We’re going down

An Hawaiian Airlines plane lands at the airport in Kailua Kona, Hawaii

An early morning Hawaiian Airlines flight coming in to land at Kailua Kona airport.

The bees are back

The Mock Orange next to the house is in full bloom and the bees have found it, though not in the numbers they used to. In the past, I would hear the bees before seeing them. Still, it’s always a pleasure to watch them industriously flitting from flower to flower, collecting pollen and nectar.

Posted for Terri’s Flower Hour. See more responses here.

The Numbers Game #130

11 Replies

An F-22 flies low over Kahalui Airport in Maui — An F-22 flies low over Kahalui Airport on Maui.

The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 747. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

A baby gecko on a stovetop — A baby gecko in a bad place.

A Coel. assamica orchid in Maui — A baby gecko in a bad place.

A Passion Vine Butterfly caterpillar and fly in Hawaii — The caterpillar of a Passion Vine Butterfly and a passing fly.

Lesser Grass-Blue Butterflies in Hawaii — The caterpillar of a Passion Vine Butterfly and a passing fly.

Go away

6 Replies

Seems like that’s what this horse was trying to say to me!

A walk for the birds

20 Replies

An I'iwi on the Pu'u O'o Trail on the Big Island, Hawaii — A native I’iwi.

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Wild Animal or Bird of the Month.’ See more responses here.

Pu’u O’o Trail is a few miles east of the saddle between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, on the south side of the main cross-island highway. It’s all above 5,000 feet and can be cold, wet, and windy, but I’ve had good luck picking warm, sunny days. These photos are from a couple of recent hikes I took up there. Captions on the photos.

A view of the Pu'u O'o Trail on the Big Island, Hawaii — The trail enters a kīpuka.

The trail crosses old lava flows from Mauna Loa, but there are kīpukas, areas of old-growth forest missed by the lava, which are home to several kinds of native birds.

An Apapane on the Pu'u O'o Trail on the Big Island, Hawaii — An ‘Apapane.

An Io or Hawaiian Hawk flies above the Pu'u O'o Trail on the Big Island, Hawaii — An ‘Apapane.

On my last visit, I was lucky enough to see an ‘Akiapola’au, an endangered native species, which is only found on this island these days. This one was high up in the trees with the sun behind it. While my photos weren’t great, I was still able to see this industrious bird foraging for a meal. The shorter lower mandible is used to drill into branches and then the curved upper mandible digs out the grubs hiding within.

An 'Akiapola'au on the Pu'u O'o Trail on the Big Island, Hawaii — An ‘Akiapola’au.

These native birds make this trail popular with birders, but it’s a good hike for anyone. A 9-mile loop is possible, but I usually do an out-and-back hike through the first two or three kipukas, which totals about five miles.