I saw this female Sonoran Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa sonorina) in an Agave Attenuata and at first thought she was dead. But when I went out to look, she moved a bit, then burrowed deeper into the plants and disappeared from sight. I saw her three days in a row on the same plant and then she must have moved on. I’m not sure exactly what she was doing there. She didn’t appear to be collecting pollen but might have been doing so, albeit very slowly!
I noticed these gorgeous flowers when I went to get my hair cut. Abutilon Red Tiger is a hybrid shrub that does well in Hawaii. it’s sometimes called Lantern Flower or Chinese Lantern, though that name is also used for other plants.
This is the time of year when Plumeria produce buds, which will become flowers in the next week or two. There were a few leaves on this tree, but most will fill in after the flowers bloom.
It’s not hard to spot Agave Sisalana when they put their flower stems 20 feet or so into the air. The problem with that, in a place like North Kohala, is that the trade winds have a tendency to knock them over. They can block roads and driveways, but they’re not like giant trees. They’re pretty easy to cut up and remove.
Even when they’re laying horizontal, so long as there’s some attachment to the ground, the plant will survive and produce flowers.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘2021 in Your Rear-View Mirror.’ See more responses here. I’ve gone with a favorite photo from each month of 2021, with a caption and link to the post the photo first appeared in.
A long-tailed blue butterfly feeds as it makes its way along a kiawe flower.
Sometimes you have to dig deep to get to the good stuff!
A pair of saffron finches perched in a kiawe tree. The wicked thorns of the tree will penetrate footwear if stepped on so the birds have to be careful!
Graham's Island 