Strutting his stuff

A male peacock struts his stuff at Manuka State Wayside Park in Hawaii

The Common Peafowl (Pavo Christatus) is better known as a peacock. The adult males are wildly colorful, and would look right at home in a Las Vegas chorus line.

These birds weren’t seen in Vegas, but at Manuka State Wayside Park, when I was down that way earlier this year. It was only when I saw them that I remembered I’d seen them there before, when I first moved to the island and lived just down the road for a while.

There are a few wild populations on the islands, but supposedly, most are quite shy. These weren’t, wandering around the parking and picnic areas, and entirely indifferent to those of us taking photos.

Getting the look

A Great Barracuda in the waters off Hawaii

My regular swim these days, passes through the territory of the local Great Barracuda ohana. It’s quite common for them to gather in the wake of swimmers, mostly I think, in case the swimmers are spear fishing and might snag something they can steal.

Last week, this barracuda approached me from the front and gave me quite the look, but since it was no more than a foot long, I wasn’t too concerned.

A couple of days ago, I had a similar encounter with a similar-sized fish. This time the barracuda approached from dead ahead and only turned away at the last minute.

Had either of these been one of the giants, which can be three or four feet long and much bigger around, I’d probably have been wetting myself!

The second photo is posted for Bushboy’s Last on the Card photo challenge. See more responses here.

In need of repair

A damaged chainlink fence around Upolu Airport in Hawaii

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

Here on the Big Island, fences tend to be of two kinds – chainlink and painted wood. Walls and hedges are possibly more popular. Walls don’t need as much maintenance and hedges fill in easily all by themselves, though they do require trimming if they’re not to take over.

These fences are ones that have seen hard times. The top photo is the chainlink fence around Upolu Airport. Someone managed to take out a section of this recently. Not sure whether they got distracted or were going too fast and lost control, but several sections of fence got destroyed. Judging from the trail of damage, the vehicle can’t have fared well either.

Damaged fences around Kohala Ranch, on the Big Island Hawaii, following a brush fire

The other two photos are of fences around Kohala Ranch, a subdivision in Kawaihae. These photos were taken after August’s big brush fire. The tidy white fences surrounding the property have been rather battered. Fixing the damage will be a significant task, though I think most of the folks living there were probably happy to have been spared more than this largely aesthetical issue.

Inside the breakwater

A few days ago I posted photos of people surfing outside the breakwater at Keokea Beach Park (here). This photo shows the sheltered waters inside the breakwater.

Large Orange Sulphur Butterfly on a Plumeria

This Large Orange Sulphur Butterfly blends in rather well amongst these Plumeria flowers. I didn’t see it feeding here, but that likely was its intention.

Signs: Gecko leaving

A gecko on a sign at Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden

This gecko appears to be figuring out exactly how it’s going to get to the Visitor’s Center at Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden. I didn’t wait to find out if it made it.

Surfing at Keokea

People surfing off of Keakea Beach Park Hawaii

Last week, I went out to Keokea Beach Park for the first time in quite a while. It’s a scenic little park, with a breakwater protecting a shallow area where kids can get in the water safely, a rarity on this stretch of coast.

Outside the breakwater, waves rolling in from the northeast had lured some surfers into the water. It looked a little hairy, riding those waves, apparently headed for the rocks. But the surfers were angling across the waves, from right to left as I looked at them, and so were pretty safe unless they made a major mistake. Those who did end up in the water were dismounting rather than wiping out.

Now you see me…

I spotted this little blenny out in the open, but as I raised my camera it shot away into its hole in the rock. I was impressed by its lightning speed, but more so by its ability to back into its hole at that speed.

I think this is probably a Bullethead Blenny, though it’s hard to make that determination from this photo.

Graham's Island

Life on the Big Island of Hawaii