I suppose I should have a series about things found on my basil plants since they are many and varied. This praying mantis won’t harm the plant and it might eat some harmful bugs, but it’s equally likely to devour beneficial insects. Still, I think they’re fascinating creatures and I always enjoy seeing them.
Category Archives: Plants
Wild pig
There’s a sizeable wild pig population on the Big Island and they can be both problematic and dangerous. A while back, a local woman was attacked by a boar in her garden. She got seriously gored as well as having her leg broken.
This one was puttering around the yard in the early morning, snacking on fallen mangoes. It took him a while to notice me, but when he did, he took off at speed.
The numbers around here have dropped since hunters began making regular visits and when I do hear the pigs moving about, they’re being a good deal more cautious than they used to be.
Mangoes down, mangoes down
I posted here about the progression of our mango tree from flowers to fruit. Here’s what happens when the trade winds pick up after a couple of calm days. The lawn was empty a couple of hours before this photo, and this is just one segment of the windfall, probably about a third of what fell in that time frame.
Something had already eaten the mango in the front. It could have been a wild pig, but was more likely birds getting to the fruit while it’s still on the tree.
Baby gecko on a basil plant
Normally I take a dim view of anything found on the basil plants, but this little gold dust day gecko was inordinately cute. It wasn’t doing the plant any harm and might even have helped by snapping up a bug or two.
Abstracts: Kiholo branches
A tangle of curly branches forms a dense thicket along the shore near Kiholo Bay.
Rose jatropha
Rose jatropha (Jatropha integerrima) is an ornamental shrub from Cuba with showy red flowers. Bees were all over this plant.
Cattleya orchid
I think this is a cattleya orchid, growing on the trunk of a lychee tree. This particular tree has two or three other epiphytes, plants that grow on other plants, on its trunk.
Green anole on red leaves
This green anole does not blend in well on these red leaves, but that’s the point. He’s vigorously declaring this territory to be his.
For more information about green anoles, go to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_anole.
Graham's Island 