Seabirds feasting away

Currently, herring are spawning in Yaquina Bay.  Lots of seabirds are enjoying the feast provided by abundant fish and their rich eggs.  The eggs are demersal, which means that they sink to the bottom where they stick to rocks or macro algae or the sediments.  Some of the birds in the bay are feeding on adult herring, but the biggest numbers are ducks that dive to the bottom to feed.

The most spectacular birds were the harlequin ducks.  When not feeding, they hung around the rocks near the south jetty.  While it is a treat to see a handful of harlequins, I counted 34, which was quite a delight.

Harlequin ducks

Red-breasted merganser pair.  These birds eat adult herring.

Hundreds of surf scoters were rafting off the jetty when not feeding.

Surf scoters

We also saw scaup, goldeneye, buffleheads, a few loons, and cormorants taking advantage of the herring buffet.

Winter isn't over

This morning, I was surprised to look up at the top of Mauna Loa and see that it was covered in snow.  This is the most snow that we have ever seen up there.  So winter is definitely not over yet, even in Hawaii.

Mauna Loa as seen from the Old Kona Airport Beach

However, our season in Hawaii is over.  Thanks for following along on this adventure.  I will close with an end of the road photo.

A chameleon, just another invasive species. 
His journey is over, also.

Have a great spring.  Aloha!

A place of refuge

Technically this place is named Pu'uhonua o Honaunau.  It is a National Historical Park, maintained by the National Park Service.  The grounds are divided by a great wall into royal grounds and the place of refuge.  The place was settled and the refuge established between 1400 and 1600.  

The great wall is up to 12 feet high, 18 feet wide, and more than 950 feet long.  The wall was constructed using stones fitted without mortar over 400 years ago.

Hiking through the gap great wall

The Hale o Keawe was a royal mausoleum that housed the bones of 23 great chiefs, including Kamehameha's great grandfather.  It is guarded by carved wooden images of Hawaiian gods.  Some of the guardians have fierce looking faces.

The Hale o Keawa and its guardians at the end of the great wall

The Hale o Keawe

The guardians

And now for some algae grazers

 Lots of fish are algae grazers, but today while walking along the lava-rock tide pools, I found 3 very different algae grazers, two invertebrates (out of the water, at low tide) and one vertebrate (in the water).

First is the shingle urchin.  Although I am familiar with several other species of urchins that occur in shallow water here, this was the first time that I have seen this species.  It's spines are flattened and only distributed around the bottom of the urchin, perhaps to discourage predators from prying it off the rock. They are adapted to live in a high-energy intertidal zone.  They can take a pounding without being swept off the rocks.  Kind of a cool looking urchin.  These were 2 to 3 inches in diameter.

Second is the Hawaiian limpet, or opihi.  These are quite tasty morsels, and are often eaten fresh off the rocks, but not today.  This one was about 2 inches in diameter. Opihi have also evolved to hang on to rocks in high-energy intertidal habitats.

Third, is the Hawaiian green sea turtle, or honu.  This turtle was about 20 inches long.  It saw me and kind of swam over to check me out.  I took a little video of it.

Turtles are tough and can easily crawl over the rough rock to get where they want to go.  This photo shows the turtle in the foreground and its access to the ocean at the background.

Ukuleles

Ukuleles are a part of the culture here.  Groups of people gather together to play regularly.  After taking a walk this morning, we stop to listen to what they were playing on the nearby beach: definitely not Hawaiian music, but they are happily keeping the ukulele alive.

City of New Orleans

Sunny Afternoon

The good and the bad, when positive is negative

First the good: I'm in Hawaii walking around taking photos of orchids.

Then the bad: That's about all I have been able to do.  I've been high and dry this week.  No swimming no snorkeling.

The positive:  My covid test on Monday.  Despite wearing a mask about 95% of the time that I am indoors around strangers, the virus caught me.

The negative: I have Covid and have been isolating, but I'm on day-3 of a 5-day treatment course.  The primary side effect of the treatment is a really bad taste.  Only 2 more days to go!

I wish you all good health and good taste.