Ruddy turnstones get their name from their red legs and their feeding habit of turning over rocks in search of invertebrates. This group was mostly resting and grooming near the water’s edge. In the foreground is a Pacific golden plover.
Category Archives: Places
Morinda citrifolia
Morinda citrifolia is also known as Noni or Indian Mulberry. The flowers generally have 5 lobes, but this can vary, as this plant shows. The flowers emerge from what will become the fruit, which will end up white or yellowish.
The fruit is edible and used for medicinal purposes, but usually in a juiced form. There’s a good reason for this. As is noted on Wildlife of Hawaii’s plant page, “The ripe, white fruit has a nauseatingly bad smell, very much like fresh vomit mixed with rancid garbage. Avoid smelling it if you have a weak stomach.” Duly noted!
This plant was next to one of the Golden Ponds of Keawaiki.
Growth in the lava
In May of 1969, a series of earthquakes opened a large fissure alongside Chain of Craters Road in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. This was the beginning of what is known as the Mauna Ulu eruption. For five years, lava poured forth in a series of eruptions. Chain of Craters Road, completed only a few years earlier, was buried for several miles. Landmarks along the road were destroyed or irrevocably altered. A swathe of forest disappeared in flame.
When the eruptions finally ceased, life soon began to reappear on the barren lava landscape. In this photo, vegetation has reclaimed a section of the original 1969 fissure. Roots are anchored in cool, moist cracks in the lava. The tree on the left is particularly striking. Having started out in a crack on a vertical face, it has reached up to the light and is going strong. I like to think it shows how resilient nature can be.
For more information about Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, go to nps.gov/havo/. For more information about Kilauea Volcano and it’s eruptions, go to hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/history/main.html.
Better Days: Beach engine
An old engine lies half buried in the sand south of Waikoloa Beach Resort.
Sunset obscura
A dark cloud blankets the sun approaching sunset on the Kohala coast.
Hibiscus tiliaceus
Hibiscus tiliaceus is called hau here. This large shrub was growing at the Golden Ponds of Keawaiki, which is a little oasis in a wasteland of lava. The different colored flowers, on the same plant, occur because the flowers only last for a day. They start out yellow and turn to red or orange as the day progresses.
Kilauea Volcano’s Pu’u O’o vent
Pu’u O’o is one of two active vents on Kilauea Volcano. It sits on the eastern border of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Continuously active since 1983, Pu’u O’o is currently pouring lava into the ocean around Kamokuna on the south-eastern coast of the Big Island. These views of the vent were taken from Pu’u Huluhulu cinder cone.
For more information about Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, go to nps.gov/havo/. For more information about Kilauea Volcano and it’s eruptions, go to hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/history/main.html.
Mongoose and dead turtle
I pondered about posting this photo. I’d emailed a contact at a marine animal facility with the news that I’d found a dead turtle with a broken shell washed up among some rocks. I asked if anyone would be interested in that information, thinking some marine biologist might want to check the remains to determine the cause of death, that sort of thing.
He asked me to send a photo, which I did. Then I got a response in which he said not to send more. He’d been expecting a ‘happy turtle photo.’ I suspect he’d missed the bit about it being dead with its shell broken in two.
This is a less graphic photo taken a day later, by which time mongooses had discovered the remains. My appearance distracted them, but not enough for them to flee. The mongoose is the poster animal for catastrophic invasive species, but in this case, it’s performing something of a service in cleaning up the remains. Probably other creatures, such as crabs, also gathered for the feast.
I don’t know what happened to the turtle. Possibly it was attacked by a tiger shark or it could have died for some other reason. I doubt the ocean caught it by surprise and swept it to its death. Turtles are very good swimmers.
Graham's Island 