Birds at the watering hole

Birds gather for a drink of water in Hawaii

At my local swimming spot, there’s a row of big rocks to prevent anyone driving off the edge of the parking area into the ocean. Before anyone says ‘No one would be that dumb,’ there’s a raft of examples I can offer that prove the contrary.

One of the rocks has a good-sized depression on the top and this has become a watering spot for the local bird population. People clean it out and top it up with fresh water on a daily basis. Most of the birds seem to get along and don’t appear to mind the many wasps that avail themselves of the opportunity for a drink. There are feral cats in the area though, so the birds are always looking around, never able to relax completely.

Posted for Becky’s Squares: Seven. See more responses here.

E ba gum

Pieces of wood in the shape of the letter E

I saw this on a walk at Upolu and, for obvious reasons, immediately thought of posting it for Becky’s Squares: Seven (See more responses here).

Looking around, I didn’t see an H, L, or P, so continued on my way without searching.

Green-spored Parasol Mushroom

I was driving home from my afternoon walk at Upolu, when I saw this mushroom by the side of the road. It was hard to miss, though I apparently managed that on my way down. I had to stop and spend a little time on hands and knees, getting photos.

While I was doing that, the rusty little wheels in my head started grinding and it occurred to me that the mushroom must be around seven inches in diameter. So I got my tape measure from the car, and it turned out to be exactly that.

It’s a Green-spored Parasol Mushroom (Chlorophyllum molybdites), and goes by several other names including Vomiter! Wikipedia calls it ‘the most commonly misidentified poisonous mushroom in North America,’ because its similar to some edible mushrooms.

Even the rusty little wheels knew chopping it into my next scramble wasn’t a great idea.

Posted for Becky’s Squares: Seven. See more responses here.

Rainbows

When Becky’s announced her theme for this month’s Squares as Seven (See more responses here), rainbows were one of the first things I thought of. So here’s two for the price of one. Sadly, that’s not a pot of gold between the ends of them. It’s just a rock.

Seven-eleven Crab

The Seven-eleven Crab (Carpilius maculatus), is easier to identify than it is to see. That’s because it’s mostly active at night. This one was probably on its way to its daytime resting spot when I saw it. It gets its name from the prominent red spots on its shell, two behind each eye and three on the back, with the other four generally less visible along the rear, though two of those are clear in this photo.

Posted for Becky’s Squares: Seven. See more responses here.

The Numbers Game #37

The SSV Makani Olu sailing off the Kohala coast in Hawaii — The SSV Makani Olu sailing off the Kohala coast.

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 158. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

Also, seven photos posted for Becky’s Squares: Seven. See more responses here.