Tag Archives: Sunday Stills

A rainy day in North Kohala

A rainy day at Upolu Airport, Hawaii
A crab spider web in the rain

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Rainy Day.’ See more responses here.

I had just finished my walk around Upolu Airport when the weather closed in. Usually, clouds and rain are blown in by the northeast trade winds, but on this day a system was moving in from the west. I’d been watching its progress as I walked, but still got caught out as it moved faster than I expected. Still, I did make it back to the car, waiting for me in the wet parking lot, before the next deluge arrived (top photo).

The crab spiders didn’t seem to mind the weather, and the raindrops made a picture of their webs (middle photo). It also made them easier to see so that I could avoid my usual trick of blundering into them and having webs wrapped around my head.

On the drive home, after my walk, I carved an avenue of spray as I motored along the puddled road (bottom photo).

A rainy day in North Kohala, Hawaii

Things that are white

A catamaran sails off the coast of the Big Island, Hawaii
A cattle egret standing in a fountain

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Things that are white.’ See more responses here.

The top photo features a white catamaran with white sails, cruising on a white-capped ocean. The second photo is a cattle egret in a water fountain. The third photo shows a thick layer of white clouds between the Big Island and Maui, as seen from Mauna Kea.

Clouds fill the sky between Mauna Kea and Maui

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

Rosy red

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Color Challenge: Rosy Red.’ See more responses here.

The top photo is a very red gate at the entrance to a newly fenced field. The grey cylinders are protection for something planted inside, possibly macadamia nut trees.

The middle photo shows a group of soldierfishes, mostly pearly soldierfishes, though one or two might be the very similar bigscale soldierfishes.

Finally, the third photo shows the brilliant blossoms of a royal poinciana tree.

Fallen

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Fallen.’ (See more responses here.) Usually I respond to these challenges with a single subject, but this month I’m taking a different approach, so here are some ‘fallen’ images.

The top photo, taken earlier this week, is of a bus shelter that had fallen off its base. It got that way thanks to some strong westerly winds that blew here for a couple of days.

The second photo also owes its origins to those winds. The mango tree in the yard has another batch of fruit and the wind dislodged a fair number. Pigs and chickens got some of the fallen fruit, but I was still able to gather a considerable number in good condition. However, as the photo shows, there are still more on the tree.

The third photo shows fallen coconuts at Kiholo. While a lot of coconuts are harvested, there are also many that simply fall off the tree and either rot, or sprout to start another palm. Coconuts were brought to Hawaii by the ancient Polynesians, but they might also have arrived naturally as they’re capable of drifting large distances across the ocean, and then sprouting on making landfall.

Upolu landscape

  • A small plane taxis at the airport.
  • There are dairy cows and beef cattle here. Some are bigger than others.
  • I often see sheep or cows on the road. These were trotting past the wind farm.
  • A sleepy orange butterfly on the flower of a native Jacquemontia sandwicensis vine.
  • A pair of nenes walk along the road outside the airport fence.
  • The newest addition to the landscape is this alien-looking sugar cane harvester.
  • Horse riders on the road along the coast.
  • Upolu is a good place to watch the sunset.
  • The view from Mo’okini Heiau towards a cloud-covered Maui.
  • A view of Maui from the top of the road to Upolu Airport.

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Your Favorite Landscape.’ See more responses here.

When I think of the landscape at Upolu, it includes both the ocean that borders it and the skies above. They are, in my mind, integral to the place. But here, I’ve focussed on the land, a relatively small area of a few square miles where I walk most days. It’s rural, agricultural, and coastal. It’s historic and modern. It’s also a place I never return from feeling disappointed. There’s always something of note that I see or that happens when I’m there.

Also posted in response to Becky’s January Squares challenge theme of ‘Up.’ See more responses here.

Clouds roll up Mauna Kea

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Fog and Clouds.’ See more responses here.

We don’t get a lot of fog here, but there’s no shortage of clouds. Here, clouds pile up as they hit the lower slopes of Mauna Kea.

Also posted in response to Becky’s January Squares challenge theme of ‘Up.’ See more responses here.

Green turtle coming up in Kiholo

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Glacier Blue.’ See more responses here.

We’re a little short on glaciers here on the Big Island, but the color description made me think of Kiholo Bay, where fresh water intrusion gives the water a different look to most places around here. The bay is also a great place to see turtles, which can be seen in the water and hauled out on the shore to rest.

This turtle was swimming in the bay where the gently rippling surface gave it an abstract appearance as it came up for air.

Also posted in response to Becky’s January Squares challenge theme of ‘Up.’ See more responses here.