Tag Archives: Mamane

The Numbers Game #66

A view of Waipio Valley from the air.

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 187. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

A Citrus Swallowtail butterfly.
An Allograpta Obliqua Hoverfly on a Mamane flower.
A Leafcutter Bee on Aptenia Cordifolia flowers.
A view of the base of the petioles of a Traveler’s Palm (Ravenala madagascariensis).
A Gold Dust Day Gecko on a red bamboo stem.
A cow extricating itself from a jam!

Favorite flowers in Hawaii

Flexibility is important in nature, as this mourning gecko demonstrates while drinking from a bird of paradise flower.
A Mourning Gecko takes a drink from a Bird of Paradise flower.

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Favorite Flowers.’ Here are some of mine. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here

Maiapilo flowers in Hawaii
Maiapilo flowers start out white and change to pink as the day wears on,
Yellow and pink Hibiscus tiliaceus flowers in Hawaii
Hibiscus Tiliaceus, Hau in Hawaii, also changes color through the day.
An Hawaii ‘Amakihi with Mamane flowers.
A Wasp in an Ohia flower in Hawaii
A wasp in an Ohia Lehua flower.
Raindrops on Plumerias in Hawaii
Raindrops on Plumerias.
A bee forages through the blooms of a mock orange.
A bee on Mock Orange flowers.

And finally some photos from the Hilo Orchid Show last year. I’ve definitely become an orchid fan since moving here.

An Epidendrum Pacific Pastel orchid at the Hilo Orchid Show in Hawaii
Epidendrum Pacific Pastel.
A Paphiopedilum St. Swithin orchid at the Hilo Orchid Show in Hawaii
Paphiopedilum St. Swithin.
A Monnierara Millennium Magic 'Witchcraft' orchid at the Hilo Orchid Show in Hawaii
Monnierara Millennium Magic ‘Witchcraft.’

The Numbers Game #20

Moving forward. Having second thoughts!

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 141. Captions are on the photos.

You can see more responses here.

Also posted for Becky’s Squares: Move Forward, Reconstruct, Renew, and/or are Burgeoning. See more responses here.

An Hawaii Amakihi in a Mamane tree.
A green anole on a Ti leaf.
A White-lined Sphinx Moth.
A bee working hard in a Mamane flower.
A Praying Mantis hoping the photographer gets lost.
A Katydid says hi.

Feed me

A baby bird calling for food in Hawaii
A baby African Silverbill cries for food.
A Nutmeg Mannikin feeds on cane grass seeds in Hawaii
A Nutmeg Mannikin stuffing itself with cane grass seeds

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Feed the Birds.’ See more responses here.

I don’t feed the birds here, but they seem to have no trouble feeding themselves, with the notable exception of the one in the top photo. Here’s a selection.

A Hawaiian Stilt snags a meal in Hawaii
An Hawaiian Stilt prepares to eat a tasty morsel fished form the water.
A Hawaiian Amakihi feeds at a mamane flower in Hawaii
An Hawaiian Amakihi feeds at a Mamane flower.
A cattle egret catches an anole in Hawaii
A Cattle Egret snags an anole for lunch.
A Japanese White-eye feeds at a bougainvillea in Hawaii
A Japanese White-eye feeds on a bougainvillea flower.

Feed the birds

A black-crowned night heron tries to eat a tilapia
A house finch eats tree heliotrope fruit

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.

A palila eats a mamane seed pod