Tag Archives: Tide Pools

Abstracts: Bloody hermit crab

I think this is a bloody hermit crab, but this was my only look at it. The greenish lump, from which the legs protrude, is not a shell but a lump of rock or old coral.

Favorite photos from the early days

My first decent pueo photo taken on Old Saddle Road. I noticed it on the post as I drove by, then stopped, got out, and started taking photos. The bird watched me with that intent stare that they have. (Original post here.)

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Oldie-but-Goodie or Favorite Photo.’ (See more responses here.)
This seemed like a good opportunity to run a few of my favorite photos from the first year of this blog.

Hawaiian monk seals are solitary creatures, but these two spent some weeks in each others company. On the left is the female and on the right is IO5, the male I see most often up here in Kohala. (Original post here.)

A rusty millipede casts a giant shadow. — I saw this rusty millipede crossing a dirt road in the late afternoon and liked its giant shadow. This photo ran on the BBC website here. (Original post here.)

A new born calf is cleaned by his mother. — A cow cleaning her very new calf. Another photo that ran on the BBC website here. (Original post here.)

A pair of zebra doves perch on a mock orange branch — A couple of zebra doves enjoying the late afternoon sun together. (Original post here.)

Breakfast strikes back — A personal favorite, this green anole snagged a Chinese rose beetle, but the beetle did not give up. Instead, it got itself onto the anole’s nose before escaping. The anole did not look thrilled at having this incident photographed. (Original post here.)

Finally, a photo from a hike along the coast. Colorful tide pools, blue ocean, white sand – I spent a long time traversing this stretch. (Original post here.)

Abstracts: Little fish

Little fish swim in a tide pool dappled in sunlight.

Abstracts: Whirlpool

I watched this little whirlpool come and go in a tide pool, its state varying with the influx of water from the ocean. Sometimes it disappeared altogether, but usually returned.

What first drew my attention was not the whirlpool itself, but the shadow on the floor of the tide pool, which varied from fairly circular to heart-shaped.

Abstracts: Tide pool forest

Seeing these clumps of seaweed in a tide pool was like looking down on a forest.

Hawaiian zebra blenny

Hawaiian Zebra Blenny nuptial colors

This is a group of Hawaiian zebra blennies that I came across in a tide pool one day. The largest of them, with the blue highlights and yellow cheeks is the breeding male. The others are likely females that he has won over.

Abstracts: Padina japonica

Abstracts-Padina japonica

Padina japonica is a kind of seaweed which is found in tide pools. I love it’s creamy curled shape.

Monk seal resting in a tide pool

Monk seal resting with fish

Monk seal resting Monk seals are endangered and only a handful regularly live in the waters around the Big Island. The seal in these photos is one of these and I’m lucky enough to see him on a regular if not always frequent basis. When I do see him, it’s not unusual for him to be submerged in a tide pool as he was on this day.

Sometimes, when there’s been rain, the tide pool will be brown with runoff and all I see is this body with its head submerged. When I first saw this, I wondered if the seal had drowned, but since a monk seal can hold it’s breath for 20 minutes or more I know that’s not what’s going on.

What I like on this occasion, was the little fish (seen above) swimming around the seal’s head and through his whiskers. I like to think it was wondering what the heck this giant lump was that had suddenly taken up most of the space in its pool.

Graham's Island

Life on the Big Island of Hawaii