Category Archives: Scenes

The Numbers Game #87

A Nutmeg Mannikin snacking on cane grass seeds.

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 209. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

A very small flowery flounder
A very young Flowery Flounder, just a couple of inches long.
A pueo or Hawaiian short-eared owl sits on a post
A wide-eyed Pueo.
Yellow boat on blue water.
A green anole on a ti plant
A Green Anole looking down.
A red ginger curving up.
A showy yellow hibiscus.

Timber

A view of Pololu Valley in Hawaii
Layers of trees fill Pololu Valley.

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Trees.’ See more responses here.

A Rainbow shower tree in Hawaii
Flowers of a Rainbow Shower tree.
Jacaranda flowers in Hawaii
Jacarandas put on a show every year.
Avocados growing in Hawaii
With Avocado trees it’s the fruit that everyone likes.
Palm trees at Lapakahi in Hawaii
It’s Hawaii. Of course there are palm trees!

Another Sonoran Carpenter Bee

A male Sonoran Carpenter bee in Hawaii

I recently posted (here) phone photos of a female carpenter bee heading for home. Last week, I returned with my camera to see what they were up to, and I was very happy to see this male bee visiting the same home as the one in the previous post.

Male bees are a lovely orange/brown and are smaller than the females, but still pretty big. Another way they differ is that, while female bees have a stinger but rarely use them, male bees don’t have a stinger at all.

I’ve seen a few male bees before, but this is the first time I’ve been able to get photos.

A male Sonoran Carpenter bee in Hawaii

New boat hoist, or is it?

The new boat hoist at Mahukona, Hawaii

This is the boat launch hoist at Mahukona. I’ve posted about this before, being buried by high surf (here), when it was in bad shape (here), after it was removed (here), and the dramatic signs on the new boat hoist (here).

I was going to post this photo, taken on March 10, 2024, to show the new hoist, but thought I’d wait to get a photo of a boat actually being launched. A blessing ceremony was held on April 4, 2024, which was front page news in the local monthly newspaper. But in the ensuing year and a half I’ve not seen any boat launched. For some time now the only difference in the scene is that the wire and hook have been removed. Not going to be launching boats without that.

I don’t know what’s happened, not being on social media and the like, but I’ve heard that the Army Corps of Engineers nixed the operation. A clue as to why that might be can be seen in the photo. The parking lot is a patchwork of patches over patches, where water regularly fountains up through the cracks.

I’ve no idea what will happen next with this, but it’s Hawaii, so it won’t happen soon.

Dendrobium Smiliae orchid

A Dendrobium Smiliae orchid in Hawaii

I had seen this flower some time ago and thought it would be easy to identify. No such luck. At the time, I didn’t realize it was an orchid. But then I saw this one at the Hilo Orchid Show with a handy tag attached. Problem solved.

It’s also known as the bottlebrush orchid and hails from northeastern Australia and areas nearby.