White-lined sphinx moth

Another post based on the theme of this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge, which is ‘Silence.’

I glimpsed this moth flitting by and snapped a couple of photos, one of which is the second shot. I realized this wasn’t something I’d seen before and wanted to get more photos to make identifying it easier, but it had gone to ground and I’d lost track of it. So I waited, scanning the ground without spotting anything. A light breeze ruffled the grass, but otherwise all was silence.

Eventually, having seen no sign of its presence, I gave up, got up and moved on. Within seconds the moth flew by again. This time I followed its flight and saw where it put down. Even then, as I padded towards it, I thought I’d lost it again. But when I zoomed in on the apparently empty spot, the moth appeared, as seen above. No chance I’m spotting this had I not seen it flying.

It’s a white-lined sphinx moth, first recorded in Hawaii in 1877 and now present on all the islands. It’s probably fairly common but it’s the first time I’ve seen one.

Billbergia pyramidalis

Another post based on the theme of this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge, which is ‘Silence.’

I like to visit Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden a few times a year. The last time I was there, I got the last spot in the parking lot and expected to spend the morning elbowing my way through crowds. Imagine my surprise when I set out on the path into the garden and found it deserted. No one going down ahead of me, no one puffing their way up either. For a few minutes it was just me and a profusion of tropical plants, one of which was this Billbergia pyramidalis.

Billbergia pyramidalis is a bromeliad, also known as ‘Flaming torch.’ I wonder why?

For more information about Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, go to htbg.com.

Fish feeding

Fish feed near the surface of the water off the Big Island of Hawaii.Fish feed near the surface of the water off the Big Island of Hawaii.

Another post based on the theme of this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge, which is ‘Silence.’

It’s not unusual to see fish feeding while snorkeling, but on this day the numbers doing so, up near the surface, were large. These are mostly Hawaiian sergeants and black triggerfish, with a few indo-pacific sergeants amongst them.

By easing myself slowly toward them, they weren’t unduly concerned, parting as I got close and returning as I passed. I felt like I was swimming in an aquarium, a quiet environment without the usual noises of everyday life.

Fish feed near the surface of the water off the Big Island of Hawaii.

Full moon

Here’s another instance of me making posts based on the theme of this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge, which is ‘Silence.’

First up is this shot of a full moon. For me, the night sky always seems silent. What goes on up there is rarely accompanied by any sound that we hear (the recent Michigan meteor notwithstanding). And this was a calm evening with clouds just drifting by, so not even the sound of the wind to disturb things.

Crocodile needlefish

Crocodile needlefish are big enough that I sometimes mistake them for barracudas when I first see them. Like many of the different needlefish I see, they have a tendency to swim in circles around me when I encounter them.

On this day, I came on a largish shoal of crocodile needlefish milling about on the edge of a shallow area of the reef. The water was relatively clear and the sun illuminated them in such a way that their blue and silver sides shone quite beautifully.