Passion Vine Butterfly on Blue Heliotrope

A Passion Vine Butterfly on Blue Heliotrope

At Upolu Airport, there’s a mock orange hedge and through it grows a passion vine. The hedge used to be trimmed once in a while, but the flowers attracted to all kinds of insects and was teeming with life. Passion Vine Butterflies laid eggs there and their caterpillars ran amok munching on leaves.

These days the hedge is kept trimmed and is the poorer for it. It’s basically lifeless. I see the odd butterfly, an occasional caterpillar and that’s it. So Passion Vine Butterflies, which I used to see all the time, have thinned out considerably in that area. However, I did spot this one feeding on Blue Heliotrope flowers not too far away.

The king who united Hawaii

Ceremonies at King Kamehameha Day in Kapaau, Hawaii

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

Here are a few more photos from this year’s celebrations commemorating the birthday of King Kamehameha I, the king who united the Hawaiian islands. The ceremony began with a welcome blown on conch shells.

Ceremonies at King Kamehameha Day in Kapaau, Hawaii
Ceremonies at King Kamehameha Day in Kapaau, Hawaii
Ceremonies at King Kamehameha Day in Kapaau, Hawaii

The procession was led by the four Royal Societies in Hawaii. They are descendants of Hawaiian Ali’i including King Kamehameha I himself. Ali’i were the ruling class who were seen as the link between the people and the gods.

Hula at King Kamehameha Day in Kapaau, Hawaii
Hula at King Kamehameha Day in Kapaau, Hawaii
Hula at King Kamehameha Day in Kapaau, Hawaii

Hula dances were performed honoring the king. Hula was created by early Hawaiian settlers. It is often accompanied by chants and the movements are a visual representation of those chants. The subject matter can be anything from light entertainment to a sacred honoring of a god or goddess. Western missionaries disapproved of hula and encouraged Hawaiian rulers to ban it, but while there were some restrictions it was never driven completely underground as happened with some other traditional Hawaiian activities.

Hula at King Kamehameha Day in Kapaau, Hawaii
Leis draped on the statue of King Kamehameha in Kapaau, Hawaii

See more photos from the Kamehameha Day celebrations here.

Wedged in

A Wedgetail Triggerfish hide in a crevice

On my last swim, I saw this Wedgetail Triggerfish slip into this crevice in the rocks. I thought it might have disappeared, but there it was, wedged in, side on. It might have been protecting eggs laid in there or just waiting for me to move on!

This fish is also known as the Picasso Triggerfish. In Hawaiian, it’s called humuhumu-nukunuku-ā-pua-a and it’s the official state fish.

Posted for Bushboy’s Last on the Card photo challenge. See more responses here.

Abstracts: Wired

Wire coiled and overlapping

There was some sort of marine object, a buoy possibly, hauled out on the beach in Kawaihae Harbor. I couldn’t really get a decent photo of the object, but I liked the look of this wire fencing material that was associated with the project.