Bees on coffee flowers

A bee forages on coffee flowers in Hawaii
A coffee plant in flower in Hawaii

A couple of years ago, a hedge made up of several small coffee plants was planted along the edge of the old homestead. The plants have had mixed success thanks to uncooperative weather and a surfeit of chickens and pigs in the neighborhood.

However, several of the plants have thrived and this year, for the first time, produced blooms. When I noticed them, I immediately walked over and stuck my head down there to see if they had any scent. I didn’t notice much, but what I did notice was a loud buzzing noise and I realized that, scented or not, the bees were having a field day.

So I withdrew my head and took these photos. I’m glad I did because the flowers were short-lived and a couple of days later they were gone.

A bee forages on coffee flowers in Hawaii

It’s a nice drive, but…

A woman sitting on a red car in Hawaii

I caught up to this car driving back from Upolu Airport. Toward the top of this stretch of road, some tree roots have created some serious bumps and I was curious to see what was going to happen. As it happened she – dare I say, sadly – wasn’t catapulted into the air. Otherwise, that would definitely have been the top photo!

Who, me?

A Gold Dust Day Gecko with a moth in its mouth

Most predators, on land and in the ocean, have a relatively poor success rate when it comes to snagging prey. Even when they’re successful, there’s no guarantee they’ll get to savor their prize.

I don’t know whether this Gold Dust Day Gecko was the one that caught this moth because, an instant after the capture, two or three other geckos swooped down to snatch it. There was a flurry of bodies and this one emerged from the scramble with the moth firmly stashed in its jaws. This look suggests it was guilty of robbery.

Green turtle circling

A Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle swims by
A Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle swims by

I was snorkeling in some fairly hazy water and lamenting that, on such a day, I wasn’t going to get any decent photos unless something swam right up to my face. Not long after, this little turtle showed up and did just that. It looped around me several times before diving lower and heading away. But it made my day and I was glad I hadn’t given up on my swim earlier when I was feeling as gloomy as the water.

A Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle swims by

Emerald Cockroach Wasp

An Emerald Cockroach Wasp in Hawaii

I spotted this shiny creature on the trunk of a mango tree, but wasn’t sure what it was. So I searched online using the striking details – iridescent green, red on legs, Hawaii – and the first result was a post on whatsthatbug.com. It was headlined, ‘Emerald Cockroach Wasp from Hawaii turns Roaches into Zombies!!!’ (link here). That got my attention! Within that posting was a link to a longer post with more details (here).

In brief, the female Emerald Cockroach Wasp (Ampulex compressa) stings a cockroach to temporarily disable its front legs. It does this to buy time to deliver a second sting to a precise spot in the cockroach’s brain that controls the roach’s escape reflex. The roach isn’t paralyzed, but it just stays where it is, that is until the wasp takes it by the antenna and leads its zombie prey back to her burrow. There she lays an egg on the roach, before walling up the burrow’s entrance. Back inside, the roach just waits while the egg hatches and the larva eats its way inside the roach and devours the roach’s organs. Four weeks later, a new wasp emerges from the roach and the burrow.

I was astonished to learn about this, in particular how, for the second sting, the wasp locates the exact spot in the roach’s brain using sensors on the stinger.

The source of the whatsthatbug.com description comes from Carl Zimmer who has a great article here. More information about this remarkable wasp can be found here, here, and here. And finally, a must see video of the wasp in action, including leading the cockroach to its lair, can be seen here.