This is the resident cat at Mahukona Beach Park. The rock he’s standing beside has a natural bowl at the top and people fill it with water for the birds. I call the cat Killer because, when he sees a bird go for a drink, he races out, stations himself at the base of it, and then leaps up trying to snag a victim.
A couple of mornings ago, I saw him leap from this spot and miss his quarry, but sometimes he’s successful. Feathers in the bowl attest to that. The birds here are not native species, so he’s not contributing to their decline, though that’s not the case elsewhere on the island.
On high alert on a trellis with Chilean Glory Vine (Eccremocarpus scaber)
All that alertness makes a cat tired.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Love Your Pet.’ See more responses here. We don’t have pets currently, so here are some archive photos of Chairman Meow, our cat from our old home in Washington State.
He was a Ragdoll, a breed noted for its mellow temperament. Happily, he was not a hunter, though he would stare intently at birds, except for hummingbirds, which left him with a bewildered expression! He also shed boatloads of fine, soft hair. A thorough combing would produce a wad of hair, but when he walked away, more would fly off him.
In the mornings, he’d climb up on the bed and sit on us until he was let out. One house had a screen door and it was common to hear a thud against it in the morning, a sign he wanted to come in again. When I opened the door, looking down for him, he was nowhere to be seen. But when I looked up there he was, hanging halfway up, his claws gripping the screen. The old lady who lived across the street said it gave her a great deal of amusement to witness this daily ritual!
Time for a rest with two paws out.
We were going to bring him with us to Hawaii, but he used to end up frothing at the mouth on the two mile car ride to the vet! So he stayed behind in a good situation until he passed away a few years back.
I don’t recall this Nene having chicks around, but it was clearly unhappy with the proximity of the cat and let it know in no uncertain manner. I sympathize with the cat. I’d have been running like that too!
Sriracha is one of two tigers at Hilo’s Pana’ewa Zoo & Gardens. It was a very hot day and both tigers were sheltering in the shade of a large stand of bamboo. Luckily, after a while, Sriracha ventured out of the shadows to check out us humans. She didn’t stay long. It was too hot for that.
Posted for Becky’s Squares: Shadows. See more responses here.
A lava flow at Kilauea with people walking on it. What could possibly go wrong!
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 216. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
A somewhat spooky kitten.Sunshine.A Wandering Tattler casting a shadow like Feathers McGraw in a Wallace and Gromit movie.A dapper Yellow-billed cardinal.A tiny stick insect.Rusty Millipedes making more Rusty Millipedes!
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘World Animal Day.’ See more responses here.
A contented goat at Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park.A wild pig with a mango.A watchful Gold Dust Day Gecko.Resting cats.Another resting cat, this one at Pana’ewa Zoo & Gardens.A pair of horses wary of paparazzi.
A juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron watches from a Kiawe tree.
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 197. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
Orange Sulphur Butterfly on a Bougainvillea.Gold Dust Day Geckos warm up in the morning sun.A Northern Mockingbird snags a meal.A Green Turtle swims by.A cat in the grass.Cement tanks at sunrise.
Graham's Island 