Getting to know your Hawaiian Lobeliads: Teaser

Posted on November 2, 2010 by Sebastian Marquez

I have a couple of posts that I am working on right now, but I wanted to get the word out on this one that is near and dear to me. One of my lifetime goals is to see every single extant Hawaiian lobeliad in its natural environment. Many are quite rare and it takes special effort to find them.

This is going to be a series of post where I highlight a particular species of lobeliad that I have taken pictures of in the wild. I’ve been hiking quite a bit lately and luckily with some of the preeminent field biologists here. Let’s put it this way, next to a rock, I am an all-knowing god. Next to these guys…. I am a rock.

Just my backyard, but still pretty

William Hillebrand called the lobeliads “the peculiar pride of our (Hawaiian) flora” and I heartily concur. Stay tuned.

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Breeding season at Ka’ena Point

Posted on October 30, 2010 by Sebastian Marquez

Each winter, Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) come to Ka’ena Point on O’ahu to mate and breed.

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Project Runway?? Project Runway!!

Posted on October 29, 2010 by Sebastian Marquez

I was completely captivated by Project Runway this year. Being the introspective guy that I am, I had to ask myself how could I fall in love with something that I don’t understand at all?

Fashion perplexes me, especially this fashion forward stuff. The judge’s critiques are over my head. Then again, part of the reason I enjoy Hawai’i is that I don’t have to wear shoes anymore. And I am proud of the mud stains and rips in my hiking clothes for the validation they give me. Fashion, in a professional sense, is something that I don’t really think about.

But if I had to pin it down, I am compelled by Project Runway because it is a real and elegant way of testing and channelling people’s passions. This isn’t a show with Joe Fratboy sneering in the confessional “I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to win”…. this contrived challenge. No million dollar prize here because you ate 10 pounds of sheep eyeballs faster than anyone else while dangling from the side of a building. It takes a very real aspiration, fashion design, and challenges it. “You want to be a world renown fashion designer? Fine make me a dress. Maybe you’re not as good as you think you are.”

I certainly long for that in what I do. I love nature, I love animals, I love the interactions between humans and their environment. What talent can I test to see if I am as good as I think I am? What’s my elegant cocktail dress?

Project Runway is reality tv at its best. The cast of characters this season was great too. Congratulations Gretchen! I’m envious that you have been tested in a way I can only dream of.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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