Category Archives: Animals

Awkward landing

Grasshopper and thorn

I always tend to think of animals and birds as being supremely graceful, swooping through the air, leaping from tree to tree, twisting and turning at high speed. So, while I don’t wish them any harm, I get a secret pleasure when I see one of nature’s creatures looking a bit clumsy. I’ve seen turtles bumping into rocks, birds landing with an ungainly stumble, geckos leaping and missing their target.

I saw this grasshopper jumping from one branch to another but, alas, it did not quite stick the landing. Mind you, if I was a grasshopper and tried the same stunt, I’d probably impale myself on that nasty-looking thorn.

Jacaranda flowers

Jacaranda flowers cluster

Jacaranda flowersA final response to the last edition of the WordPress photo challenge with a theme of ‘All time favorites.’

I headed back to Pu’u Wa’awa’a last week, because this is the time of year when several kinds of trees are in bloom. One of those trees is the jacaranda, which blooms from April to June, and produces masses of blue to lavender flowers. Jacarandas prefer cooler elevations so the lower areas of Pu’u Wa’awa’a are right in their zone.

I wasn’t disappointed. Several trees were covered with these delicate flowers, which somewhat made up for the fact that the entire hill was shrouded in thick vog, exacerbated by the ongoing eruption down in Puna.

Jacaranda flowers and bee

The eyes have it

Sheep with older lamb

Another response to the last edition of the WordPress photo challenge with a theme of ‘All time favorites.’

After a recent hike, I was returning to my truck and saw a small flock of sheep ahead on the track. These two caught my attention. The smaller one on the right was, I assume, the other’s lamb. Just before I took this photo, I saw it going for milk with that pneumatic drill approach that lambs have.

Before and after that, the ewe stood still, unwaveringly fixing me with those intense eyes. Then the two of them ran off to follow the rest of the flock that had already moved on.

Bee on clover

Bee flying to clover

Bee on clover flowerThis is the last edition of the WordPress photo challenge with a theme of ‘All time favorites.’ Since I don’t want to rerun photos I’ve used previously, I’ve decided to interpret this challenge as favorites among photos I haven’t yet used. I’m also throwing in a touch of favorite subject matters or, basically, whatever strikes my fancy.

First up is a favorite subject – bees. These photos were taken in the front yard when I noticed a lot of activity around the many patches of clover there. One aspect of a decent photo is being in the right place at the right time. That was very true in this case. The bees were urgently buzzing from flower to flower collecting. I was, just as urgently, down on my knees taking photos. And all the time, the sound of the lawn mower got louder and louder …

Bee on clover

Green anoles mating

Green Anoles mating

I happened to glance out of a window in time to see this green anole leap onto the trunk of a mango tree and scamper upwards. They’re fast movers, so it was only a glimpse, but I did see it had something in its mouth. ‘It’s caught a meal,’ I thought. Time to grab the camera and see what’s going on.

When I got to the tree, I found this scene. That wasn’t lunch the anole had grasped in its jaws, it was his mate. He had dragged her across the grass and up the tree in a most unceremonial manner. But this bite on the neck and the rough handling is the norm for anoles.

In fact, this episode seemed less fraught than others I’ve seen. Once on the tree there was no thrashing around or falling off as I’ve seen before. The two were twisted and locked as one, and their tails arched together. A few minutes later they were done. The female wandered off looking bemused while the male remained in the same spot, lord of all he surveyed.

Posted in response to this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge ‘Twisted.’

 

Ashy grey lady beetle bumping along

Ashy Grey Lady Beetle

Ashy Grey Lady Beetle climbingPhotographing lady beetles is always a bit hit and miss. When I see them, they tend to be scurrying along the edge of a leaf or up the stalk of a plant. They whip around a corner of the leaf and zip down the underside, then back onto the stalk. I’m always reminded of bumper cars, though I’ve never seen two lady beetles bang into each other in that way. That’s a photo I’d love to get.

This little bumper beetle is an ashy grey lady beetle and it was motoring around in typically industrious fashion.