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