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