This is the state fish of Hawaii and while its official name is straightforward, in Hawaii it’s called the Humuhumu-nukunuku-ā-pua’a, which is actually easier to pronounce than it looks.
The fish is also known as the Picasso Triggerfish, a reference to its bold colors and markings.
For Bushboy’s Last on the Card challenge (see more responses here), I had to hunt a bit for the last photo I took. Turned out it was almost a week ago, when I was walking on the coast. The top photo is the last one, unedited. The one below is the next to last, cropped and edited a bit.
This was one of those occasions when I noticed the bird before it reached me, something of an uncommon occurrence in my experience.
Shortly after the sun dipped below the horizon, the sky appeared to catch fire.
In a follow up to yesterday’s post, a few close up photos of the flowers, which were very popular with the bees.
The last time I visited Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden, the Cannonball Trees (Couroupita guianensis) were flowering more abundantly than I’d ever seen them before. The flowers appear on the tree trunk, but these went all the way to the top and seemed to be blooming on some of the high branches. It was an impressive sight, especially in one instance where a heavily blooming tree was backed by a second tree loaded with cannonball fruits.
After the bloom is over, the petals litter the ground, a final splash of color in the dappled light.
For more information about Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden, go to htbg.com.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Under Construction.’ See more responses here. I thought I’d post a few photos of houses being built at Hapuna Resort. Views of Maui are a big attraction, though the island can be hidden by clouds there, or tumbling down from Kohala Mountain. Of course, there are also ocean views and killer sunsets.
A half-acre lot will cost you $1.5 million and up. One of these houses, when finished, will likely set you back $7 million or so. I can manage the zeros, but it’s that pesky digit at the front that will keep me out of this neighborhood!
Construction work here pays well (but not that well), but it’s a tough job since the work is often out in the full sun all day. Hard hats might be the choice (or requirement) on the mainland, but here a broad brim is more essential.
Not sure what kind of bromeliad this is. I had it labeled as a Dwarf Pineapple, but the more I looked at it, the less that seemed right. Not that it matters since it’s the colors and shapes that I was looking at.
This endemic damselfish is mostly black or brown with a mottled distribution of light and dark scales, but it’s easily identified by its yellow eyes. It eats filamentous algae and is said to ‘farm’ the algae in its territory, which it defends vigorously against other algae-eaters after its crop.
Graham's Island 