Random photos of Flowers, Bees, Kittens and Birds

Random photos of Flowers, Kittens and Birds

 Since I just published a long technical post here is some eye candy for those in need of some just for the sake of it photos of beautiful flowers, interesting insects, crazy kittens and a friendly bird. Enjoy

I was taking some photos of Mimosa pudica (Senstive plant) and Mimosa invisa (Giant senstive plant) at Malifa for a post I have been working on. I already have photos but needed some macros for illustration purposes.

As usual while taking the photos I started taking photos of other interesting plants and critters that happened to be there. In this case I was actually taking some photos of this plant because I wanted to identify it when I saw this bee busily ignoring my intrusion into her activities.

I have no idea what the plant is although I am sure everyone will say it is a weed ignoring the fact that a weed is simply a plant growing where a human does not want it to grow. In this case it was growing along the riverbank out of everyones way.

 It has interesting miniscule flowers and berries that were black-purple when ripe and green when unripe.

Here is another "Mystery Plant" I have growing at Alafua. I got it when I bought some plants a few months ago and it was a stray that was growing together with the plant I bought. It had stunningly pure white flowers and miniscule seeds that I have been trying unsuccessfully (so far) to germinate.

I have been trying to get a photo of the Hedychium gardnerianum (Kalihi Ginger) on the boundry behind the bedrooms at the house at Alafua in full bloom. I planted these in 2011 and they have bloomed en mass several times but either I have no batteries or it is raining or as was in this case the sun was in the wrong place and the yellows are a bit washed out in the panoramic shots.

Here is a close up and I could smell them from a few feet away. If you really want a whiff of these go up to Tiavi in the late evening. There are stands of them along the road that you can smell as you drive past. There is also a swathe of  Hedychium coronrarium White Hedychium around Tanumalala on the Cross Island Road to Lefaga. It appears that cool air has some effect on the potency of the scent because I have noticed that they smell much stronger during the night, evenings or early moring or during the day only up high in the mountains where it is cool.
In fact the most stunning visual and olfactory experience I had with Hedychiums was up at the place where you go to view Waimea Canyon on Kawaii. That was absolutely sublime.

I cannot recall what this is called but it is the flower of a plant that grows on trees. All I can say for sure is that it is belongs to the family Araceae is

It is growing on the Indian Mulberry that fell over during Cyclone Evan but has yet to be chopped up and removed mainly because it is still alive, flowering and bearing fruit which several species of birds visit regularly.

Pebble "accidentaly" getting in the photo AGAIN

Invariably when I am in the garden taking pictures of plants, birds and other critters ... this guy turns up looking for camera opportunities. His two brothers (Stoney and Rocky)  sometimes turn up also and wander around pretending not to follow me, but he does it the most. Don't believe anything he says about "I just happened to be climing the tree or walking there and did not realise ..." I am sure he does it deliberately. Just as he deliberately moves when you actualy do want to take a picture.

You only have to look into those crazy green eyes to realise the depths of his deviousness.

This Wattled Honeyeater (Foulehaio carunculatus) is one of two that have claimed the area around the house as their territory. This includes the huge mango tree, all the Indian Mulberries and the Pink Orchid tree. I occassionally assist them in their turf wars with the Red Vented Bulbuls.

They have become so used to me doing stuff in the garden and especially under the mango tree that they will actually fly close by and perch on branches only a few feet away from me. They also let me approach them much more than before which means that now I can take much better pictures of them as it is much easier to take decent photos from 3-4 feet away than trying to zoom in from 15-20 feet away.
They still flit about from flower to flower and branch to branch but they tend to stay for a decent interval chirpping away happily (or bossily) looking me over and doing their thing.


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