Sunday Stills challenge theme this week and last week is ‘Your 2024 Year-in-Review.’ See more responses here. As before, I’m going with a favorite photo from each month of 2024, with a caption and link to the post the photo first appeared in. Last week, I posted favorites from January through June (here). This week, it’s July through December.
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 175. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
Tenacious plants grow in a lava flow.A Cigar Wrasse in a school of Whitebar Surgeonfishes.A view of Kohala Mountain from the trail up Pu’u WaaWaa.A bee on a Wiliwili flower.A Four-humped Stink Bug.The sign for the Banana Leaf Cafe in Hawi. It never opened!
The top photo shows a view of Hualalai under cloudy skies, taken from the water yesterday morning.
The second photo shows pretty much the same view, taken on Christmas Day morning. What do you mean, where did it go? It was actually a less cloudy day. The big difference was that the wind was blowing from the southeast, driving vog from the latest eruption of Kilauea in this direction. Vog is volcanic smog and when it’s this thick, it can be quite acrid and you can taste it! It makes life miserable, especially for those with any kind of respiratory ailments.
The vog was bad for two days before the trade winds returned and blew the vog away from this part of the island, allowing the view in the top photo.
Smoke from a brush fire colors the sky over the North Kohala coast
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 172. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
Got to keep those eyes clean!Watch out for a bump up ahead.A tug enters Kawaihae harbor while a crewman checks his phone.A Yellow-fronted Canary keeps watch.An Emerald Cockroach Wasp.Mangoes down after some strong winds.
The Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway, along the Kohala coast, passes through dry, barren lava fields. But even there, some plants are able to get a foothold. There are several Bougainvillea bushes along the road, including this one that was in full bloom as I headed home one late afternoon.
Early morning light on the Kohala Mountain hillside.
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 171. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
A Gold Dust Day Gecko on a pink banana.A switchback on the Kilauea Iki Trail.Ripples in the water of ʻAimakapā Fishpond at Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park.A Common Waxbill feeds on cane grass seeds.Hawaiian Stilts.African Silverbills at a window. See the full sequence here
Yesterday, I was walking along the coast, head down, into a stiff breeze, when a shadow fell over me and then on the ground ahead. I had to laugh. It had been a while since this had happened to me. It was the unmistakable large shadow of a Great Frigatebird. I grabbed my camera out of the bag, and wrestled it into action, knowing as I did so that I wouldn’t get any decent photos.
The bird passed probably 10- or 15-feet overhead. By the time I took this photo it was way ahead, even into the wind. Then it dipped down closer to the water and I didn’t see it again.
Great Frigatebirds are prodigious flying machines and they appear effortless in their flight. Had I seen it earlier, it would likely have changed course earlier. But I suspect it’s not an accident when they pass directly overhead. I think they’re just winding me up!
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 166. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.