Author Archives: Graham

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About Graham

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

Zebra moray eel

Things to like about the zebra moray eel include that they’re probably the easiest eel to identify. They also tend to be quite long and make visually interesting shapes as they meander through rock and coral.

Kahili ginger

Kahili ginger (Hedychium gardnerianum), a native of the Himalayas, is a gorgeous plant, which puts forth a generous display of fragrant, showy flowers. Too bad then that another description for the plant is ‘invasive weed.’ It thrives in moist areas – pretty much anywhere on the east side of the island. Its rhizomes form dense mats, and crowd out native seedlings, and birds eat the fruit and spread the seeds.

Controlling the spread of this plants requires its complete removal, but even then regular follow up is required as the plant can reestablish from dormant seeds or scraps of rhizomes left in the soil.

Signs: Ka’awaloa Trail

The Ka’awaloa Trail starts near the top of Napoʻopoʻo Road, on the edge of Captain Cook – the town that is, not the person. The trail goes down to the water near the Captain Cook Monument on Kealakekua Bay.

As you can see, there are a lot of warnings on the sign. It could be greatly shortened to, “Abandon hope all ye who set foot on this trail.” But there are a couple of things to know about this sign. One is that most people won’t read it. I mean, who needs to waste time reading a dumb sign. The second is that quite a few people will end up in difficulty on the way back up, because the trail really is steep, hot, and exposed. Locals often take extra water with them to help out those in need, but if you don’t meet one of them on the trail, you’re on your own. An iced tea stand two-thirds of the way up could make a killing.

I also like that someone has taken the time to obliterate the word ‘vehicles’ in the ‘No vehicles’ admonishment. A car would never make it and even a trail bike might have a tough time. Perhaps it was just the principle of the thing that someone objected to.

Melodious laughingthrush

Yesterday, I posted photos of a stink bug, one of those creatures that did not exactly come out on top in the naming stakes. Today we have a winner – the melodious laughingthrush.

Easily identified with its distinctive eye markings and loud calls, the melodious laughingthrush was thought to have been introduced to Hawaii by Chinese immigrants in the early 1900s.

Stink bug

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Signs of Autumn.’ (See more responses here.) So here two photos of a stink bug. I think this is probably a four-humped stink bug or rough stink bug (Brochymena quadripustulata), but it could be a brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys).

What does this have to do with ‘Signs of Autumn?’ Well, stink bugs start gathering around and inside homes in the fall. As natives of Southeast Asia, they’re sensitive to the cold and spend winter in a hibernation-like state called torpor. So in the fall, they’re looking for a suitable safe spot and a warm house fits that bill. They also have a tendency to gather in large numbers, so one stink bug could quickly be joined by many others.

Stink bugs don’t bite and they’re not dangerous, but they can release an offensive smelling liquid if threatened, hence their name. Because of this, they’re not exactly welcome house guests.

Electric

This week’s Friendly Friday challenge theme is ‘Electric.’ See more responses here. These three photos are quite different, but linked by this theme.

The top photo shows a view of an electric substation. I like the lines and shapes such facilities offer. But where does this power come from? A good deal is from oil fired plants, but Hawaii is working to get more of its electricity from locally sustainable sources.

In the middle is a view of Hawi wind farm, with Mauna Kea in the background. There are several wind farms of varying sizes in Hawaii including a few on the Big Island. Their contribution to the power grid is small, but growing. Solar power is also a big contributor, on an individual house basis or for whole communities (here).

One source that provided around 25% of the Big Island’s electricity was the Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV). Last year’s eruption shut them down, though, as the bottom photo shows, the flows mostly missed the plant itself. I think a couple of their wells were covered by lava, but most were spared. Currently, they’re in the process of restarting power production. Not everyone here is a fan of this power source. The same can be said about the Honua Ola bioenergy plant, which will generate electricity from burning eucalyptus chips, but which is still to become operational.