A yellow hibiscus not far from Pololu Valley.
Hibiscus on the coast
Monk seal and pup
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Cozy.’ See more responses here.
This mother and her pup were looking pretty cozy on the beach at Keokea Beach Park. Mothers stay with their pups for five to seven weeks. During this time, the mothers generally do not feed, while pups feed on their mother’s milk. Mothers are typically huge when they give birth, but they lose a lot of weight during the rearing time, while the pups get correspondingly bigger.
This pup was very young, and it was quite dramatic to see how quickly the pup got bigger and the mother smaller!
Tower blocks
These rusty remnants made me think of tower buildings piled alongside one another. As the lower photo shows, they certainly aren’t that, though it could be a model of an old Soviet workers vacation development!
Not again!
Yesterday, I was walking along the coast, head down, into a stiff breeze, when a shadow fell over me and then on the ground ahead. I had to laugh. It had been a while since this had happened to me. It was the unmistakable large shadow of a Great Frigatebird. I grabbed my camera out of the bag, and wrestled it into action, knowing as I did so that I wouldn’t get any decent photos.
The bird passed probably 10- or 15-feet overhead. By the time I took this photo it was way ahead, even into the wind. Then it dipped down closer to the water and I didn’t see it again.
Great Frigatebirds are prodigious flying machines and they appear effortless in their flight. Had I seen it earlier, it would likely have changed course earlier. But I suspect it’s not an accident when they pass directly overhead. I think they’re just winding me up!
Tsutsusi azalea
Tsutsusi azalea (Rhododendron indicum) is a native of Japan. I saw this one in Waimea, where it is cooler and wetter than where I live.
Spotted Eagle Rays
During yesterday’s swim, my wife and I saw five Spotted Eagle Rays. These three (photo below) were the first of them. One swept around and kept going, but two of them came straight on and passed close by. Then they turned around and came back again. They went back and forth for a while before finally heading out after the other one.
Shortly after this, we saw a fourth one apparently following after the others, and a couple of minutes later, a fifth one appeared and zipped by in the same direction. All five were of a similar size and probably juveniles.
A swim is generally a good way to start the day, but an encounter like this makes it even better.
The Numbers Game #46
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 167. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
Mules
When I went out to Pololu a week or so ago, I saw these mules in a field behind a food stop. I had to climb on a gate for the top photo, taking the fence mostly out of the equation, with the added benefit of attracting the mules’ attention. By the time I took the second photo, the very next shot, the thrill had clearly worn off for them.
Graham's Island 