Category Archives: Animals

As happy as …

A wild pig looks for food in a cow pie

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘What’s That Aroma?’ See more responses here. Well, for this theme I just couldn’t get past this photo I took a while ago.

I spotted this wild pig in a cow pasture, burrowing into exactly what you think that’s likely to be in a cow pasture. But it’s not just the pig’s dinner that’s aromatic, the pigs do too. When they go by the bedroom window at night, I sometimes hear them, but I’m almost always alerted to their presence by the aroma, which is pungent enough to prompt an immediate, ‘What is that smell?’

Goats and egret

A cattle egret and two goats in Hawaii
A cattle egret and a goat in Hawaii

This Cattle Egret appeared to have difficulty choosing which of several goats it should follow, in order to snap up bugs disturbed by their grazing. Or perhaps something else was going on. I could see its throat rippling, so it might have been calling, though I couldn’t hear any sound from where I was.

Mare and foal

A mare and foal in Hawaii
A mare and foal in Hawaii

I spotted this mare and foal alongside Old Saddle Road and stopped to take photos. The foal wasn’t impressed and got to its feet in that ungainly way that foals do, still struggling to get control over those long limbs.

Once upright, the pair sauntered off out of range of my camera.

A mare and foal in Hawaii

Bees on coffee flowers

A bee forages on coffee flowers in Hawaii
A coffee plant in flower in Hawaii

A couple of years ago, a hedge made up of several small coffee plants was planted along the edge of the old homestead. The plants have had mixed success thanks to uncooperative weather and a surfeit of chickens and pigs in the neighborhood.

However, several of the plants have thrived and this year, for the first time, produced blooms. When I noticed them, I immediately walked over and stuck my head down there to see if they had any scent. I didn’t notice much, but what I did notice was a loud buzzing noise and I realized that, scented or not, the bees were having a field day.

So I withdrew my head and took these photos. I’m glad I did because the flowers were short-lived and a couple of days later they were gone.

A bee forages on coffee flowers in Hawaii

Who, me?

A Gold Dust Day Gecko with a moth in its mouth

Most predators, on land and in the ocean, have a relatively poor success rate when it comes to snagging prey. Even when they’re successful, there’s no guarantee they’ll get to savor their prize.

I don’t know whether this Gold Dust Day Gecko was the one that caught this moth because, an instant after the capture, two or three other geckos swooped down to snatch it. There was a flurry of bodies and this one emerged from the scramble with the moth firmly stashed in its jaws. This look suggests it was guilty of robbery.