Tag Archives: Tide Pools

Return of the Pacific golden plover

Pacific golden plover feeding

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Autumn,’ (more responses here) which poses a bit of a challenge. In Hawaii, we don’t have leaves turning color or a certain crispness in the air. But what we do have at this time of year is migratory birds coming to the islands.

One of the more impressive of these travelers is the Pacific golden plover. These birds spend the summer, their breeding season, in the Arctic tundra from western Alaska to northern Asia. At the end of the season they make an epic migration south to places as far away as Australia, Southeast Asia, and northeast Africa.

Hawaii is a stopover on their way to Australia, New Zealand, and other Pacific islands, but some of the birds spend their winters in Hawaii. This is a non-stop journey of more than 2,500 miles and takes the birds three to four days. How they do this is not fully understood. There are no landmarks or stopping points en route and no room for errors in navigation. But year after year, Pacific golden plovers return precisely to the same sites. Not only that, but new born plovers are able to make the journey independently despite never having flown the route before.

Then there’s the small matter of how this little bird fuels itself for such a long flight. There’s a fine balance between the amount of fuel it must carry and the need to fly fast. But even if it gets this right, the fact is an individual plover still wouldn’t be able to go that far. The secret lies in the birds flying in a V-formation which saves enough energy for the birds to make the whole distance with a little bit to spare to cover adverse conditions. It’s a remarkably precise balance which the birds manage successfully year after year.

This plover was foraging (successfully in the top photo) in tide pools along the Kona coast.

For more information about the Pacific golden plover’s migration to Hawaii, go to https://phys.org/news/2011-06-plovers-tracked-pacific.html.

Pacific golden plover

Hawaiian zebra blennies and padina japonica

Hawaiian Zebra blennies and Padina japonica

A few weeks ago, I posted a photo of a dead blenny floating in a tide pool filled with ‘delicate creamy shells.’ Recently, I returned to that area and I realized that the creamy shells were not shells, but something growing.

It turns out they’re a kind of seaweed, padina japonica, which both surprised and delighted me, since I think of seaweed as being stringy and brown. I learn something every day.

To celebrate, I went back and took some more photos, including these two Hawaiian zebra blennies, both very much alive, and both as delightful as the seaweed, with their little blue dots under the eyes and those oh-so-charming expressions.

Thanks to Jeanne at http://hawaiinaturejournal.weebly.com/ for help with the padina japonica identification.

Hawaiian Zebra blennies with Padina japonica

Abstracts: Tiny fish

Abstracts-Tiny Fish

A photo of some colored lava rocks. But wait. Why are there tiny fish among those rocks? No, they’re not skittering about on minuscule legs, a living proof of evolutionary theory. Instead, they’re swimming in very shallow, very clear water near the edge of a freshwater-fed pool, just inland from Akahu Kaimu Bay, south of Waikoloa Resort.

On my last hike along that stretch of coast, I stopped here for a refreshing dip. The entry to the pool was over these somewhat rough lava rocks. While I was feeling my way across them, these little fish seemed greatly interested in my feet, which suggests life in the pool must be very dull indeed.

Posted in response to this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge ‘Liquid.’

Better Days: Dead blenny

Better Days-Dead Blenny

Exploring tide pools one day, I found this unfortunate floating blenny. It was quite large, for a blenny, and in a small pool. The weather had been calm for a few days, without much ocean swell. I think the fish was trapped in the pool and, without fresh seawater reaching it, the pool had become stale and oxygen starved.

The macabre essence of the scene contrasted with its painterly quality, enhanced by the blenny’s coloration and the delicate creamy shells in the pool.

Updated 6-20-18

I’ve since learned that the ‘delicate creamy shells’ in the pool are actually a type of seaweed, Padina japonica. I’m also not sure about my oxygen starvation theory either since blennies are notoriously adept as jumping from pool to pool. Two things are unchanged however: the blenny is still dead and I still like the painterly quality.

Kealia beach

Kealia Beach

I’d rather be at the beach, though I’m not one for stretching out on the sand and slowly broiling. I much prefer a beach like Kealia, north of Ho’okena, where the mix of sand and lava attracts tide pool dwellers and the birds that feed on them.

It was here, also, that I first saw butterflies, such as the large orange sulphur (Phoebis agarithe) below, drinking from the sand. I subsequently learned that butterflies can’t drink from open water, but get moisture from dew on plants, wet sand, earth and mud. In addition, drinking from these sources allows butterflies to obtain needed salts and minerals.

I learn something new every day. Now, if only I could remember these things.

Posted in response to this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge, ‘I’d rather be…’

Large Orange Sulphur Butterfly on sand

A Bay to Keawaiki hike

The King's trail south of Waikoloa

The Ala Loa Trail (King’s Trail) south of Waikoloa.

Keawaiki Beach with its lone palm tree and Hualalai volcano in the background.

Keawaiki Beach with its lone palm tree and Hualalai volcano in the background.

This hike is a 7 mile loop directly north of the Keawaiki to Kiholo loop hike that I posted about here and here. One could combine the two, but it would make for a long, hot walk, though with several opportunities to take a cooling dip. I chose to start the loop at its northern end, heading south on the inland lava field before it got too hot. The return, along the coast, is still over lava, but usually features a cooling sea breeze.

A Bay is officially known as ʻAnaehoʻomalu Bay, but most people find A Bay easier to pronounce. There’s bathrooms and showers at the beach here so I find it a good place to start and finish.

From the parking area, head inland to pick up the old King’s Trail which is marked by a sign, though it’s obvious without it. The King’s Trail heads south in a ramrod straight line. Eventually, this trail intersects with a dirt road headed toward a cluster of palm trees on the coast. Follow this road down to the Brown estate, which is surrounded with barbed-wire. The trail goes down the side of this fence to Keawaiki Bay and its lone palm tree.

The Golden Pools of Keawaiki. The golden color is due to a unique algae.

The Golden Pools of Keawaiki (though they’re actually inland of the next beach down the coast). The golden color is due to a unique algae.

Heading north again, the next bay is Pueo Bay and a small trail inland from this leads to the Golden Pools of Keawaiki. The color of these pools is due to a unique algae that grows here. There’s no swimming in these pools, but further up the coast, after passing Weliweli Point, another lone palm tree marks Akahu Kaimu Bay. Just inland from the palm is a large freshwater pool which is perfect for a cooling dip. When I visited, there was no one else there, or indeed within a mile of the spot.

Heading north along the coast again, the lava transitions to the kind of sandy beaches that Hawaii is renowned for. The southernmost beaches are usually sparsely populated or just plain empty. These beaches lead back to A Bay and its welcome facilities.

For more information about this, and other hikes on the Big Island, go to bigislandhikes.com. (This hike is listed as Keawaiki Bay to ʻAnaehoʻomalu Bay (A Bay), starting from the southern end.)

The freshwater pool behind Akahu Kaimu beach

The freshwater pool behind Akahu Kaimu beach, marked by another lone palm tree. After a hot, dry walk, a dip in the pool was very refreshing.

A sandy beach at the south end of A Bay.

A sandy beach straight out of the brochures at the south end of A Bay.