Author Archives: Graham

About Graham

I take photos when I'm out and about, recording life on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Four Grey Francolins

Two adult grey francolins with two chicks in Hawaii

There are four Grey Francolins in this photo. Two are obvious, and a third fairly clear, but I didn’t notice the fourth until I was processing the photo and looking closely at it.

I first saw this batch of francolins driving home from work. They were in the road and I stopped while the adults ran off. I was about to start moving again when I noticed a tiny lump in the road ahead. A small rock? A lump of dirt? Turned out it was a baby francolin, about three inches high. My pause allowed it to rejoin it’s parents and, tiny legs or not, that sucker could run!

Lesser Grass Blue Butterfly

A Lesser Grass Blue Butterfly (Zizina otis) feeds on a Blue Heliotrope (Heliotropium amplexicaule) flower.

Kua Bay

Kua Bay is a popular beach park a little way north of Kailua Kona. There’s no car park, so vehicles line the road to the beach. The beach itself is a small, but lovely curve of sand. It’s very popular because of this and its proximity to Kailua Kona. Most people head for the main beach, which tends to get crowded, but one doesn’t have to walk far to find more room.

Cars parked on the road to Kua Bay Beach Park in Hawaii

There’s a lifeguard hut at Kua Bay. The lifeguards get to deal with the result of activities such as those in the photos. The bay can also be somewhat dangerous when there are onshore swells. Body surfers can get slammed against the sandy bottom, causing significant injury and requiring the help of those lifeguards to get out.

A girl somersaults into the water at Kua Bay Beach Park in Hawaii

Sergeants

An assortment of sergeant fish in the waters off Hawaii

Most of the fish in this photo, with five vertical black bars, are Indo-Pacific Sergeants. But there are a few fish where the bars fade away and these are endemic Hawaiian Sergeants. The two species sometimes interbreed, so some of these fish might be hybrid sergeants. Regardless, they’re a familiar sight in the water, usually swimming in large groups and feeding high in the water.

Plant shapes

The current Friendly Friday challenge theme is ‘Shapes.’ See more responses here. Since I just paid another visit to Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden, I thought some flower and foliage shapes would be appropriate. In the top photo, round lily pads float in the garden’s pond.

The squares show the coils within coils of a Hapu’u fern, a distinctly-shaped anthurium, the familiar curves of an orchid against a large, angular leaf, and the geometric precision of a Guzmania ‘Limones’ bromeliad.

The rectangles start with the distinctive shape of beehive gingers, then large, tropical, heart-shaped leaves, and the sinuous shape of a colorful heliconia.

The bottom photo shows feather-shaped leaves that even look like feathers!

For more information about Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden, go to htbg.com.

Pastel morning in Kawaihae

Soft early morning light illuminates the harbor at Kawaihae.

Being watched

A Gold Dust Day Gecko look out from a roof

I was checking out something on the roof of the house when I realized I was not alone. This Gold Dust Day Gecko was keeping a close eye on my activities, but when I took its photo, it retreated back into cover.

This does not look good

When I went down for a swim one day, the water was rough so I stayed on shore and wandered around taking photos. There’s a hollow in a rock that the birds bathe in and I usually check that out. This was the scene on that day.

There are a lot of feral cats in this area, and I suspect that one of the bathing birds was rudely interrupted in its activities.

Graham's Island

Life on the Big Island of Hawaii