A lot of people here are involved with outrigger canoe paddling. There’s been a big resurgence in the activity, along with other aspects of traditional Hawaiian life. Several of these canoes are stored at Spencer Beach Park, which is where I saw these armas, floating in the air, like birds on the wing.
A view of Mauna Kea from the Pu’u O’o Trail, the last time I hiked there.
Back on January 25, I posted photos for The Numbers Game that included an old monk seal photo. At the time I thought, I should run this because it’s been ages since I saw a monk seal.
That afternoon, I went for a walk at Upolu and saw this monk seal. I didn’t notice it at first because monk seals tend to blend in well with the rocks they rest on. But when I got closer, I realized what I was looking at. It’s been two and a half years since I last saw one, so maybe I’m out of practice.
I took photos, with a view to being able to identify the seal. I could see red tags in both tail flippers, but the seal’s position left me unable to see what was on the tags. Luckily, just before I left, the seal moved and I was able to get one shot from which I could read the identification.
The seal’s tag read M36, and I sent this photo along with others to the Marine Mammal Center, which tracks monk seals around the islands. I was happy to get a response telling me this monk seal is a female, born in 2020 on Kauai. What was really nice to hear was that she is the pup of BOO, a monk seal I saw several times back in 2016 in the company of I05 (affectionately known as Igor). It’s been almost five years since I saw I05, which could mean bad news or simply that he moved elsewhere. He was not typically a social seal!
Yesterday, I went walking at Upolu for the first time in a week and saw the same seal in the same place. I doubt she’s been there the whole time, but perhaps she’s going to make this stretch of coast her new home. One can only hope.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Something to Do.’ See more responses here.
There’s plenty to do here on the Big Island, with outdoor activities available year round. Here’s a selection.
Blackfin Chromis are small damselfishes that gather around coral heads in fairly shallow water. They disappear into the coral and crevices if approached. The black anal fin and black lower edge of the tail are an easy way to identify this fish.
On a recent walk, I noticed the Seven-spotted Lady Beetle in the top photo, wandering around on the ground.
Soon, a second one came into view, then turned around and headed off again.
A minute or so later, it reappeared and, without so much as a “Hi, my name’s Frank. And you?’ he climbed aboard. The two of them lurched about on the little rock, so I took my leave, and left them to it.
The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into your computer’s search bar and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. I typed in a few numbers and up popped photos I’d forgotten about, so I thought this would be a fun way to feature some photos that ran a while ago, but warranted another airing.
This week’s number is 126. Ironically, for this first response, it turned out that three of these photos haven’t run before, but have been languishing in my archives.
You can see more responses here.
The Hawaii Elepaio is a small, endemic bird found only on the island of Hawaii, though it has close relatives on Oahu and Kauai. It’s found mostly in the higher elevation forests on the island. This one was on the Pu’u O’o Trail off Saddle Road, a good spot for seeing these birds, at an elevation of more than 5,000 feet.
The Elepaio is a member of the flycatcher family and feeds on insects it catches on the wing or by probing tree trunks and branches.
Posted for Bird of the Week XLVIII.
Graham's Island 