Author Archives: Graham

About Graham

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

Tropical Milkweed

An Asclepias curassavica flower in Hawaii

Tropical Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) is an introduced species here. It’s become popular in part because milkweeds are food for butterflies, including Monarch Butterflies, whose numbers have been falling for some time. However, there are questions about whether planting Tropical Milkweed is a good or bad thing.

One concern is that Tropical Milkweed’s perennial habit might be disrupting the Monarch’s epic migrations. Another concern is that the plant hosts Oe (Ophryocystis elektroscirrha), a parasite that adversely infects butterflies, and that is passed down to subsequent generations. This parasite is more prevalent in non-migratory butterflies such as those in Hawaii, but it’s not clear whether Hawaii’s population is suffering in the same way as some of those on the mainland. Hawaii’s Monarchs primarily use Crown Flowers to lay their eggs.

The Numbers Game #13

An A'ama Crab skitters through a field of Helmet Urchins in Hawaii — An A’ama crab skitters through a field of Helmet Urchins.

The blooms of a yucca plant. — A Yucca plant in full flower.

The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 134. Captions are on the photos.

You can see more responses here.

A mural painted on the side of Hawi Post Office.

A Ruddy Turnstone watches from a rock in Hawaii — A Ruddy Turnstone watching.

A Pallid Ghost Crab waits by the entrance ot its burrow. — A Ruddy Turnstone watching.

Banded urchin

This Banded Urchin is one that actually looks like its name. The most common long-spined urchin here, it’s generally a uniform dull black. Long-spined urchins provide a refuge for small fish, such as the Bright-eye Damselfish seen scooting for cover here.

Coming up, going down

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Sunrise or Sunset.’ See more responses here.

The top photo is a recent sunrise over Waimea. The bottom one is a sunset along the Kohala coast.

Gecko in a heliconia

I spotted this Gold Dust Day Gecko deep in a clump of heliconias at Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden.

Palm tree trunk

I don’t know what kind of palm this is, so I don’t know if this is what the trunk is supposed to look like or if this is something growing on it. I’ve been digging around on the internet, but haven’t found the answer yet. Any ideas?

Dolphins and turtles, oh my

A pod of Spinner Dolphins swims through hazy water off the coast of Hawaii

Two Hawaiian Green Turtles circle in the waters off Hawaii

In the water yesterday, my wife and I had already seen a small turtle, when this pod of Spinner Dolphins suddenly appeared in the somewhat hazy water. Often, dolphin pods travel fast, but are spread out, with mothers and calves bringing up the rear. This one was moving slower, but tightly bunched. I reckon there were at least 40 or 50 in the pod, and in a few minutes they had all gone by, heading south.

A dolphin encounter is always a highlight of any swim, but conditions were so nice, we carried on across the bay. When we turned to head back in, I saw two turtles, almost directly below me, swimming around in a tight circle. When one headed away, the other followed and the circling resumed. I don’t know what they were up to, but they were still doing this routine when we left them.

Two Hawaiian Green Turtles in the waters off Hawaii

The Numbers Game #12

A green turtle is temporarily stranded on a rock. — A turtle on the rocks. See more photos here.

The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 133. Captions are on the photos.

You can see more responses here.