Tag Archives: Agaves

The Numbers Game #98

Lahaina noon at Kawaihae, Hawaii
Where’s the shadow? It’s Lahaina noon! Original post here.

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

Also posted for Becky’s Squares: Shadows. See more responses here.

The Numbers Game #49

Kiawe trees and Muana Kea telescopes silhouetted against an early morning sky
A view of telescopes on Mauna Kea from Mahukona.

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

There’s something bugging me

A tiny female Hawaiian Garden Spider with a much bigger one in the background

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Let’s Get Small.’ See more responses here.

Sorry to start off (above) with spiders, for those with aversions to them, but this one is very small. It’s a tiny female Hawaiian Garden Spider, probably no more than a quarter-inch across, though if it survives, it will grow to be as big as the other one in the photo.

In the gallery below, a Seven-spotted Ladybug putters about in some very green leaves. Another spider, this time a jumping spider no bigger than the little one at the top, has jumped a moth bigger than itself. Finally, what I think is a hover fly pretending to be a wasp with its black and yellow markings.

Finally, a Camponotus variegatus ant or carpenter ant. Next, a bee collecting pollen on an agave attenuata. Note the tiny aphids sharing the flower. And finally ants and aphids on the leaf of a Hawaiian Crown Flower. In this symbiotic relationship, the aphids produce sweet goodies for the ants to eat and the ants provide protection against the aphids’ predators.

Praying Mantis waiting

A praying mantis in an agave attenuata
A praying mantis in an agave attenuata

This Praying Mantis spent several days on this Agave Attenuata, waiting patiently for food. There were bees all over the flowers and I think the mantis got some of them, as well as other insects.

I presumed the mantis was a female as it seemed to be getting bigger. A couple of days after taking these photos, the mantis disappeared but I saw an egg sac on a nearby tree, so maybe there will be more on the way!