Snapshot: Tarictic Hornbill

Posted on April 15, 2012 by Sebastian Marquez

I’ve previously shown some of the mammals that are native members of the Philippine fauna. But probably the most conspicuous elements are the birds. It’s a very large and diverse assemblage.

Take this Tarictic Hornbill (Penelopides samarensis) that I grabbed a shot of in Bohol. The hornbills in the Philippines have a nice representation with several different lineages. The Penelopides genus itself is a near endemic with one species (P. exarhatus) found in Suluwesi.

Like many birds in the Philippines, Tarictic Hornbills populations have been deceasing. Hunting for meat and the wildlife trade have taken their toll. And of course, there’s the greater issue of habitat destruction. Hard to live in a forest with no trees…

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Snapshot: Metrosideros macropus

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Sebastian Marquez

One of the more divergent taxa of Ohia (Metrosideros spp.) on O’ahu is M. macropus. Here is one of the red flowered form found on Lanihuli. Aside from the bigger leaf and longer petiole, M. macropus is also distinctive in having these strange, persistent bracts and leaf buds that are somewhat sticky. Thanks to Dr. Stacy for pointing this fact out!

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Studia Mirabilium article template

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Sebastian Marquez

Insert picture here.

Blah Blah Blah Amazing Blah Lobeliad! Blah Blah Blah Blah Awesome! Blah Blah Awesome!! Blah Blah Awesome!!!! Blah Blah Cyanea! Trematolobelia! Blah Blah Blah Blah

Blah Blah Super Awesome! Blah Blah Gnarly! Blah Blah Depauperate 😦 Blah Blah Petiole Blah Blah Blah I’m not sure what this is Blah Blah Blah Clermontia! Blah Blah Blah Ko’olau iz da roxxorz! Blah Blah Blah

!!!! … Blah

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Gems of Nuuanu

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Sebastian Marquez

Today’s short post will highlight some of the neat plants we came across hiking the many nooks and crannies of Nuuanu Valley. Even though it is bisected by the Pali Hwy, the plant life is still pretty diverse.

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Mahalo Dr. Hume!

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Sebastian Marquez

The long line at the Kapalama post office on a Saturday morning was absolutely worth it; today I received my copies of Hume and Walters’ Extinct Birds. I’ve been reading it all day and it’s wonderful! It is a great primer on just about every bird species and subspecies that went extinct in *historical times.

*historical in the broad post glacial sense. Some species are only known from subfossils.

The text is thoroughly researched and to top it off, Dr. Hume’s line drawings add so much to the book. I’ve read many technical descriptions of extinct birds but there are some species in the book that I’ve never seen illustrated before. The stout-legged wren (Pachyplichas yaldwyni) was particularly endearing.

While it’s a shame that Hawai’i is so well represented in this book, I hope it helps us treasure the few remaining avian endemics we have left.

On a personal note, I’d like to thank Dr. Hume for the awesome line drawings he added in each copy. The O’ahu Stilt Owl (Grallistrix orion) never looked so regal!

You can find copies available on amazon.com. And check out Dr. Hume’s website at julianhume.co.uk.

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Snapshot: Cyanea crispa flowers

Posted on March 18, 2012 by Sebastian Marquez

Work and weather have kept me away from the mountains lately. Hopefully it will change soon. In the meantime, here are some shots I took a while back of the rare Cyanea crispa in flower for your enjoyment. The infloresence is quite congested; I’m hoping to catch one fully flowered this year… it should be quite the show.

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Snapshot: Iliahi outliers

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Sebastian Marquez

Here’s a picture of a strange sandalwood (Santalum freycinetianum) up in the northern Ko’olaus. Typically this species has dull, droopy leaves. As you can see in this individual has glossy leaves that do not looked wilted. The non-native Indian sandalwood (Santalum album) is sparingly naturalized in certain areas of O’ahu but this individual doesn’t look like it either. Mother Nature must laugh at our need to categorize things in tidy, simple packages!

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A wet day in a dry forest

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Sebastian Marquez

We hiked into West Makaleha gulch to check out the neat dry forest found there. It did turned into a rain soaked adventure. Still, seeing some unique species made the soggy, slippery trek was worth it. In dry hindsight anyway…

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Snapshot: Alani

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Sebastian Marquez

Alani (Melicope spp.) are among the most speciose plants groups here in Hawai’i. I haven’t mentioned them much here at Studia Mirabilium because, frankly, I’m not that good keying them out yet. This one, however, stood out. The more common species that I can id are M. clusiifolia and M. rotundifolia. This species (Melicope hosakae) got my attention because the leaves were much larger and were a much lighter shade of green than the other two. Hopefully, I’ll get a larger sample size to see what characters are consistent…

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Enigmatic Honolulu Palm Tree

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Sebastian Marquez

Tucked amongst the other massive palm trees at Foster Botanical Garden is this little unassuming guy. Yet, as you can see above, this palm has a fence built just for it. This native loulu (Pritchardia lowreyana) has an interesting backstory with some potentially large genetic ramifications.

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