I rarely see these butterflies here, though I think they’re not uncommon. This one was in newly watered grass, either resting or getting a drink of water. I got a couple of photos and then it was gone.
Red Admiral Butterfly
Author Archives: Graham
Abstracts: Green ring
Late afternoon sun shines through the trees.
Orphaned
They will come back for me, won’t they? I miss my twin brother!
Red and green and nothing in between
This week’s Sunday Stills color challenge is ‘Red and Green.’ See more responses here. I’ve gone for a mostly plant-based response, except for the last.
Giant Porcupinefish
In the area I usually swim, there’s a bit of a cliff with rocky parts protruding above the water. One of these, we call Viper Rock, because a very large Viper Moray Eel could often be seen in a small cave below the peak.
When the eel is not home, others sometimes take up residence. I’ve seen other eels, lobsters, and crabs in there. Yesterday, I saw this Giant Porcupinefish occupying the space. Sometimes fish will make a quick escape, but this one just watched me. It was only when I got home that I noticed, in one of the photos (not a good one alas), a small Giant Porcupinefish. So perhaps it wasn’t just this fish, but a family occupying the space.
Clouds in the Saddle
The Big Island’s weather is greatly influenced by northeast trade winds blowing up against Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa and dumping generous quantities of rain on the wet east side. Not much of this moisture reaches the much drier west side.
On a recent hiking trip to the saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, I saw a visual example of what goes on. Cresting a hill, I saw a bank of cloud rolling in from the east. My hike was somewhere under that cloud. When I got closer to that wall of cloud, I could see it fading as it pushed to the west.
My hike started under gray skies, with some light rain, but on this day, the clouds did not keep building. Instead, they burned off somewhat so that it was dry and quite hot by the time I returned to my car, such is the fickle nature of Big Island weather.
Hawaii Amakihi
A Hawaii Amakihi rests in a tree fern alongside the Pu’u O’o Trail off Saddle Road.
Mini Snowflake Orchid
I saw this delicate little orchid at Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden and thought it was well named.
Graham's Island 