I thought, for a brief exciting moment, that these two mongooses might come to blows. The look given by the farther mongoose suggested as much. I was ready with my camera for the encounter, but it didn’t happen. Instead the two of them seemed quite content in each other’s company and spent their time scavenging in the grass for scraps of food.
A bee, already heavily laden with pollen, flies in to examine a rose jatropha flower.
I liked how this goat blended in to the scrubby bushes as it kept a watchful eye on me.
This is Papa, looking rather regal in the dappled light beneath a slatted bench.
It might not be on a stick, but this stick insect blends into it surroundings of green and dry grass.
This passion vine butterfly was feeding on passion flowers, but it will feed on many other flowers, too. It gets its name because passion vines are the host plant for the passion vine butterfly’s caterpillar. Those caterpillars spend their days munching leaves, many of which have little yellow bumps on them. The bumps, which can be seen in the photos, are the plants’ way of trying to fool the butterflies into believing that there are already eggs on the leaves and so it’s not a good spot to lay more.
It’s hard to know how effective this ruse is. I’ve seen many butterflies laying eggs on these leaves, but perhaps some are discouraged. Regardless, the caterpillars will move from leaf to leaf while chowing down, but they never seem to defoliate the plant, which is, in any case, a robustly growing vine.
This group of cattle was crowded together beneath a small shrub on the side of Pu’u Wa’awa’a. They were making the most of the scant shade on offer and weren’t about to give it up because of my presence.
Near the entrance to Upolu Airport there is a clump of bird of paradise plants. When the plants are in bloom I make a point of checking out the flowers as they are a favorite of the geckos. I’ll often see geckos on the flowers, especially if they have not yet begun to fade.
In this case, I saw this smaller gold dust day gecko licking nectar off a flower. The gecko noticed me after a few moments and fixed me with its gaze. It never took its eyes off me, but neither did it stop feasting on the nectar.
Graham's Island 