Mauna Kea is a mecca for astronomers because it boasts clear skies more than 300 days a year. That doesn’t mean Mauna Kea doesn’t get rain, just that it falls more on the lower slopes.
This photo shows the access road, a little way below the summit, socked in with clouds and steady rain. It was a little better at the top, but still very cloudy and not a day for seeing stars.
Tropical plants tend to grow vigorously, which means they’re constantly bumping into, and mingling, with their neighbors in a botanical collage. The prime components here are Alocasia micholitziana and Calathea bella with a few others thrown in for good measure.
This passion flower was drawing great attention from various bugs including a fiery skipper butterfly, a variable lady bug, and a host of flying ants, or possibly parasitic wasps.
Just above the tide line at Kiholo is this collage of items. Floats, nets, ropes, bits of wood and foam, a plastic jerrycan form a collection that no doubt grows and changes with each passing tide.
This common morning glory (Ipomoea purpurea) was twined on a fence alongside the mountain road, overlooking the Kohala coast.
Small flocks of African silverbills can often be seen, flitting from tree to tree, on the dry side of the Big Island. Sometimes they’ll be mixed in with other birds such as nutmeg mannikins, but this group was all silverbills.
Miloli’i is an old Hawaiian fishing village near the southwest corner of the Big Island. A few miles north is Miloli’i Beach Lots Subdivision, a private community with an undeveloped park. Since the name includes the word ‘beach,’ it will come as no surprise to learn that there’s no beach of any description in the subdivision. There is, however, a reasonable spot to get in the water, at the park, which is accessed by crossing this little plank bridge. If you head straight out from there, in no time at all you’ll find yourself in Taiwan.
On a recent hike, I came on several of these passion flowers. I don’t know what kind they are; it’s often very hard to identify passion flowers. The flowers hung down, so this is a view from below. Not only did it have an exotic look to it, but it had a most wonderful fragrance.
Graham's Island 