A pair of monarch butterflies mating on a kiawe tree.
Posted in response to Becky’s July Squares challenge theme of ‘Trees.’ See more responses here.
Monarch butterflies mating
Tag Archives: Macro
Bees on a tree heliotrope
Tree heliotropes produce clusters of little white flowers which are a big draw for bees. When the flowers bloom there are usually plenty of bees in attendance to gather the goodies within.
Argemone glauca close up
A closeup of the orange and yellow stamens, and purple stigma of the endemic Pua Kala or Hawaiian Prickly Poppy (Argemone glauca).
Green hover fly
The reason I don’t like this photo is because, just a moment before, this green hover fly (Ornidia obesa) had been right side up in the sun, which illuminated its wonderful metallic-green body. Alas, by the time I got my camera out, it had relocated to this spot.
Still, it’s an interesting fly, which could just as easily be called the green wolf fly – ‘what big eyes you have.’
Bee on a clover flower
I was walking to my car when I noticed the bees had discovered the clover flowers in what passes for a lawn around here. So I got down and joined them for a little while.
Ohia lehua flower close up
A bee forages on an ohia lehua flower.
Posted in response to Becky’s January Squares challenge theme of ‘Up.’ See more responses here.
Inside and out
I was sitting on the couch when a large, dark shape appeared on the window screen. The bottom photo shows this first view I had of what was clearly a black witch moth. I took my camera outside and shot a few more photos.
Sometimes these moths can look very battered indeed, but this one looked in good shape, if a little faded. It remained in this spot for several hours until an ambitious gecko saw it as a potential banquet. When the gecko got too close, the moth took off.
I’ve seen a gecko go after one of these moths before (here), but I’ve yet to see one succeed in its quest.
Milo flowers
The milo tree (Thespesia populnea) is a canoe plant, brought to Hawaii by the early Polynesians, though it was probably already here before then and so is considered indigenous.
The flowers, which don’t open fully, start out a delicate yellow with red patches at the base, becoming dark pink later. The flowers are followed by green seed capsules which dry to brown.
Graham's Island 