This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Green Macro or Close-Up.’ See more offerings here.
Here’s a green anole (Anolis carolinensis) perched on a green ti leaf so that I could take its photo (possibly). Light greens in the sun, dark greens in the shadow. With all this, I can forgive the anole its powder blue eye-shadow.
This week’s Friendly Friday challenge theme is ‘Rails.’ See more responses here.
Here’s a praying mantis on a railing. Typically, I line up photos where horizons are horizontal and strong vertical lines are vertical. This photo’s an exception. I think the off-kilter lines complement the off-kilter appearance of the mantis, especially since this mantis had lost an eye and a leg, hence the title of this post.
A herd of goats mill about on a trail in South Kona. In any sizable gathering of goats I usually see younger ones butting heads as they tussle with each other. This is practice for when they’re older and the jousts become a more serious contest for position within the group.
I noticed this scrawled filefish because it was catching the sunlight, as they sometimes do, and the blue scribbles on its side were beautifully illuminated.
The photo on the left is the first sighting I had of the fish, and as it dove I noticed something trailing it. This can just be seen below the tail. It looked like fishing line. So I followed it and got the top photo where I could clearly see that the fish was trying to dislodge a hook and line from its mouth. Not only that, but it had a good-sized slash in its side.
I had visions of trying to grab the line and remove the hook, but the fish kept going down, away from me and out of my reach. It disappeared from view and I was left only with the photos and the rather sad image of the struggling fish.
Containers are unloaded from one of the inter-island barges at Kawaihae harbor. It’s not a forklift doing the work, more of a grip-n-raise, though I doubt that’s its official name. No prizes for guessing that the shipping company is Matson, but I like the repetition of their name in the images.
Two flowery flounders don’t exactly stand out on a sand and rubble sea floor, but I’m sure you can spot them.
I grew up on a dairy farm so I have a soft spot for cattle (as opposed to some who may have grown up on a dairy farm and have a virulent dislike of cattle).
Sometimes, when I walk by on the dirt road bordering their pasture, the cattle run away. Other times they run towards me. These six lined up and just watched me, which was probably the right response. I’m not that exciting.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Country or State Flower.’ See more offerings here.
The country flower for the USA is the rose and I don’t have photos of those. The state flower for Hawaii is the hibiscus and, while I have lots of those, they’re all of Chinese hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis). The state flower is the native yellow hibiscus (Hibiscus brackenridgei) and I have none of those. The native hibiscus is not often seen in the wild and is currently considered an endangered species, but it is used as an ornamental in domestic gardens.
Having struck out on the two proper responses to this challenge, I’ve chosen to post photos of the official flower of the Big Island, the red ʻōhiʻa lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha). A member of the myrtle family, ʻōhiʻa lehua is endemic to Hawaii. It’s one of the first trees to colonize lava flows. It’s able to survive in such a tough environment because its roots grow down into lava tubes and other voids in the lava and tap into the moisture there.
Recently, ʻōhiʻa trees have been attacked by a fungus which can cause the trees to die within a very short time. This disease, known as Rapid ‘Ohi’a Death, is caused by two new types of Ceratocystis fungus.
Graham's Island 