This month’s Sunday Stills Color Challenge is ‘Brown.’ See more responses here.
I’ve gone for a selection of animals, mostly. Captions on the photos as usual.
Brown in Hawaii
Appearances are deceptive
The top photo looks rather like a smooth Hawaiian beach, but it’s the plywood floor of a building under construction.
The bottom photo looks like someone lost control of their saw!
Abstracts: Tree roots
The trunk of a False Kamani tree (Terminalia catappa) at Spencer Beach Park.
Collector Urchin and Yellow Cone
I like to keep an eye out for Collector Urchins to see what bits and pieces they have found to attach to their spines (here). What caught my eye with this one is that the shell on its back is that of a Yellow Cone. They do attach shells so I expect this was one of those rather than a living cone.
A maritime mystery
Back in May, I saw this orange boat a fair distance from shore, off the South Kohala coast. I knew it wouldn’t be a good photo, but I thought I’d be able to identify what it was from it. I was mistaken. I did some searching but turned up nothing. I put it to the side and kind of forgot about it.
Then, late last month, I was on the BBC website and there was a photo of a craft so similar, it had to be connected. The article (here) was about how seafaring drones are being used to collect data to help scientists figure out why some hurricanes become so dangerous, so fast. These drones operate without crew and are equipped to gather data from both the ocean and the atmosphere.
The company making the drones is called Saildrone, and I emailed them to ask about what the vessel I’d seen was up to. I received an unbelievably prompt response saying that the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa was using three drones around the state to collect information about climate change and ocean acidification and its effect on the health of the waters around Hawaii (here). It was also pointed out that since the drones carry no cargo or crew they are more properly called vehicles rather than vessels!
Speak up
I saw this House Sparrow one morning, standing over this fruit of a False Kamani tree (Terminalia catappa) at Spencer Beach Park. It didn’t seem interested in the fruit, not making any attempt to peck at it.
After a while, it raised its head, opened its beak and … silence. It did this several times and never made a sound. I assume it’s a juvenile trying to get its parents attention without otherwise drawing attention to itself. I never did see the parents, or if they came to the youngsters assistance.
Planes over Hapuna
Pohakuloa Training Area is a large military training area, occupying more than 100,000 acres on the lower slopes of Mauna Loa. Units from all around the country come here for training.
Recently, a series of jump operations were held over several days. As part of these exercises, formations of large aircraft were flying around the area, including over Hapuna, which is where I work.
On this day, the first flight went by while I was occupied, but when the next one came into view, I was ready with my camera. There were around 15 aircraft rumbling overhead at a relatively low altitude and I was pleased that their track took them past the half moon hanging in the sky.
Tropical leaves
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Leaves, Autumn or Spring.’ See more responses here. Here are some leaves from Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden with captions on the photos.
Graham's Island 