Category Archives: Animals

Looking back at 2024 – Part 1

A Feather-legged fly on a Tree Heliotrope in Hawaii
January: A Feather-legged Fly (Trichopoda pennipes) on a Tree Heliotrope (link).

Sunday Stills challenge theme this week and next week is ‘Your 2024 Year-in-Review.’ See more responses here. As usual, I’m going with a favorite photo from each month of 2024, with a caption and link to the post the photo first appeared in. This week’s post is for January through June. See the rest of the year next week.

A Ring-billed gull in Hawaii
February: A Ring-billed Gull struts at ʻAnaehoʻomalu Bay (link).
A woman walks on the beach at Kohanaiki Park in Hawaii
March: A woman walks the beach at Kohanaiki Beach Park (link).
Tiki torches burn against a backdrop of palm trees in Hawaii
April: Tiki torches at Mauna Kea Resort (link).
A Dwarf Moray Eel in the waters off Hawaii
May: A Dwarf Moray Eel (link).
Long-spined Urchins in Hawaii
June: A pair of Long-spined Urchins in Kawaihae Harbor (link).

They’re back

A Humpback Whale dives in the waters off Hawaii

The Humpback Whale season here has been underway for a few weeks, but I hadn’t seen many until a few days ago. Then, on one of my coast walks, I saw half a dozen or more.

This whale was in the company of another one, which had dived just before this. I like the curve of the tail and how the water drains off it, just before it’s full submerged.

The Numbers Game #53

A Black-crowned night heron struggles o get out of an algae covered pond
A Black-crowned Night Heron in a spot of bother in a pond at Kawaihae.

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 174. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

No metal

A Metallic skink crosses a road in Hawaii
A Rhyncholaeliocattleya Shingfong Gold Gem 'Golden Gem' orchid in Hawaii

This month’s Sunday Stills color challenge theme is ‘Metallic.’ See more responses here.

The top photo shows a Metallic Skink (Lampropholis delicata), which is also known as Delicate Skink, Garden Skink, Rainbow Skink, and less-flatteringly, Plague Skink. This one was crossing a road, luckily a lightly-traveled one.

The second photo is an orchid with the catchy name of Rhyncholaeliocattleya Shingfong Gold Gem ‘Golden Gem.’

The third photo is shoal of small, silvery fish, which I think are the aptly named Hawaiian Silversides.

Hawaiian Silversides in the waters off Hawaii

The Numbers Game #51

Smoke hangs in the sky off the Kohala Coast Hawaii
Smoke from a brush fire colors the sky over the North Kohala coast

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 172. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

Anole versus gecko

A Green Anole and a Gold Dust Day Gecko confront each other in a territorial display in Hawaii

I was alerted to an ongoing dispute between a Green Anole and Gold Dust Day Gecko outside the kitchen window. By the time I got there, the two were had moved away, but were still squabbling. I grabbed my camera, thinking that by the time I got outside, the fracas would be over, but that wasn’t the case. The two were still going at it.

A Green Anole and a Gold Dust Day Gecko confront each other in a territorial display in Hawaii

When it comes to territorial disputes, an anole puffs out its dewlap. If that doesn’t work it will act aggressively towards the intruder. A gecko leans over to one side to make itself look bigger and pokes out its tongue. These two went through the full repertoire, with the anole making a few mouth-open lunges.

A Green Anole and a Gold Dust Day Gecko confront each other in a territorial display in Hawaii

In the end, the anole wandered off to the end of the overhang and the gecko headed back the way it came from. It wasn’t clear whether there was a winner or loser in the exchange but neither was hurt, which is not unusual in these encounters.

The Numbers Game #50

Gullies on the side of Kohala Mountain are illuminated by early morning sun
Early morning light on the Kohala Mountain hillside.

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 171. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.