Another book from my vulturine gleaning of the Border’s collapse is this tale: The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth, by Richard Conniff. Considering all the surveying I’m doing and my general interest in natural history, it is a wonder I never came across it before. A story about the humans who risks life and limb to catalogue the life on this planet: how can that not be interesting?
Here’s a shot of a rarer species of Kamakahala (Labordia spp.) This is Labordia fagraeoidea. Like L. hosakana, this species is typically found in wet summit forests. It differs by having big, dull leaves that are not as rugose.
On one hand, this stretch of dry weather has created some awesome conditions for summit hikes. But for the flora’s sake, I hope it breaks soon. In the meantime, I’ll take as much advantage as I can. Saturday, we chose to head up Keahiakahoe via the Moanalua Middle Ridge. The plant life along the way was simple awesome.
*From Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai’i
Here are shots of 2 different Ha’iwale (Cyrtandra spp.). Above are the flowers of Cyrtandra cordifolia. Notice how hairy the corollas are. The flowers of this species are not as curved as the flowers of Cyrtandra grandiflora shown below:
At our Manoa Cliff restoration site, there is still some diversity with the native arthropods. While my entomology skills are lacking, we were lucky to have guests today more familiar with our Hawaiian insects. Here is one of the native Katydids (Bonza Banza sp.) found at the site. Pictured above is a female with her large ovipositor. Pictured below is a male:
These guys were more relaxed and methodical in their movements than say other non-native grasshoppers. I doubt I would have been able to take decent shots otherwise. Even our insects have a laid-backed lifestyle!
Watching the bird life at the Honolulu Zoo is an interesting thing. Certainly the zoo’s collection of birds is quite impressive. But from an urban birder’s perspective, the zoo is interesting in another way. Simply put, the zoo’s feral bird guild has all the common stalwarts plus a few neat guys which are harder to see elsewhere in Honolulu.
Here are the neat inflorescence of one of the Kolea (Myrsine spp.) native to O’ahu. This individual is on the summit of Konahuanui. The flowers are in fascicles arising from knobby structures on the stem; in large numbers like this the effect is pretty cool.
Many of the big-leafed Kolea have been lumped into Myrsine lessertiana but more works needs to be done. As with many things in nature, perhaps its not as clear cut as it seems.
So wordpress.com gave me some really cool end of year stats for Studia Mirabilium. Quite the pleasant surprise to find in my inbox actually. From those metrics, I thought I would compile some of the top posts from the past year.
5) Loulu of La’ie – Hiking the northern Ko’olaus with the Pritchardia group
4) Birdwatching at ‘Iolani Palace – Checking out a surprising place to find native birds
3) The treasures of Hidden Valley – Volunteering with O’ahu PEP on the Windward side
2) Ko’olau Pride – Seeing rare plants in the wilds above Hawaii Kai
1) The hills have eyes… and really weird flowers – Checking the flora of the Wai’anaes
Also, the report showed that I had visitors from Mauritius, Tanzania and New Zealand… all places on my wish list to visit! I’d hope to see you in your neck of the woods soon. And to everybody that stopped by Studia Mirabilium in the past year… Thank You for indulging my quirky, quirky interests!
*From Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai’i
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