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