Tag Archives: Butterflyfish

Bright and beautiful

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A Carpenter bee male at Lapakahi in Hawaii
A male Sonoran Carpenter Bee enjoys the sunshine.

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful.’ See more responses here.

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

Reef fish at Two Step in Hawaii
Reef fish at Two Step.
A Bromeliad in Hawaii
Aechmea blanchetiana bromeliad.
An Ember Parrotfish in the waters off Hawaii
An Ember Parrotfish.
A Crowned Jellyfish in the waters off Hawaii
A Crowned Jellyfish catches the light.
A Rcl Sharon king 'Volcano Queen' orchid at the Hilo Orchid Show in Hawaii
Rcl Sharon king ‘Volcano Queen’ orchid.
Sunset on the Kohala coast in Hawaii
North Kohala sunset.

Fish that pass in the day

An Orangespine Unicornfish and Common Longnose Butterflyfish in Hawaii

An Orangespine Unicornfish and Common Longnose Butterflyfish swim by each other. I always feel a bit sorry for these butterflyfishes. If longnose isn’t a bad enough moniker, adding common seems excessively harsh. Mind you, it’s close kin is the Big Longnose Butterflyfish, which is no better!

The Numbers Game #63

Water surges into a cavern at South Point.

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

A plane lands at Kailua Kona airport.
The Banyan trees in downtown Hawi.
Wailuku River gorge contains an area known as Boiling Pots, which is beautiful but dangerous.
Raccoon Butterflyfish in formation.
Sunset off the coast of North Kohala, Hawaii
Sunset in Kohala.
A creature lurks.

A rosy outlook

A view of the 2022 Mauna Loa eruption in Hawaii
The 2022 eruption of Mauna Loa.

This week’s Sunday Stills color challenge theme is ‘Rosy Red.’ See more responses here. Captions are on the photos.

An Apapane in an ohia tree in Hawaii
A native Apapane in an Ohia tree.
An Alpinia purpurata 'Tahitian Double' flower at Hawaii Tropical Bioreserve and Gardens
An Alpinia purpurata ‘Tahitian Double’ flower.
Bigscale soldierfishes in the waters off Hawaii
Bigscale Soldierfishes with a Pacific Trumpetfish and a Longnoe Butterflyfish.
A red hibiscus flower in Hawaii
A hibiscus flower.
A Red heliconia flower in Hawaii
A Heliconia flower.
Leis being arranged at the Statue of King Kamehameha in Kapaau, Hawaii
A lei being prepared for draping on the statue of King Kamehameha in Kapaau.

Raccoon Butterflyfishes

Racoon Butterflyfishes in the waters of Honaunau Bay (Two Step), Hawaii
Racoon Butterflyfishes in the waters of Honaunau Bay (Two Step), Hawaii

Last week, my wife and I fled Hawi in the wee hours of the morning to avoid being trapped at home by the Ironman race. The cycling portion of the race goes past our driveway and the road was closed from 7:00am to 3:00pm.

Our first destination was Two Step, more properly known as Honaunau Bay. Arriving before 6:30am, we were the first people there and had the bay to ourselves for a short while. It’s a great spot for snorkeling as it’s generally fairly calm, and the area is a marine reserve, which means the various kinds of fishing aren’t allowed. Experience has shown that fish in marine reserves are less skittish, which makes them easier to see and photograph.

These Raccoon Butterflyfishes are a good example of that. I see them elsewhere, hanging in the water, but if I approach they ease away from me. At Two Step, the fish stay where they are. I’ve had one or two come right up to me, presenting a different photographic challenge as they butt my camera housing.

This small school was drifting above the steep slope bordering the deeper part of the bay.