April flowers from March showers

Water lilies at Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden
Water lilies.
Painter's Pallette Anthurium at Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden
Painter’s Pallette Anthurium.

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

Looking through my files, I found a dearth of flower photos taken in April, except for one visit to Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden a couple of years ago. These photos are from that visit.

A Phalaenopsis Orchid at Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden
Phalaenopsis or Moth Orchid.

Some ‘flowers’ aren’t flowers at all. These are the bracts of the plants, which are far more showy than the small flowers that emerge from them later.

Heliconia Pogonantha at Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden
Heliconia Pogonantha
A red Heliconia at Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden
Red heliconia
Hanging Lobster Claw Heliconia at Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden
Hanging Lobster Claw Heliconia
Beehive ginger plants at Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden
Beehive ginger

For more information about Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden, go to htbg.com.

Great Frigatebirds

Great Frigatebirds flying over Hawaii
There were too many to get in one photo!
Great Frigatebirds flying over Hawaii
Great Frigatebirds look like they’re not even trying when they fly!

I was driving down to Upolu for my usual walk when I saw a few Great Frigatebirds off in the distance. They seemed to be heading my way, so I pulled over and waited. As I did so, more appeared. They glided down towards the coast, then banked left to cross the road, which is when I took these photos.

Great Frigatebirds flying over Hawaii
They fly easily in formation.

I counted 17 in all, though there might have been more. Usually, I see these birds in ones and twos, but larger flocks like these are, apparently, not unusual. Such gatherings can be simply social, but can also improve their chances in the search for food, as well as for spotting predators, not that they have a lot of those while flying.

A Great Frigatebird flying over Hawaii
Males have a red gular sac at the throat. It makes them easy to identify, even at a distance.

My bird book notes that most Great Frigatebirds seen in Hawaii are females or juveniles, but I regularly see males, which are easily identified by the red gular sac on their throat. This sac can be impressively inflated during courtship.

Posted for Bird of the Week LVIII. See more responses here.

Great Frigatebirds flying over Hawaii
Last seen heading to Maui.

The Numbers Game #15

Dark pink plumeria flowers in Hawaii
A dark pink plumeria.

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 136. Captions are on the photos.

You can see more responses here.

In Kailua Kona, this electronic sign flashes “Emergency Water Restriction” and “Stop Sprinkler Use.”
I saw this sign in Kailua Kona during a downpour. Original post here.
The plumage of birds at rest often has a wonderful layered look to it. This zebra dove is no exception.
The lovely plumage of a zebra dove.
A pueo looks watchful in Hawaii
A watchful pueo.
A stick insect blending in.
Vampire horse on the loose!

It was a whale of a time

A Humpback Whale emerges from the waters off Hawaii
A Humpback Whale slaps its tail in the waters off Hawaii

The Humpback Whale season is drawing to a close. This past week or so, I’ve seen the odd one here or there, but that’s it. Before that, we’ve enjoyed a prolific season with lots of whales and lots of activity from them. Alas, none of those things translated into the kind of whale photos I long to capture, but it was, as always, a pleasure to see them. Not just to see them actually. This year, while snorkeling, I heard more whale singing than I have in several years.

Now, they’re heading to their Alaskan feeding grounds. For the calves, this is a perilous journey. Collisions with boats and entanglement in drifting fishing gear is a danger for all whales, but especially juveniles. Then there are predators, such as Orca Whales, which prey on the calves. But those that make it are part of a growing population of Humpbacks, as they rebound from their perilously low numbers before protections were introduced.