The third of my rainbow colors in response to Becky’s April Squares challenge theme of ‘Bright.’ (See more responses here.)
Today’s rainbow was taken from Kohala Mountain Road and looks down towards the southern edge of Waimea.
In the middle, a bright yellow saffron finch perches on a bare branch of a plumeria. There were zero leaves on this tree and only a few budding flowers, such as the one next to the finch.
And finally, the yellow robe of the painted statue of King Kamehameha I in Kapaau.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Feed the Birds.’ See more responses here.
In the top photo, this ambitious juvenile black-crowned night heron snaffled a tilapia from a large backyard pond. However, that was the easy part. I watched it for quite a while, trying to swallow the fish. It flew from the pond into a tree, then on to another one, before returning to the ground beyond some rocks. The fish was still in its beak, but no closer to reaching its stomach.
In the middle photo, a house finch chows down on the fruit of a tree heliotrope (Tournefortia argentea).
In the bottom photo, a palila feeds on a mamane (Sophora chrysophylla) seed pod. Typically, a palila will grab a pod from one place and then take it to another branch to eat it. It pins the green, immature seed pod to the branch, as in this photo, and then bashes away at it with its powerful beak. The seeds are poisonous, but palilas have developed an immunity to the toxins. The brown pods in this photo won’t be eaten by palilas. They will remain on the tree for a long time before dropping and hopefully producing more trees, though mamane seeds have quite low propagation rates.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Backyard Birding.’ See more responses here. Also posted in response to Becky’s October Squares challenge theme of ‘Kind.’ See more responses here.
Almost all the birds I see in the backyard are fairly common, but no less interesting for that.
This week sees the return of the Friendly Friday challenge with a theme of ‘All in a Row.’ See more responses here.
I’ve plumped for some bird photos. Above, a trio of common myna birds stand on a railing looking severe, as they always do. Middle, wild turkeys form two lines, as if they’re performing some kind of dance routine. Below, African silverbills perch on a fence overlooking the ocean.
Monkeypod trees are renowned for their spread, creating large shady areas below. They also provide habitat for many birds including this saffron finch, enjoying a rest in the relative cool of the lower branches.
I saw these two saffron finches at Pu’u Wa’awa’a. The one seemed to be checking out a nicely-appointed knot hole in a tree while the other bird sat on a branch offering a different opinion.
I don’t know whether they were looking for a nesting site, or the one bird was exploring and the other wasn’t pleased, or something else entirely. I walked on past never to know what the interaction was all about. But sometimes it’s more fun to speculate.
Three goats crossing a golf course fairway while a pair of nene head the other way. What I like about this image is that they all look very purposeful in their progress, as if they had an important appointment to keep. Only the saffron finch in the foreground looks like it couldn’t give a damn.
This pair of house finches, the male on the left and female on the right, was flitting about Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park. They’re common birds here, as in many other places, but there’s something about this photo that I’m really happy with.
For more information about Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park, visit https://www.nps.gov/puho/index.htm.
