A passion vine butterfly drinks sweet nectar from a tasselflower. I think it’s a Florida tasselflower (Emilia fosbergii), which is also known as Flora’s paintbrush.
Category Archives: Insects
Painted lady butterfly
The painted lady butterfly is one of the most common butterflies in the world, but it’s only recently that I’ve spotted a few of them in Hawaii. This isn’t because they’re a recent introduction. They’ve been around here since the late 1800s. I guess I just haven’t been visiting the right areas.
Here’s looking at you, katydid
I noticed this katydid on the outside of a window and hurried to take a photo. There are a couple of things I like about this photo.
One is that it reminds me that it’s good to look at things from a different perspective now and then. The other is that it reminds me I really, really need to wash the windows.
White-lined sphinx moth
Another post based on the theme of this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge, which is ‘Silence.’
I glimpsed this moth flitting by and snapped a couple of photos, one of which is the second shot. I realized this wasn’t something I’d seen before and wanted to get more photos to make identifying it easier, but it had gone to ground and I’d lost track of it. So I waited, scanning the ground without spotting anything. A light breeze ruffled the grass, but otherwise all was silence.
Eventually, having seen no sign of its presence, I gave up, got up and moved on. Within seconds the moth flew by again. This time I followed its flight and saw where it put down. Even then, as I padded towards it, I thought I’d lost it again. But when I zoomed in on the apparently empty spot, the moth appeared, as seen above. No chance I’m spotting this had I not seen it flying.
It’s a white-lined sphinx moth, first recorded in Hawaii in 1877 and now present on all the islands. It’s probably fairly common but it’s the first time I’ve seen one.
Sriracha the Bengal tiger
This week’s WordPress photo challenge is to choose your favorite photo taken in 2017. I’m going with a photo that I haven’t posted before (though below I offer a few of my favorites that have run).
This is Sriracha, a female Bengal tiger and cousin of Tzatziki, a white male tiger. Both can be found at Pana‘ewa Rainforest Zoo in Hilo. What I like about this photo is those huge paws, the quiet movement, and the sense of great power that could be uncoiled at any moment.
For more information about Pana‘ewa Rainforest Zoo & Gardens, go to hilozoo.org.
As far as favorite photos already posted are concerned, I offer a few here:
Top. A gold dust day gecko drinking from a bird of paradise flower is a blaze of color (posted here).
Second. This photo captures the awesome spectacle of the lava firehose from Kilauea Volcano pouring into the ocean (posted here). Currently, while the flow is still active, lava is no longer entering the ocean.
Third. I was happy to snap the moment a passion vine butterfly laid an egg (posted here). This was taken on the same day as the gecko photo above, so a banner day for me.
Fourth. I like all the photos in this post for their color and how they capture something of this most Hawaiian of dance (posted here).
Finally, I love this gargantuan blenny for its name, and was very pleased to get this photo, since the fish is apt to dart away and the shallow water was rocking (posted here).
Two stages of the passion vine butterfly
It’s hard to believe that the spiky, menacing-looking caterpillar above transforms into the beautiful passion vine butterfly, seen foraging on lantana flowers.
Here’s looking at you, grasshopper
I had a stare down with this grasshopper as it rested on a curved stem. At least I think I did. The grasshopper could have been looking elsewhere, or maybe it was asleep.
Praying mantis
A praying mantis that I saw wandering around on the rocks at the coast, and not rocks close to the cliff, but out near the water’s edge and likely to be inundated soon. I never saw if it returned safely to dry land.
