This month’s Sunday Stills color challenge is ‘Auburn or Brown.’ See more responses here. Captions on the photos.
Getting down with brown
Category Archives: Birds
Spotted Dove
A Spotted Dove, in a Mock Orange tree, sporting a customary caffeinated look.
Not again!
Yesterday, I was walking along the coast, head down, into a stiff breeze, when a shadow fell over me and then on the ground ahead. I had to laugh. It had been a while since this had happened to me. It was the unmistakable large shadow of a Great Frigatebird. I grabbed my camera out of the bag, and wrestled it into action, knowing as I did so that I wouldn’t get any decent photos.
The bird passed probably 10- or 15-feet overhead. By the time I took this photo it was way ahead, even into the wind. Then it dipped down closer to the water and I didn’t see it again.
Great Frigatebirds are prodigious flying machines and they appear effortless in their flight. Had I seen it earlier, it would likely have changed course earlier. But I suspect it’s not an accident when they pass directly overhead. I think they’re just winding me up!
The Numbers Game #46
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 167. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
The Numbers Game #45
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 166. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
The birds
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Eerie.’ See more responses here.
These birds were on the ground when I approached, but then took to the air in unison. They quickly landed on the fence and overhead wires and it became eerily quiet again. I immediately thought of the Hitchcock film, and hastened on.
Whittington Beach Park
Whittington Beach Park sits on Honuʻapo Bay, a few miles northeast of the island’s southern tip. There’s no beach at the park, but there are old fish ponds and a lagoon where it’s relatively safe to get in the water. This makes it popular with locals, since such places are few and far between on this wild and rocky stretch of coast.
The early Hawaiians established a fishing village here that lasted until the mid-1800s, when drought, earthquakes and a tsunami brought about its demise. Some years later, a port was reestablished where goods could be brought to and from the surrounding area, which was home to a large sugar plantation.
The remains of a concrete pier, built in 1910, can still be seen at the southeastern end of the park. I’ve read conflicting accounts of the cause of it’s demise, including a tsunami and bombing by U.S. planes in 1942 to prevent it being used by the Japanese in WWII!
These days, it’s a good spot to watch the waves, and the noddies, twirling through the air as they go to and fro from their homes on the nearby cliffs.
Sanderling
Sanderlings are common winter visitors to Hawaii and are found mostly on the many beaches here. I saw a couple at Hapuna, probing the sand around a lagoon left by the floods earlier this year.
Graham's Island 