This Hawaiian coot looked surprised to discover a wayward feather in its otherwise immaculate plumage (above). Several attempts to corral the unruly feather failed, leaving the bird with a distinctly grumpy look (middle photo). But a solution was found (below). Time for a stylish V for Victory lap around the pond.
Posted in response to this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge ‘Liquid.’
A very young gold dust day gecko looks around on a ti leaf covered in raindrops. It has to stay alert or it will lose more than just the tip of its tail that it’s lost already.
Posted in response to this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge ‘Liquid.’
One of the inter-island barges enters Kawaihae harbor on a calm, clear morning. The barges are a prime method for moving freight between the islands, with Honolulu being the hub of all the operations.
The water isn’t always this calm. It can get very rough, very quickly, particularly crossing the channels between the different islands.
Posted in response to this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge ‘Liquid.’
Young goats on the 1871 Trail heading south from Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park, looking youthfully perky and mischievous.
Medinilla alata ‘Lalique’ is also known as chandelier plant, although I’ve seen that name given to other similar looking plants as well. It hails from either Indonesia or the Philippines, depending on who you ask. either way, it’s a delicate, but beautiful flower,
This one was at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden near Hilo.
For more information about Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, go to htbg.com.
I was heading out of the parking lot after a recent hike, when I noticed this bus with its front door and cargo doors open. I realized I was looking at a pair of feet in the cargo bay and saw what was presumably the bus driver, taking a rest on a folding bed in his unusual bedroom. Nice and shady – check. Breeze funneling through the open passage – check. Better watch out for those tootsies though. They’re catching the sun.
Something fishy indeed. Little fish milling around in one of the Golden Pools of Keawaiki, and looking for all the world as though they’re in a painting..
A couple of weeks ago I ran a post about my first shark encounter for about two years. Then, like buses, another one came along within three weeks.
The latest was another whitetip reef shark, which are the sharks most commonly seen around here. I was swimming in shallow water, when the shark popped into view over the edge of a drop off to deeper water. It was quite close and moving fairly quickly, so I snapped this photo as it zipped by, before disappearing on the other side of me.
The photo isn’t the greatest, but I post it for two reasons. The first is that it shows the black spots on the side of the shark. These are a way of identifying individuals because the spot patterns are unique to each whitetip reef shark.
The second reason is that I usually have my camera zoomed in (it’s not a high-powered zoom) so that I’m more likely to get a quick shot of a small fish before it disappears. This photo is zoomed in, but when I first saw the shark, my immediate thought was, ‘I’m going to have to zoom out for this.’ In the photo, the shark is probably around 10 feet away. Compared to the shark in my previous post, the details of this one, such as the gills, are much more pronounced though this shark was smaller, probably about 3-feet long.
Whitetip reef sharks are not considered much of a threat to humans, though they are curious and, as this one did, will come close to take a look. When people do get bitten by whitetips, it’s usually spear fishers towing their haul, or someone provoking the shark, possibly entrants in the worldwide ‘My Dumb Selfie’ competition that so many people seem so keen to enter.
