Tag Archives: Upolu

The Numbers Game #29

Not a chocolate bar, but a mud-covered car. How did it get that way? Original post here.

The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 150. Apart from the top photo, it’s all about plants this week. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

A Coqui Frog nestled in a ginger flower.
An orange and white orchid in Hawaii
Some kind of orchid I think.
A Bee approaches a mock-orange in Hawaii
A bee approaches Mock Orange flowers, already laden with pollen.
A gecko on a pink banana.
A Bubblegum Heliconia.
A Toothbrush Orchid.

I’m red, white and blue for you

A sign on a business in Kailua Kona Hawaii
The sign above the ABC Supply Company building in Kailua Kona. These letters always make me think of Elvis Costello’s song, Brilliant Mistake, which includes the lyrics: ‘She said that she was working for the ABC News. It was as much of the alphabet as she knew how to use.’

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Red, White, & Blue.’ See more responses here.

Here’s my selection this week with captions on the photos.

A Ring-necked pheasant in Hawaii
A Ring-necked Pheasant.
A Yellow-billed cardinal in Hawaii
A Yellow-billed Cardinal ready to take a dip.
A Hawaii Life Flight helicopter at Upolu Airport, Hawaii
Hawaii Life Flight helicopter training at Upolu Airport.
An inflatable snowman outside a store in Hawaii
It’s not too early, is it?
St Augustines Episcopal Church in Kapaau, Hawaii
St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Kapaau
Canoe paddlers practice in the waters off Hawaii
Canoe paddlers out on the blue Pacific.

The Numbers Game #24

The lava lake in Halema’uma’u Crater in April 2018. Two weeks later the lake had dropped 1,000 feet. Yesterday, Kilauea erupted again, but for just 12 hours before it was declared paused!

The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 145. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

Two orange feral cats.
A gnat cloud at Upolu.
A grasshopper on a kiawe branch in Hawaii
A grasshopper on a Kiawe branch. Watch out for those thorns!
Mushrooms make a shady rest area for bugs!
A leaf cutter bee on Aptenia cordifolia.
An Hawaii ‘elepaio (Chasiempis sandwichensis sandwichensis).

The Numbers Game #21

Sunken roads at South Point Hawaii
Sometimes, the way to move forward is unclear, as when navigating these roads at South Point.

The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 142. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

Also posted for Becky’s Squares: Move Forward, Reconstruct, Renew, and/or are Burgeoning. See more responses here.

Cattle and their egrets near Hawi Wind Farm.
A lunar eclipse over Hawaii
A lunar eclipse a few years ago.
Two Asian Swallowtail butterflies frolic on the wing.
A Whitemouth Moray Eel in the waters off Hawaii
A Whitemouth Moray Eel.
Acute Halfbeaks swim in the waters off Hawaii
Acute Halfbeaks swim just below the surface in the waters off the Kohala coast.

The Numbers Game #16

A Stump-toed gecko on a truck windshield.
This stump-toed gecko rode on my windshield for about 40 miles!

The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 137. Captions are on the photos.

You can see more responses here.

A bee forages on a Rose Jatropha flower on the Big Island of Hawaii
A bee on a Rose Jatropha flower.
A mini-helicopter parked at Upolu Airport.
Mini-helicopter at Upolu.
A bluff formed by heavy rain.
Not the desert southwest, but a drying mud puddle.
A curly horned ram keeps watch.
A ram at Pu’u Wa’awa’a.
A passion vine butterfly foraging on lantana flowers.
A Passion Vine Butterfly on Lantana flowerrs.

Great Frigatebirds

Great Frigatebirds flying over Hawaii
There were too many to get in one photo!
Great Frigatebirds flying over Hawaii
Great Frigatebirds look like they’re not even trying when they fly!

I was driving down to Upolu for my usual walk when I saw a few Great Frigatebirds off in the distance. They seemed to be heading my way, so I pulled over and waited. As I did so, more appeared. They glided down towards the coast, then banked left to cross the road, which is when I took these photos.

Great Frigatebirds flying over Hawaii
They fly easily in formation.

I counted 17 in all, though there might have been more. Usually, I see these birds in ones and twos, but larger flocks like these are, apparently, not unusual. Such gatherings can be simply social, but can also improve their chances in the search for food, as well as for spotting predators, not that they have a lot of those while flying.

A Great Frigatebird flying over Hawaii
Males have a red gular sac at the throat. It makes them easy to identify, even at a distance.

My bird book notes that most Great Frigatebirds seen in Hawaii are females or juveniles, but I regularly see males, which are easily identified by the red gular sac on their throat. This sac can be impressively inflated during courtship.

Posted for Bird of the Week LVIII. See more responses here.

Great Frigatebirds flying over Hawaii
Last seen heading to Maui.