There are native Hawaiian Coots in my backyard…

Posted on October 28, 2010 by Sebastian Marquez

Coot amongst ducks

Today’s short post is mostly going to be photos of a native bird that can still be easily seen here on O’ahu. Not in some far off reserve, but a short 20 min. drive from downtown Honolulu.

Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Nature | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Lords of Gardner: Ole Owyhee part II

Posted on October 26, 2010 by Sebastian Marquez

My Lobelias: Delissea rhytiosperma, Cyanea leptostegia, Clermontia kakeana, Brighamia insignis, Brighamia rockii

An island kingdom crumbles into the sea. Refugees flee to a new land. With this new beginning, they prosper once more. Could it be the Atlantean myth? The Mayan-Egyptian pyramid connection? While it sounds like the story of Atlantis, it also describes the natural history of the ‘o’o birds and the Hawaiian lobelias.

Continue reading →

Posted in Natural History | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Paleobiogeography and the long memories of Ole Owyhee Part I

Posted on October 19, 2010 by Sebastian Marquez

Not the most euphonious title. But paleobiogeography is a marvelous thing to me. To put it in a slightly more simple way, it’s about how populations have expanded and contracted in an area over time.

Continue reading →

Posted in Natural History | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Why studia mirabilium?

Posted on October 14, 2010 by Sebastian Marquez

I had been toying around with the idea of a blog for a long time now. And, as you can see from my teaser post about the Birds of the Pihea Trail, I finally decided to jump in.

The question that I had to ask myself was this: “Is my voice, my opinion, worth broadcasting out to the world?” What value do I bring to the table?

Continue reading →

Posted in Random | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Birds of the Pihea Trail

Posted on October 13, 2010 by Sebastian Marquez

A couple of weeks back, I went to Koke’e State Park on the island of Kaua’i to check out the native plants and animals. Just to have a little fun with it, I’ll describe what I saw as if I was John Q. Paparrazo, tabloid photographer extraordinaire.

Continue reading →

Posted in Nature | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment