Ring-billed Gull

A Ring-billed gull in Hawaii

I was walking the beach at ʻAnaehoʻomalu Bay (often known as A Bay, for obvious reasons) when I noticed this bird walking in the same direction as me. I was idly wondering what kind of gull it was, when I suddenly realized, ‘it’s a gull.’

Unlike most places, a gull sighting in Hawaii is a rarity. I know people who’ve never seen one here. Gulls prefer shallow tidal areas and tropical islands don’t have those, so they’re not gull-friendly. But a few get blown in every year and some arrive as stowaways on ships

A Ring-billed gull in Hawaii

This one is a Ring-billed Gull, and it’s the second I’ve seen in my time here. The first, I saw catching a fish (here). I rather liked how this one was strutting its stuff on the beach.

A Ring-billed gull in Hawaii

Also posted for Bird of the Week LII. See more responses here.

The Numbers Game #9

A Black-Crowned Night Heron juvenile in Hawaii
A juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron on alert.

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 130. You can see more responses here.

A passion vine butterfly lays an egg.
A Passion Vine Butterfly lays an egg.
Webs on the ground catch the early morning sunlight.
Early morning webs.
Late afternoon light streams through lowered blinds to create this pattern on the lace curtains inside.
Light through the blinds.
A man harvests opihi off the coast of the Big Island of Hawaii.
Not a castaway, but an opihi picker.
A V22 Osprey aircraft at Upolu Airport, HawaiiA V22 Osprey aircraft at Upolu Airport, Hawaii showing how it is operated
A V22 Osprey aircraft…and how it works!

It’s a miracle

The flowers of a miracle fruit plant in Hawaii.
The flowers of a miracle fruit plant in Hawaii.

Every time I visit Hawaii Tropical Bioreserve and Garden, I see something new. On my last visit, one of new things I saw was this Miracle Fruit (Synsepalum dulcificum). The plant hails from tropical Africa. It gets its name from its berry. Without getting into too much chemistry, if this berry is eaten, sour foods eaten after it will taste sweet!

There were no berries on this plant, but perhaps I’ll see them next time I visit. Perhaps I’ll nick one and see how this works!

Hawaiʻi on Fire

Daybreak reveals the onlookers gathered at the Jaggar Museum viewing point.
Daybreak reveals onlookers gathered at the Jaggar Museum viewing point in April 2016 (Original post here).

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Iconic Places and Spaces.’ See more responses here.

I wasn’t sure what to post for this, but Kilauea is about as iconic as anything on the island, so I thought I’d post some photos from volcanic activity that I’ve seen since I moved here. Captions on the photos with a link to the original post.

Kilauea lava pours into ocean as people watch from the cliff
Lava from the Pu’u O’o vent reaches the ocean in July 2016 (Original Post here).
A lava breakout from the Kilauea lava flow.
A hike to the July 2016 flow revealed surreal scenes like this one (Original post here).
Lava from Kilauea Volcano’s Pu’u O’o vent enters the ocean as if from a firehose.
This fire hose of lava was a short-lived feature of the 2016 flow (original post here).
In April 2018, lava in Halema’uma’u Crater spilled onto the crater floor. (Original post here).

One of our barriers is missing

High surf at Mahukona Hawaii

A series of high swells recently, played havoc with the place where I go swimming. Concrete barriers were not only moved around, but one went missing altogether! The decaying parking area was roughed up, with more potholes and cracks appearing. As a result the gate to the parking area was kept closed for several days while ideas were mulled about what to do.

High surf at Mahukona Hawaii
Barriers on the move and water shooting up through the asphalt lot.
A concrete barrier in the water at Mahukona Hawaii
The missing barrier under the water.

One day, several new concrete barriers appeared, though the missing barrier had been located – near the entry ladder, but underwater. Word leaked out that repairs were to be made. The sunken barrier would be recovered and the holes in the lot filled.

They were true to their word. Next day a crew arrived and the promised work was completed in a day. The barrier was back in place, its smaller replacements removed. The gates were opened and cars flooded in. It looked like a brand new place, relatively speaking.

Yesterday, I went down there to see how the latest big swell looked. The parking lot gate was closed again as expected. The swell was still building, but washed across the lower reaches of the lot. And the recently replaced concrete barrier was on the move again, heading across the parking lot, en route to the channel by the entry ladder!

The swimming entry at Mahukona Hawaii
Calm conditions, but a rather battered looking lot.
The parking area at Mahukona Hawaii
Barriers back in place and potholes filled!
High surf at Mahukona Hawaii
Barrier on the move again!