Wikimore

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