Clouds swirl around Pu’u Ahumoa on the slopes of Mauna Kea. This is an area where clouds often build up during the day and visibility can deteriorate rapidly when they do move in.
Clouds around Pu’u Ahumoa
Metallic skink
A metallic skink blends in well as it crosses a rough section of an old road.
Crocodile needlefish
This crocodile needlefish swam up to check me out one day when I was snorkeling. These are large fish and sometimes, when I see them, I mistake them for great barracudas. A somewhat disturbing fact about crocodile needlefish is that, if they become alarmed, particularly at night, they can turn on whoever has frightened them and drive their beak into that person. The wounds inflicted can be very serious and deaths have been recorded. Mostly though, when I’m snorkeling, they just cruise by and take a non-threatening look.
Maui from the water
A view of Maui from the water off North Kohala. On a clear day like this, Maui looks fairly close, but it’s actually 30 or so miles away from where this photo was taken.
Radio-controlled nene?
I saw these two nenes sharing a puddle with some myna birds alongside the runway at Upolu Airport. A closer view (second photo) shows the identifying tags on the birds’ legs. These are the same two birds that had a gosling in this location last year, which I posted about here.
The third photo reveals a box on the back of the male of this couple. This is a tracking device that was placed on the bird by the East Hawai’i Division of Forestry and Wildlife. They track the birds to help them understand their behaviors and movements. I thought it looked a bit big, but the bird didn’t seem bothered by it.
I had written here, ‘In due course, and probably after not too long a time, the box will fall off and the bird will be unencumbered again.’ but then I saw this pair again yesterday and the box was still there. On the plus side, both birds continued to look in great condition.
Ipu
Ipu is the Hawaiian word for the gourd (Langenaria sacraria). The early Polynesians brought the seeds to Hawaii and also used the hollowed out gourds on the voyage, for storing water, food, and other items, and to bail out the canoes.
These days, the gourds are used to make musical instruments that are used in dances and in chants. The plant is a climbing vine and the gourds are the fruit of this vine.
Silent night
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Christmas Song Lyrics.’ See more responses here.
I’m one of those people who sings, hums, and whistles Christmas songs year-round, often to the annoyance of those in earshot. Spoiled for choice, I decided to go with Silent Night with the intention of taking photos of Hawaii’s star-spangled night sky. However, by the time I got around to taking photos, the stars had been blanketed by clouds. These came from a weather system that prompted warnings of blizzard conditions and 100 mph winds!
Such conditions weren’t expected where I live – that would represent climate change of biblical proportions – but the weather system generated clouds and rain island-wide. In addition, it seemed to swirl back and forth and around the Big Island maintaining these conditions for a week and counting.
This photo looks down on the lights of Kawaihae and I think the heavy clouds add a muffled feeling that’s quite in keeping with the song.
Spiders and stick insect
Outside my bathroom window, a colony of crab spiders has created a vast network of webs between the house and utility lines. The image (bottom photo) would have been a good one for Halloween.
In amongst the crab spiders, a female Hawaiian garden spider has staked out a spot. It’s close to the window and I get a good view of what she’s up to. Usually there are one or two little cocoons of white webbing where she has captured and stashed a wee bug for later.
On this morning I glanced outside and saw a large brown shape stuck in the web and lightly wrapped in white. So I went outside and took the top photo of the unfortunate victim. When I looked at it, I realized the garden spider wasn’t the only one in the photo. I noticed a much smaller spider on the stick insect. So I went out again and took the second photo.
I don’t know what kind of spider it is, but I liked its shiny metallic abdomen. I assume that spider was in the process of snagging itself a free meal. The garden spider didn’t seen too bothered, I presume because she figured such a small spider wasn’t going to deplete her larder very much.
Graham's Island 