The male spotted boxfish (top) is blue with orange highlights and white spots along the back, whereas the female (second photo) is a fairly uniform brown with white spots all over. Despite their shape, boxfishes are nimble swimmers boasting a good turn of speed and surprising maneuverability.
I got these photos because the male boxfish came up to check me out a couple of times and the female was unperturbed by my presence as she searched for food on an old pier piling.
A snorkeler heads for the end of the rainbow. Alas, no pot of gold was found.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Burlywood.’ (See more responses here.) It’s a color I’d never heard of before, apparently a shade of khaki. I’ve gone for some photos of Mauna Ulu, a crater in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
The Mauna Ulu eruption took place between 1969 and 1974 and transformed the landscape of the park. A good guide to the eruption can be found here. These days, it’s a quiet area and plants have gained a foothold in the main crater, though the slopes are still mostly barren. And it’s those slopes, seen from the air, that have a pronounced khaki, or burlywood color.
For more information about Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, go to nps.gov/havo/.
On a recent swim, I was turning to head for home when I saw this large school of fish rocketing towards me. As they zipped by I snapped the top photo. I could see they were mackerel scads, known in Hawaii as Opelu.
The reason for their haste also became clear as the last of them went by. The bottom photo shows a rainbow runner hot on their tails. Both fish are members of the jack family, but it’s a family that doesn’t get along. Mackerel scads are a favorite food of rainbow runners.
In a matter of moments, the fish disappeared out of sight. These were the only two photos I was able to take of the episode and I was thrilled that both turned out pretty well.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Images Inspired by Favorite Song Lyrics.’ See more responses here.
My final post on this theme is a photo with some history. This is the statue of King Kamehameha I in Honolulu. It’s appropriate for the old Jethro Tull song, Living in the Past. It also works for a favorite of mine, History Repeating by Propellorheads, with guest vocals by Shirley Bassey of all people! And for a final song, how about William Shatner singing(?) Has Been. I have a few William Shatner songs which feature on bad song compilations, but Has Been is actually a pretty good album in my book and speaks well to Shatner’s good humor when it comes to music.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Images Inspired by Favorite Song Lyrics.’ See more responses here.
Day four of this theme response is a photo that fits three moon offerings: Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon is an album, but I like all of it. Walking on the Moon by The Police and I’ll Shoot the Moon by Tom Waits are both songs I like. I could have picked dozens of Tom Waits songs but I don’t have the photos to illustrate them!
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Images Inspired by Favorite Song Lyrics.’ See more responses here.
Day three of this theme response is a sunset photo that seemed apt for both Paul Simon’s Late in the Evening and Eels’ Wonderful, Glorious.
Graham's Island 