marsh wren singing at Hammonasset Beach State Park
Image 62Downy woodpecker foraging in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 63Female hooded merganser resting on the Central Park Reservoir
Image 64Golden-crowned kinglet
Image 65Juvenile American robin
Image 66Mute swan and cygnets on a duckweed-covered pond
Image 67Ring-billed gull coming in for an unwelcome landing
Image 68Tufted titmouse perched in Central Park
Image 69Cedar waxwing in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 70Eastern wood pewee in Central Park
Image 71Male brown-headed cowbird in Prospect Park
Image 72Gray catbird in Central Park
Image 73American tree sparrow in Central Park
Image 74Eastern kingbird
Image 75Fish crow cawing in Red Hook, Brooklyn
Image 76Northern shoveler pair "shoveling" together in Marine Park, Brooklyn
Image 77Female northern cardinal in Central Park
Image 78Semipalmated sandpiper vocalizing in Queens, NYC
Image 79Male northern shoveler in Marine Park, Brooklyn
Image 80Close-up of a white-throated sparrow in Central Park
Image 81Northern waterthrush in Central Park
Image 82Female wood duck
Image 83Song sparrow on Lookout Hill in Prospect Park
Image 84Gray catbird in Prospect Park
Image 85Wood duck drake vocalizing in Central Park
Image 86Mute swan cygnet pontoon on a duckweed-covered pond
Image 87American oystercatcher family portrait on Fort Tilden beach
Image 88Blue jay in Prospect Park
Image 89A rescued American kestrel that couldn't be released so is now serving as an "ambassador" bird
Image 90Glossy ibis in Queens, NYC
Image 91Red-tailed hawk yearbook photo, class of 2022, Central Park
Image 92First-winter American herring gull, Brooklyn
Image 93Red-tailed hawk rescue
Image 94Semipalmated plover in Queens, NYC
Image 95Brown creeper about to be released at a bird banding station in the United States
Image 96American avocet fishing in the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Image 97Cedar waxwing in pokeweed in Prospect Park
Image 98Snowy egret in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Image 99Great blue heron lurching its head back to swallow a brown watersnake in Green Cay Wetlands
Image 100Rufous motmot, Costa Rica
Image 101Immature herring gull manipulating a clam in Marine Park, Brooklyn
Image 102Black-crowned night heron in Prospect Park
Image 103White-breasted nuthatch doing its nuthatchy pose in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 104Ruby-crowned kinglet in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 105Palm warbler in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 106Baltimore oriole (immature/female) in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 107Lesser yellowlegs wading at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Image 108Tropical kingbird in the rain by Lake Arenal
Image 109Semipalmated sandpiper at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Image 110Juvenile yellow-crowned night heron at Plumb Beach
Image 111Short-billed dowitcher in the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge East Pond
Image 112Western tanager which popped up in NYC, far from its usual range
Image 113House sparrow mother with chicks
Image 114Female American redstart in Brooklyn, NYC
Image 115Great egret stabbing the water in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 116Tufted titmouse floofed up in Central Park
Image 117Great kiskadee in La Fortuna, Costa Rica
Image 118Mandarin duck drake in eclipse plumage in Royal Lazienki Park
Image 119Red-tailed hawk, fearsome predator
Image 120Great blue heron in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 121Blackpoll warbler in a flowering dogwood tree in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 122Cape May warbler in Prospect Park
Image 123Piping plover chick in Queens
Image 124Juvenile eastern kingbird
Image 125Immature mute swan in Prospect Park
Image 126Golden-crowned kinglet at a banding station
Image 127First winter laughing gull in Riverhead, New York
Image 128Brown thrasher (snow-nosed variety) in Central Park
Image 129A rescued Eurasian eagle-owl
Image 130Mourning dove perched in Prospect Park, Brooklyn
Image 131Yellow warbler in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Image 132Lesser yellowlegs in Queens, NYC
Image 133Ring-billed gull in flight over Red Hook, Brooklyn
Image 134European starling in Central Park
Image 135Northern rough-winged swallows in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Image 136Great black-backed gull in Quogue, NY
Image 137Rehabilitated eastern screech owl
Image 138Juvenile Forster's tern calling for its parent in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Image 139White-breasted nuthatch on a suet feeder in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 140Three ring-billed gulls in Red Hook
Image 141Black-capped chickadee at a feeder in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 142Yellow-bellied sapsucker in Central Park
Image 143Least sandpiper in breeding plumage in Queens, NYC
Image 144Marsh wren singing at Hammonasset Beach State Park
Image 145Warbling vireo singing in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 146Western kingbird at Bush Terminal Piers Park
Image 147Piping plover in Queens
Image 148House sparrows in Central Park
Image 149Common grackle showing off its iridescence in Central Park
Image 150American goldfinch in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 151Lincoln's sparrow in Brooklyn, NYC
Image 152Northern mockingbird in a "tail up" display in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 153American robin making a dog whistle-like alarm call in Prospect Park
Image 154Female Blackburnian warbler in Brooklyn, NYC
Image 155Male northern flicker in Manhattan, NYC
Image 156Northern cardinal female in Central Park
Image 157Bay-breasted warbler in Central Park
Image 158Tree swallow on a nest box in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Image 159Broad-billed motmot at the Arenal Observatory
 
Featured Pictures - everything else
Image 1Pearl crescent on purple coneflower
Image 2Glass 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 3Proboscis bats in Alajuela Province, Costa Rica
Image 4Bow Bridge in Central Park (panorama)
Image 5Red squirrel in Lazienki Park
Image 6TWA Hotel
Image 7Abandoned building in Floyd Bennett Field
Image 8Redbeckia occidentalis
Image 9Hell Gate Bridge
Image 10Castle Square, Warsaw
Image 11Twice-stabbed stink bug on meadow anemone
Image 12Large milkweed bug
Image 13Red admiral butterfly on purple coneflower in Brooklyn Bridge Park
Image 14Wonder Wheel sign on Coney Island
Image 15Eastern cottontail portrait in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Image 16Sarracenia leucophylla
Image 17Boston Public Garden
Image 18Quogue Village Wetlands Preserve
Image 19Rooftop farm on the Lower East Side
Image 20Pond sliders (red and yellow) and a river cooter fighting for basking space
Image 21Comme des Garcons at the Met
Image 22Saint Christopher Street in Valletta
Image 23Arenal volcano
Image 24Manhattan at night, looking north from Rockefeller Center
Image 25Razor clamshell dress from spring/summer 2001, in the Sleeping Beauties exhibition at The Met
Image 26Great golden digger wasp in Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Image 27Composite of a clementine with/without peel
Image 28Waldemarsviken in Stockholm
Image 29Lower Manhattan panorama
Image 30Female Huron sachem in Brooklyn, NYC
Image 31Clouded sulphur in Brooklyn, NYC
Image 32Toronto Reference Library interior from the top floor
Image 33Red-legged grasshopper feeding on a flower in Tennessee
Image 34Optical illusion on the floor of the Florence Cathedral
Image 35Fulton Center skylight
Image 36Black Lives Matter mural in Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Image 37Abandoned van by Gerritsen Creek
Image 38Moschino fall 2014 ready-to-wear ensemble in the Camp: Notes on Fashion exhibit at the Met
Image 39Triq San Patrizju facing the Basilica Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Valletta, Malta
Image 40White (leucistic) eastern gray squirrel perched on a tree in Brooklyn
Image 41The Seaside Sanatorium in Connecticut
Image 42A mural of patients in the long-defunct Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital
Image 43Prospect Park Vale of Cashmere covered in lesser celandine, with a leucistic white squirrel in the distance
Image 44A cavapoo dog chasing a malipoo dog with a ball
Image 45Defunct Chestnut Hill Pumping Station in Boston
Image 46Pipevine swallowtail
Image 47Chinese mantis ootheca in Marine Park, Brooklyn
Image 48A mural of patients in the long-defunct Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital
Image 49Juvenile Nubian ibex on a wall at the edge of Makhtesh Ramon
Image 50The Dyker Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn is known for lots of elaborate Christmas lights, earning the nickname "Dyker Lights"
Image 51Mantled howler monkey with baby in Costa Rica
Image 52Salix catkins
Image 53Green iguana panorama in Palm Beach County
Image 54Eastern cicada killer perched on a black-eyed susan
Image 55Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Katowice
Image 56Makhtesh Ramon
Image 57Male familiar bluet
Image 58Bluebells in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Image 59Bee balm seedhead
Image 60Alexander 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 61California sea lion nap time at La Jolla Cove
Image 62Coney Island Mermaid Parade (no, this is not a picture of Rhododendrites)
Image 63Rice paper butterfly with light shining through in Butterfly World, Florida
Image 64Pier 66 and Hudson Yards
Image 65Magnolia x veitchii bud
Image 66Male tiger swallowtail butterfly in Central Park (missing its tails)
Image 67Male monarch butterfly on Tithonia
Image 68Male zabulon skipper in Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Image 69Condenser at the defunct Chestnut Hill Pumping Station
Image 70Crocuses in early spring.
Image 71Northern dog-day cicaca exuvia on a flower in Green-Wood Cemetery
Image 72An island (with ospreys) in Trustom Pond in the fog
Image 73Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge East Pond
Image 74Oculus
Image 75Staszic Palace, Warsaw
Image 76Hell Gate Bridge, with a scow being towed along the Hell Gate section of the East River
Image 77Sunset sky over Governors Island, NYC (panorama)
Image 78Eastern gray squirrel in Central Park
Image 79Left by Gucci/Dapper Dan, 2018. Right by Louis Vuitton/Kim Jones, autumn/winter 2018-19, Camp: Notes on Fashion exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Image 80Panorama of the once-active waterfront of Sunset Park, Brooklyn
Image 81Panorama of the Apennine Colossus in Tuscany
Image 82Two juvenile Nubian ibex
Image 83Open Ocean exhibit at Monterey Bay Aquarium
Image 84Sukkah at Congregation Emanu-El of New York
Image 85Quarry in Makhtesh Ramon
Image 86Hell Gate Bridge walking path on Randall's Island
Image 87Pond sliders in Prospect Park
Image 88Window in a cafe in San Gimignano, Italy
Image 89Daubeny's water lily
Image 90Memorial to the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting, taken just after Stonewall Inn was designated part of a National Monument
Image 91Eldridge Street Synagogue
Image 92Nine-banded armadillo in Costa Rica
Image 93Bigfin reef squid at Monterey Bay Aquarium
Image 94Tiger bee fly
Image 95Ash tree behind a columbarium in Mount Auburn Cemetery
Image 96Strawberry poison dart frog in Costa Rica
Image 97Florence seen from the Duomo terrace
Image 98Female eastern amberwing
Image 99Eastern amberwing
Image 100Blue dasher with Arrenurus water mites in Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Image 101Common buckeye in Eagle Creek Park, Indianapolis
Image 102Male elephant seal resting between fights in Ano Nuevo
Image 103Ship 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 104Group photo of four pears
Image 105Monarch butterfly caterpillar on butterfly weed
Image 106Hudson Yards in New York, taken from the top of Hudson Commons (9-frame panorama)
Image 107Coleus
Image 108Monarch butterfly
Image 109Small milkweed bug in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Image 110White (leucistic) eastern gray squirrel with a peanut
Image 111Burberry rainbow cape at the Camp: Notes on Fashion exhibition
Image 112Abandoned car in Marine Park, Brooklyn
Image 113Maroon Bells. Easily one of the most awe-inspiring natural scenes I've experienced.
Image 114Lincoln Center during Pride at dusk
Image 115Male eastern amberwing dragonfly in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Image 116Fork-tailed bush katydid close-up in Walland, Tennessee
Image 117Northern elephant seals in Ano Nuevo, California
Image 118Sasheer Zamata at a Time's Up event during the Tribeca Film Festival
Image 119Meadow in the morning in the Great Smoky Mountains (with namesake smoke)
Image 120Duomo Firenze terrace
Image 121Stata Center at MIT
Image 122Camp: Notes on Fashion at the Met
Image 123Eastern chipmunk with stuffed cheeks in Prospect Park
Image 124City Hall Station in Manhattan, abandoned since 1945 because it looked cool but didn't
Image 125Jun Takahashi dress for Undercover in the Sleeping Beauties exhibition at the Met
Image 126Orchard orbweaver
Image 127Baird's tapir mother with baby in Costa Rica
Image 128Immature male blue dasher
Image 129Familiar bluet in the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Image 130Maroon Bells
Image 131Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco (18-frame panorama)
Image 132Moss-covered oak trees in the Bothe-Napa Valley State Park
Image 133Cattlianthe Gold Digger ‘Orglade's Mandarin’ orchid
Image 134Crook 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 135American lady butterfly on a purple coneflower
Image 136A [pretty dodgy] bridge along a cliff path at the edge of Makhtesh Ramon
Image 137Algal mat in Marine Park, Brooklyn
Image 138Monarch butterfly
Image 139Frizzle sizzle
Image 140One World Trade Center through the Oculus
Image 141Northern flatid planthopper nymph
Image 142Raccoon in Central Park
Image 143California 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 144Coney Island Mermaid Parade