Wild turkeys abound alongside the Old Saddle Road. This one was wandering through a green pasture bordered by an old fence.
Posted in response to Becky’s July Squares challenge theme of ‘Perspective.’ See more responses here.
When I saw this bee I thought, I know that plant, but what’s the name of it? Well, it’s ribwort plantain, but my knowledge of it stems from many years ago when, as kids, we used to pick them, loop the stem around just below the head of the plant, and then jerk that loop forward to send the head of the plant zinging in the direction of the intended victim. It was amazing how far those heads would travel.
This bee is using the plant for more beneficial purposes.
Posted in response to Becky’s July Squares challenge theme of ‘Perspective.’ See more responses here.
In this case, what’s looking up is a giant porcupinefish and it’s looking at me looking down. It looks friendly, but I would never wave a finger in its direction in case it thought it was a gift and kept it.
Posted in response to Becky’s July Squares challenge theme of ‘Perspective.’ See more responses here.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Wild and Weird.’ See more responses here.
No matter how you look at them, there’s something wild and weird about praying mantises. They look like Popeye with that spindly body and bulging forearms (no pipe though). Parts of them look like they came off the production line with some assembly still required. They remain motionless for long periods, watching, waiting. When they do move, it’s with a constant back and forth motion to sneak up on prey. Then they strike like a cobra and make short work of their victims.
And yet I find that despite all this weirdness, there’s something endearing about them. They put up with intrusive photographers and they keep still for them. What’s not to like.
Also posted in response to Becky’s July Squares challenge theme of ‘Perspective.’ See more responses here.
This week’s Friendly Friday challenge theme is ‘Capturing a Feeling.’ See more responses here.
A fair number of my photos of perched pueos (Hawaiian short-eared owls) show the birds giving me a scowling look of disapproval. This one has a bit of that, but there’s also a look of astonishment. If I had to give this bird a speech bubble, it would be something along the lines of, ‘He took my picture. He didn’t even ask. The nerve.’
I like this photo for two additional reasons. One is that single, visible curved talon resting on the post. Easy to imagine the effect of that on some unfortunate rodent. The second reason is the eyes. Notice anything about them?
Also posted in response to Becky’s July Squares challenge theme of ‘Perspective.’ See more responses here.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park recently opened up more areas of the park that had been closed because of the Covid-19 virus pandemic. I thought this was a good opportunity to hike some of the summit trails that I usually avoid because they’re more accessible and popular with tourists. I put together a loop hike that would have been great had all the trails listed as open actually been open.
Despite this glitch, I had a good time and enjoyed the variety of landscapes the park has to offer. The top photo shows the part of the Kilauea Iki Trail that traverses that crater. The crater floor is a little under a mile across. This crater used to be much deeper before an eruption in 1959 filled it up another 400 feet. There is some vegetation, but the crater floor is mostly bare lava and steam can often be seen rising in various places.
The middle photo was taken on the Halema‛uma‛u Trail, which winds down from the summit into Halema‛uma‛u Crater. Despite the trail’s proximity to the vent in the crater, which was active until May 2018, vegetation thrives here as it does on many trails in the park.
The bottom photo shows a section of active steam vents alongside the Crater Rim Trail. This section of the trail is paved because the area normally sees very heavy use. When I was there, it was mostly deserted because of the lack of tourists on the island. The buildings on the horizon are the Volcano House Hotel which recently reopened for business, though the restaurant is still closed.
For more information about Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, go to nps.gov/havo/. For more information about Volcano House Hotel, go to hawaiivolcanohouse.com/.
Posted in response to Becky’s July Squares challenge theme of ‘Perspective.’ See more responses here.
I noticed this gold dust day gecko and green anole in a stand of yellow bamboo. The gecko was just hanging out as per usual, but from the anole’s perspective it was intruding on his territory. When that happens, an anole will puff out his pink dewlap and engage in some vigorous head bobbing. This performance will put wanna-be anoles in their place, but I have yet to see it work on a gecko.
Posted in response to Becky’s July Squares challenge theme of ‘Perspective.’ See more responses here.
I get the impression that, for most people, if they have to see a shark, they’d prefer it to be from this perspective – going away from them. Being something of a contrarian, I’m always looking for sharks coming toward me. The qualifier in this is what kind of shark it is.
This is a whitetip reef shark, the first I’ve seen in quite a while. Whitetip reef sharks tend to be curious and will cruise up and check me out. Once they determine that I’m really quite boring, they carry on in search of something more interesting.
Now if this had been a tiger shark, well, all bets are off.
Posted in response to Becky’s July Squares challenge theme of ‘Perspective.’ See more responses here.
Graham's Island 