This past week or so has been a bit bleak weather-wise. At one point we had a high wind warning, winter storm warning, flash flood warning, and a high surf warning. The warnings were justified. Winds blew at 40 to 50 knots with higher gusts. Rain bucketed down. Surf pounded the shorelines. It was an unfortunate week to be vacationing here.
Meanwhile, up on Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, the winter storm warning produced a decent snowfall giving those peaks a Christmassy look, albeit a few weeks too late.
I saw this I’iwi (Drepanis coccinea) on a trail off of Saddle Road, between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. These bright red birds are native Hawaiian honeycreepers and in the old days, the feathers of the birds were collected to make cloaks for Hawaiian royalty.
The curved bill is suited for feeding on native lobelias, but a decline in those plants has seen the I’iwi adapt to feeding on other native plants including ʻōhiʻa lehua, māmane, and ohelo.
While the numbers of I’iwi are still fairly good, particularly on the Big Island and Maui, they have suffered, like other birds, from loss of habitat. In addition, They are susceptible to avian malaria, spread by mosquitoes. Consequently, I’iwi are doing better at higher elevations, such as where this photo was taken at around 6,000 feet.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Peace.’ See more offerings here.
I’ve always found looking down on clouds gives me a peaceful feeling. Those fluffy balls of cotton wool look like they would make a comfy resting place. The irony is that those clouds may actually conceal roiling, turbulent air currents that are anything but peaceful, but let’s not allow reality to spoil the image.
This cloud layer blanketed the saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. The two peaks poking above the clouds are, in the foreground, Pu’u Ahumoa, and in the background, Hualalai.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘December Chill.’ (See more offerings here.)
Since I haven’t been to the chilly areas of the island recently, up on Mauna Kea or Mauna Loa, I’ve gone for a scene that at least looks chilly. Low, scudding clouds and high surf, driven by brisk trade winds make for a chilly scene, though the truth is I was almost certainly wearing shorts and a t-shirt when I took the photo.
This sign guards what is presumably Hawaii’s heavy water plant, though why such a plant would be halfway up the side of Mauna Kea is a mystery. Or perhaps the sign is just a warning that it would not be a good idea to pick up the large water tank behind the sign. Either way, the sign made me smile.
Recently, I walked around the Palila Forest Discovery Trail on the slopes of Mauna Kea without seeing any palilas. The mamane seeds that they feed on were either dry and brown or just starting to form, so a return in a few weeks might bring more luck. But there were other birds flitting around, usually easier to hear than see, especially in some areas where the tangle of branches make it hard to see anything.
This endemic Hawaii Amakihi was one of them, but then it landed on part of a branch where I happened to have a clear view. I snapped two photos before it once more vanished. I like how this photo makes it looks like the bird is settled in for the long term rather than the momentary landing and take off that actually occurred.
This week’s Friendly Friday challenge theme is ‘Electric.’ See more responses here. These three photos are quite different, but linked by this theme.
The top photo shows a view of an electric substation. I like the lines and shapes such facilities offer. But where does this power come from? A good deal is from oil fired plants, but Hawaii is working to get more of its electricity from locally sustainable sources.
In the middle is a view of Hawi wind farm, with Mauna Kea in the background. There are several wind farms of varying sizes in Hawaii including a few on the Big Island. Their contribution to the power grid is small, but growing. Solar power is also a big contributor, on an individual house basis or for whole communities (here).
One source that provided around 25% of the Big Island’s electricity was the Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV). Last year’s eruption shut them down, though, as the bottom photo shows, the flows mostly missed the plant itself. I think a couple of their wells were covered by lava, but most were spared. Currently, they’re in the process of restarting power production. Not everyone here is a fan of this power source. The same can be said about the Honua Ola bioenergy plant, which will generate electricity from burning eucalyptus chips, but which is still to become operational.
This week’s Friendly Friday challenge theme is ‘Remote.’ (See more responses here.)
I’m going for this photo for three reasons. First, Hawaii itself is remote at more than 2,200 miles from the nearest major landmass. The closest U.S. state is actually Alaska, though California is the closest state to the Big Island.
Secondly, Mauna Kea is one of the more remote spots on the island, particularly these days. Protests over building a new telescope on Mauna Kea have resulted in the road up the volcano being closed for some weeks now with no end to the dispute in sight. So if a person wants to go to the top, a long and arduous hike is the only way.
Thirdly, the telescopes on the summit are there to explore the farthest reaches of the universe, and you can’t get more remote than that.
Graham's Island 