This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Macro or Close-up Photography.’ (See more responses here.) In response, here’s a close-up photo of a monarch butterfly feeding on a tasselflower.
Monarch butterfly on a tasselflower
Tag Archives: Sunday Stills
Large orange sulphur butterfly
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Yellow.’ (See more responses here.) Naturally, I thought of a butterfly with orange in its name on a very red flower.
This is a large orange sulphur butterfly investigating the feeding possibilities on a red Chinese hibiscus flower.
Blue boat on blue water
A small catamaran cruises through the waters off the Kona coast, its triangular sails harnessing the wind to keep it moving on course and away from rocks inshore.
Posted in response to this week’s Sunday Stills challenge on the theme of ‘Triangles.’ See more responses here.
Barbecue
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Taste.’ See more responses here.
In Hawaii, cooking outdoors is an everyday affair. Some houses have their kitchens outside. Others, with kitchens inside, have a secondary setup on the lanai (deck) for outdoor cooking. And of course when we’re talking outdoor cooking, we’re talking barbecue. Most days, when I’m out and about, I’ll catch a scent on the air and think, ‘Oh, someone’s cooking something good.’
This photo was from a simple lunchtime barbecue and, yes, it did taste good.
Two geckos
These two gold dust day geckos share the same expression as they gaze up at the interloper looking down at them. It’s not unusual for plants to harbor several geckos. Sometimes this results in turf wars, but mostly they seem to tolerate each other, once the pecking order has been established.
Posted in response to this week’s Sunday Stills challenge on the theme of ‘Creatures and Critters.’ See more responses here.
Lesser grass blue butterfly
A lesser grass blue butterfly reveals the reason for its name, at least the blue part anyway.
Posted in response to this week’s Sunday Stills challenge on the theme of ‘Blue.’ See more responses here.
Pu’u Wa’awa’a views
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Great Outdoors.’ (See more responses here.) When I think of the great outdoors, I think of hiking, and one of my favorite hikes on the Big Island is up Pu’u Wa’awa’a. It’s an 8-mile round trip and tops out at just under 4,000 feet. On a good day, the hike offers great views, not only from the top, but also on the way up and down. And there are several benches where a person can rest and take in those views, including a couple on the summit.
The top photo shows the view north from around 3,500-feet elevation, with Tamaki Coral in the foreground and Kohala Mountain in the background. The bottom photo is a view from 100 feet or so below the summit looking east toward Mauna Kea.
The hike can also include many native trees and plants as well as a variety of wildlife. There are domestic sheep, cattle, and horses, as well as wild pigs and goats. When the trees are in bloom, they’re rich with insects and birds including several native varieties.
To top it off, most of the times I’ve visited, usually in the early morning, I’ve had the place to myself.
For more information about Pu’u Wa’awa’a and its trails, go to puuwaawaa.org.
Black-crowned night heron
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Stillness.’ (See more offerings here.) It made me think of this scene.
I was out early one morning and stopped by the port at Kawaihae. There wasn’t much going on, but I was happy to see this adult black-crowned night heron perched on a rock in the shallows. It didn’t seem to be actively fishing.
Indeed, the heron remained mostly still. It was just dark enough for the lights of the port to illuminate the rippled waters inside the harbor. The port itself was also quiet. No boats moving, no trucks lining up, no machinery grinding. Just a couple of men fishing off the small boat dock.
