Clouds over the ʻAlenuihāhā Channel, between the Big Island and Maui, cast strong shadows on the waters below.
Category Archives: Scenes
South Point surge
There’s a lot of current and swell at South Point, the southernmost tip of both the Big Island and the United States. Not far from the spot where people jump off the cliff into the ocean (not all of them make it back alive!), there’s a hole in the cliff where water surges in and out. This spot also has an opening above and is a great place to watch this wave action. I particularly like the pink rocks and the frothy white water as the waves recede.
Signs: No Lay Net
Lay nets are also known as gill nets. They can be hundreds of feet long and many feet deep with floats on the top edge and weights on the bottom. The problem with them is that, rather than targeting specific food fish, they can catch anything swimming by including turtles and monk seals. Because of this, they’re banned in certain areas, though not everywhere in Hawaii.
To me, this photo represents how the ban works. This section of the Kona coast is one of those areas where lay nets are banned. Someone has gone so far as to erect a sign in the lava near the coast. But that’s about it. In due course, the sign will fall down. It probably won’t be replaced. In the meantime, enforcement of the ban is spotty at best. Even when a violation is called in, chances are no one will be out to check on the situation until long after the net has been hauled and the netters gone home.
Return of the Pacific golden plover
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Autumn,’ (more responses here) which poses a bit of a challenge. In Hawaii, we don’t have leaves turning color or a certain crispness in the air. But what we do have at this time of year is migratory birds coming to the islands.
One of the more impressive of these travelers is the Pacific golden plover. These birds spend the summer, their breeding season, in the Arctic tundra from western Alaska to northern Asia. At the end of the season they make an epic migration south to places as far away as Australia, Southeast Asia, and northeast Africa.
Hawaii is a stopover on their way to Australia, New Zealand, and other Pacific islands, but some of the birds spend their winters in Hawaii. This is a non-stop journey of more than 2,500 miles and takes the birds three to four days. How they do this is not fully understood. There are no landmarks or stopping points en route and no room for errors in navigation. But year after year, Pacific golden plovers return precisely to the same sites. Not only that, but new born plovers are able to make the journey independently despite never having flown the route before.
Then there’s the small matter of how this little bird fuels itself for such a long flight. There’s a fine balance between the amount of fuel it must carry and the need to fly fast. But even if it gets this right, the fact is an individual plover still wouldn’t be able to go that far. The secret lies in the birds flying in a V-formation which saves enough energy for the birds to make the whole distance with a little bit to spare to cover adverse conditions. It’s a remarkably precise balance which the birds manage successfully year after year.
This plover was foraging (successfully in the top photo) in tide pools along the Kona coast.
For more information about the Pacific golden plover’s migration to Hawaii, go to https://phys.org/news/2011-06-plovers-tracked-pacific.html.
Kohala Ranch
This is an aerial view of Kohala Ranch on the left and Kohala Estates on the right. The main road, Akoni Pule Highway, runs across the photo just above the coastline. The dark strip running across near the top of the land is Kohala Mountain Road, the darkness being the trees which line much of the road.
Kohala Ranch is a gated community which spans the space between these two roads. Near the bottom, houses are built on lots of one to three acres. Midway up the hill are five acre lots, and toward the top are bigger lots of 10 and 20 acres. The community has access to both roads. The top of the community gets more rainfall, and more wind, than the lower sections. Kohala Estates connects only to the bottom road.
Communities such as these are fairly common on the Big Island. Some are gated, some not, but most cater to people moving to the island from elsewhere since the property prices tend toward the upper end of the market.
Horses with a view
I used to see these four horses frequently when I went for walks. They’re still around, but not as accessible as before. This pasture has been sold and is now used to grow Hawaiian heirloom sugarcane for use by a rum micro-distillery.
Another thing that’s changed is that the brown grass has been greened up by the last two hurricanes, both of which have dumped a good deal of rain, but generated very little in terms of wind, at least around here.
Dwarf pineapple
This little pineapple (Ananas nanus) is grown for its looks but is edible. With sharp spines on the leaves, it should be handled with care.
This one was at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden near Hilo.
For more information about Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, go to htbg.com.
Egrets and turbines
Today marks the 1,000th post on this blog. To mark the occasion I looked for a suitably appropriate subject and couldn’t find anything! So instead I chose this photo since it featured a couple of subjects I must have seen a thousand times.
I pass the turbines at Hawi Wind Farm on my way to the part of the coast where I regularly walk. And I’ve seen an awful lot of cattle/horse/sheep/goat/lawn mower egrets since they are omnipresent. Plus I have a soft spot for them.
In this photo, a flock of egrets is on a mission to get from one pasture to another one. They aren’t the most graceful of flyers, but en masse I find they make a very pleasing sight.
Graham's Island 