Category Archives: Activities

I’iwi

I saw this I’iwi (Drepanis coccinea) on a trail off of Saddle Road, between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. These bright red birds are native Hawaiian honeycreepers and in the old days, the feathers of the birds were collected to make cloaks for Hawaiian royalty.

The curved bill is suited for feeding on native lobelias, but a decline in those plants has seen the I’iwi adapt to feeding on other native plants including ʻōhiʻa lehua, māmane, and ohelo.

While the numbers of I’iwi are still fairly good, particularly on the Big Island and Maui, they have suffered, like other birds, from loss of habitat. In addition, They are susceptible to avian malaria, spread by mosquitoes. Consequently, I’iwi are doing better at higher elevations, such as where this photo was taken at around 6,000 feet.

Divers down

It’s always a bit strange to come across divers when I’m snorkeling. For starters, there’s the stream of bubbles. Then there’s these large creatures with splashes of color and shiny tanks.

I’m not sure these two even knew I was floating above them. I took my photos and left them to their explorations.

Signs: Practice makes perfect

I was hiking in Kalopa Native Forest State Park when I came across the trail sign above. Nothing too remarkable about that, but I happened to notice the back side of the sign (middle), which showed that getting the sign right took a bit of practice.

On a subsequent visit, I noticed that the back of sign at the other end of the trail (bottom) had also seen a rejected first effort.

Sailboat after sunset

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Calm.’ (See more offerings here.)

Seeing the sun going down after work, I headed down to Kawaihae harbor. After the sun dipped below the horizon, the sky turned peachy and I watched this sailboat slipping over the gently rippling water. It struck me as a very calm, relaxing scene.

Rainbow chubs

On a recent swim I saw these two fish passing by. They looked like chubs, but not ones I’d seen before. I snapped a quick photo, not expecting it to be great, but hoping it would help me identify the fish. I need not have worried.

After they passed, they made a series of approaches and retreats. They appeared as curious about me as I was about them, which is something of a characteristic of chubs. Eventually, they moved away and I carried on, catching up to two others I had been swimming with. I asked them if they’d seen these fish and they said no.

I was describing what they looked like when the two of them showed up again. Once more they looped around, checking out these new people before finally heading south, not to be seen again.

When I got home it was easy to identify them as rainbow chubs, also known as blue-stripe chubs, with their distinctive blue markings. What was interesting is that their home is the Eastern Pacific, from Ecuador north to California. But some can get carried over to the Central and Western Pacific. As such, they’re rare in Hawaii, so this is one of those fish I might never see again. A matter of being in the right place at the right time.

In my attempts to identify what I see in the water, I use John P. Hoover’s book The Ultimate Guide to Hawaiian Reef Fishes, Sea Turtles, Dolphins, Whales, and Seals. His website is hawaiisfishes.com.