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 225. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘All about bugs.’ See more responses here.
Also posted for Becky’s Squares: Seven. See more responses here.
The bugs in the next gallery were all on the same Monstera leaf, which had accumulated falling flowers from a palm tree.
On a recent walk, I noticed the Seven-spotted Lady Beetle in the top photo, wandering around on the ground.
Soon, a second one came into view, then turned around and headed off again.
A minute or so later, it reappeared and, without so much as a “Hi, my name’s Frank. And you?’ he climbed aboard. The two of them lurched about on the little rock, so I took my leave, and left them to it.
I found this Hawaiian Crown Flower (Calotropis gigantea) occupied by a Variable Lady Beetle, which gives a good idea of how small the flower is.
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.
I like hiking, as indicated by my last few posts, but I’m equally happy with a walk around the yard, at home or at work.
Recently, we planted a Hawaiian Crown Flower (Calotropis gigantea) at work. This was a stick with two small leaves on top. The two leaves dried up and the stem turned brown. It looked doomed, but then new leaves popped out near the bottom and the plant took off. New leaves every day, steady growth.
Then one day these showed up, little yellow drops, like tiny lemon candies. Close examination revealed legs and heads. Aphids! I think these are Aphis nerii, otherwise known as the Oleander or Milkweed aphid. These little sap suckers can do a lot of damage so we hosed them off, though I doubt the ladybug in the bottom photo was best pleased since aphids are a tasty meal for them.
Still, with the aphids gone, the plant continued to thrive until … (to be continued)
Posted for Becky’s Squares theme of “Walking” (See more responses here).
I spotted these two lady beetles on the underside of a passion vine leaf. The top one is a Seven-spotted Lady Beetle, the other a Variable Lady Beetle. But what got my attention was the fact that they appeared to be interested in the yellow spots on the leaf, as were several ants.
I knew that some passion vines produce these colored bumps to make it look like butterfly eggs are already there. Butterflies don’t like to lay eggs where another butterfly has already done so, though the leaf bumps aren’t foolproof in this regard (see here).
What I didn’t know was that the bumps produce nectar, which attracts ants, as was the case here. And the ants will defend this food source against caterpillars munching on the leaves. Isn’t nature fascinating!
This week’s Sunday Stills color challenge theme is ‘Ruby Red.’ See more responses here.
The top photo shows a Crown of Thorns sea star, which feeds on coral, though not to a problematic extent in Hawaii.
The second photo illustrates a definite problem. When I stopped by the Harbor House restaurant at Honokohau, these were the only two Kona Brewing taps available. I was told the company has discontinued their Castaway IPA, which, if true, is a sad state of affairs, it being by far their best beer in my humble, but completely correct opinion.
The bottom three show a Gold Dust Day Gecko on a torch ginger, a Budweiser (not my beer of choice) sign at the Harbor House, and what I think is a Western Blood-red Lady Beetle.
Graham's Island 