Category Archives: Scenes

Osmoxylon lineare

Osmoxylon Lineare

Osmoxylon Lineare plantOsmoxylon lineare is also commonly known as miagos bush. It hails from the Philippines and grows to about six feet high. This plant is interesting for its spiky foliage and because the distinctive creamy-white flowers and dark fruits can be seen on the same plant at the same time.

I saw this one at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. I visit there a few times a year, but this was the first time I’d seen this plant blooming, which is why I like going at different times. There’s always something new to see.

For more information about Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, go to htbg.com.

Rainbow over the road

Rainbow

Rainbow over the roadToday marks the start of the fourth year for this blog. Post number one was of a rainbow over the northern coast, so I thought I’d post another one on the anniversary.

This rainbow occurred just last week over the road leading up to Hawi. Hawi gets around 60 inches of rain a year. A few miles south, the rainfall drops off to less than 20 inches, and it’s usually dry and sunny there. One byproduct of this climatic contrast is that there are frequent rainbows.

This one occurred in the late afternoon as I was heading home and, even though I see a lot of rainbows, I felt moved to pull over and snap a few photos before heading up into the clouds and rain over Hawi.

Yellow-billed cardinal on a rock

Yellow-billed Cardinal

Yellow-billed Cardinal on a rockThis week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Something Red.’ (See more offerings here.) I had a few bird photos that fell into that category, but I chose these yellow-billed cardinal photos for their name.

When I’m out on walks, I’ve run into people who ask me about the name of the little bird with the red head. No one has ever asked me about the name of the little bird with the yellow bill, but that’s the feature that gives them their name. I guess it’s because other cardinals have red heads so calling this one a red-headed cardinal would lead to confusion.

I thought this one, seen on the beach at Pololu, looked particularly dapper.

Honokohau Harbor entrance

Honokohau Harbor entrance

Honokohau Harbor, just north of Kailua Kona, is the main small boat harbor on the west side of the Big Island. In addition to private pleasure craft, a lot of charter boats operate out of the harbor, taking guests out to fish, snorkel, dive, and whale watch.

While it looks placid in this photo, once outside this harbor entrance, boaters are in the Pacific Ocean and conditions can change dramatically in a very short time.

Guzmania ‘Limones’

Guzmania 'Limones'

Guzmania ‘Limones’ is a colorful bromeliad with an interesting form. It’s native to Central and South America. Guzmanias only flower once and then die, but the bloom lasts a long time, and before they die, they usually produce pups.

This one was at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. For more information about Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, go to htbg.com.

Guzmania 'Limones' flower

Kawaihae dirt storm

Kawaihae dirt storm

The winds were blowing here last week, 30+ mph on a consistent basis. But one afternoon the winds picked up even more and triggered dirt storms off the hills above Kawaihae.

The wind whistled down the slope from Kohala Mountain and dry dirt was gathered up, whirled around, and blasted down the slope toward the ocean. This happened for an hour or so. Sometimes, white sand from the beach in Kawaihae harbor was similarly stirred up.

The unfortunate aspect of this display was that it visibly demonstrated the problems with erosion when the ground is dry. If it’s not the wind, then any rainfall washes the soil down gullies and into the ocean. All this dirt being deposited in the relatively shallow waters off the coast degrades the water quality and can have a seriously adverse effect on corals in the area.