This is the resident cat at Mahukona Beach Park. The rock he’s standing beside has a natural bowl at the top and people fill it with water for the birds. I call the cat Killer because, when he sees a bird go for a drink, he races out, stations himself at the base of it, and then leaps up trying to snag a victim.
A couple of mornings ago, I saw him leap from this spot and miss his quarry, but sometimes he’s successful. Feathers in the bowl attest to that. The birds here are not native species, so he’s not contributing to their decline, though that’s not the case elsewhere on the island.
Telescopes in the Smithsonian Submillimeter Array on Mauna Kea and what they’re thinking.
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 235. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
A Gold Dust Day Gecko checking things out from the coin return slot.A Footstool Palm.These ants quickly found a blob of dropped jam.A Bluefin Trevally catches the light.A praying mantis on glass.The covered lanai next door. The place has supposedly sold, but nothing has changed there yet.
On high alert on a trellis with Chilean Glory Vine (Eccremocarpus scaber)
All that alertness makes a cat tired.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Love Your Pet.’ See more responses here. We don’t have pets currently, so here are some archive photos of Chairman Meow, our cat from our old home in Washington State.
He was a Ragdoll, a breed noted for its mellow temperament. Happily, he was not a hunter, though he would stare intently at birds, except for hummingbirds, which left him with a bewildered expression! He also shed boatloads of fine, soft hair. A thorough combing would produce a wad of hair, but when he walked away, more would fly off him.
In the mornings, he’d climb up on the bed and sit on us until he was let out. One house had a screen door and it was common to hear a thud against it in the morning, a sign he wanted to come in again. When I opened the door, looking down for him, he was nowhere to be seen. But when I looked up there he was, hanging halfway up, his claws gripping the screen. The old lady who lived across the street said it gave her a great deal of amusement to witness this daily ritual!
Time for a rest with two paws out.
We were going to bring him with us to Hawaii, but he used to end up frothing at the mouth on the two mile car ride to the vet! So he stayed behind in a good situation until he passed away a few years back.
I saw this little turtle on consecutive days last weekend. Both times, it had three remoras on its shell. Two are definitely Slender Remoras, and the third is probably the same, though less easily identified in the photos I took. The remoras don’t harm the turtle, except for possibly slowing it down a bit, though this turtle looked pretty speedy regardless.
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 234. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
A bee burrows into a Mamane flowerRiding the bus.The Hi-Seas site for simulating living on the Moon and Mars.Red-masked parakeets.A Bluespotted Cornetfish up close.A Painted Lady Butterfly on a Tree Heliotrope.
A Kapok tree, planted by Dr. Hillebrand and native to tropical America.
When I was in Honolulu, in December, I had a few hours to kill and decided to visit Foster Botanical Garden, which is not far from the downtown area. It’s one of five gardens that make up the Honolulu Botanical Gardens.
The garden dates back to 1853 when it was started by William Hillebrand, a German physician and botanist. It was sold in 1884 to Thomas and Mary Foster who continued to develop the garden. When Mary Foster died in 1930 she left the garden and her house to the city of Honolulu on the condition that the garden be maintained as a public park.
A Quipo Tree.Rainbow Eucalyptus.A bee on a Scarlet Powder-puff flower.
The garden is best known for its trees, some of which were planted by Dr. Hillebrand, and includes 21 trees designated ‘exceptional’ by City Ordinance. Despite it being a rather dreary day, walking through the trees and checking out the other plantings was well worth the visit.
Garden greenery.A Silk Tree trunk.A Wild Mussaenda flower with conspicuous bracts.
More information about Foster Botanical Garden here. Posted for Terri’s Flower Hour. See more responses 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 233. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
Fish surfing.High surf at Mahukona.“Or we’ll put you in there to explain why you were doing that!’A Phalaenopsis corno-cervi orchid.The tail light of a Honda Metropolitan scooter.A Green Turtle at the beach.
Graham's Island 