Category Archives: In The Water

Fish for breakfast

A juvenile black-crowned night heron catches a fish

I was running early to work recently, so I decided to stop in Kawaihae, as I often do. With more time, I’d have gone for a walk along the coast, but I had only 15 minutes so I plumped for a visit to the south end of the harbor to see if there were any herons around.

  • A juvenile black-crowned night heron looks for a fish
  • A juvenile black-crowned night heron catches a fish

I found two there, but one quickly disappeared. The other stood on a rock in shallow water, a popular fishing spot for them. I took a few photos and noticed the heron leaning forward. It had spotted something. An instant later, it plunged into the water and then emerged with a fish on its beak. It returned to the rock and paused. The fish appeared to be impaled on the heron’s beak, but extracting the beak risked losing the fish before it could be eaten.

A moment later, the heron hopped over to the small beach where I was. There, it popped the fish into the air and swallowed it in one slick movement. This whole sequence took less than three minutes. The heron stayed on the beach and I returned to my car and headed off to work, very glad that I’d stopped by.

  • A juvenile black-crowned night heron catches a fish
  • A juvenile black-crowned night heron eats a fish

Manta ray encounter

Acute halfbeaks pass in front of a manta ray off Hawaii

My most recent manta ray encounter was notable for the sheer exuberance of the ray. It swam up to my wife and me, then curved away, then came back again. At one point it moved farther off, into murkier, shallow water (which is why I didn’t get photos) and did several loop de loops for no apparent reason. It swam along with us for a while, closer to the shore, until we lost sight of it.

The top photo shows it approaching. I love it when they come straight towards me. They look so strange and yet so amazing, and there’s nothing to fear whatsoever since they’re plankton eaters and among the least dangerous creatures in the water. It wasn’t until I processed my photos that I noticed the acute halfbeaks passing between us. Ironically, this might be one of my better photos of them, captured unintentionally.

The bottom photo shows one of the ray’s curving passes with its mouth closed which, when I think about it, might be the first time I’ve seen that.

A manta ray swimming off Hawaii

Leatherbacks

Leatherbacks off the coast of Hawaii

Leatherbacks are members of the Jack family and are most often seen singly or in pairs. I see them quite often and always try to get a photo of them and almost always fail. That’s because they have a tendency to surge upwards to feed and then zip back down.

On this occasion, a group of a dozen or more leatherbacks went by in the company of several bluefin trevallies and other fish. As usual, they were traveling at speed, but the numbers meant I had a better opportunity to get this photo.

Signs: Beware of spiny urchins

The beach in front of Four Seasons Resort Hualalai
A sign at the beach in front of Four Seasons Resort Hualalai

I was amused by this sign on the beach in front of the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai. Spiny urchins in the rocks are like white lines on the highway. But of course, a visitor is not necessarily aware of this and the Four Seasons wouldn’t want any of its guests impaling themselves on spiky marine life, especially if they were likely to complain about it later.

This sign wasn’t far from another one that basically said you’d die if you set foot on the beach (here). Perhaps this was why the very lovely beach was deserted when I was there.

Spotted boxfish

A male spotted boxfish
A female spotted boxfish

The male spotted boxfish (top) is blue with orange highlights and white spots along the back, whereas the female (second photo) is a fairly uniform brown with white spots all over. Despite their shape, boxfishes are nimble swimmers boasting a good turn of speed and surprising maneuverability.

I got these photos because the male boxfish came up to check me out a couple of times and the female was unperturbed by my presence as she searched for food on an old pier piling.

Rainbow runner chasing a mackerel scad school

A school of mackerel scads, or Opelus off Hawaii

On a recent swim, I was turning to head for home when I saw this large school of fish rocketing towards me. As they zipped by I snapped the top photo. I could see they were mackerel scads, known in Hawaii as Opelu.

The reason for their haste also became clear as the last of them went by. The bottom photo shows a rainbow runner hot on their tails. Both fish are members of the jack family, but it’s a family that doesn’t get along. Mackerel scads are a favorite food of rainbow runners.

In a matter of moments, the fish disappeared out of sight. These were the only two photos I was able to take of the episode and I was thrilled that both turned out pretty well.

A school of mackerel scads, or Opelus being hunted by a rainbow runner off Hawaii