
The Golden Trumpet Flower (Allamanda cathartica) hails from northern South America, but is now found in many other tropical places, including Hawaii.

The Golden Trumpet Flower (Allamanda cathartica) hails from northern South America, but is now found in many other tropical places, including Hawaii.

This is all that is left of a Portuguese bread oven at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. It was found when the land was cleared to make the garden and dates back to the early 1800s, when immigrants came to the island to work in the sugar cane industry.

The Blue Mud Dauber Wasp (Chalybion californicum) is native to North America, but an introduced species here in Hawaii. Its main claim to fame is that it’s renowned as a predator of Black Widow spiders!

I’m not sure what these plants are, but they were certainly popular with a flock of Common Waxbills, including this one.


The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 211. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.






This is BOO, a female Hawaiian Monk Seal, who I haven’t seen is quite some time. She had been resting in a pool at Upolu, but the tide was coming in. Eventually, she lumped her way out into the water, pausing in the frothy water by the rocks, before heading out to deeper water for a night of hunting no doubt.

Coconut Island, or Mokuola, is a small island in Hilo Bay. It’s connected to Hilo by the footbridge seen on the right in this photo. I took this photo when I was in Hilo recently and realized that I’ve never been across the footbridge. I didn’t have time that day, but it’s definitely on my list to do next time I’m in town.

Another flower from the Hilo Orchid Show. These flowers were tiny and so delicate, I would never have thought they were an orchid without the handy label.