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Photographed on Oahu at the Polynesian Cultural Center Before humans showed up, Hawaii had exactly 1 native species of lizard.  That's not too surprising, given that Hawaii is almost 2500 km from the nearest continent.  It is understandable how birds and fish could make the trip, and even some mammals (1 bat and 1 seal species), but many terrestrial lifeforms could not survive the crossing, save mankind. There is one species of lizard endemic to Hawaii, the Azure-tailed skink (click here to see more), which is now largely extinct.  The species was thought to be extinct but has since been rediscovered along ocean cliffs on Hamakua. This happened in 2017. Since our arrival, the number of established breeding lizard populations has gone from 1 to 19 and counting.  You can see the list of non-endemic lizards in the image below.  I have seen three of these species. I saw at least three individuals of the brown anole and a few of the gold dust day gecko (click here to see my blog on that

The banded coral shrimp, sometimes called the banded cleaner shrimp, is a small, colourful crustacean that lives in warm waters around the world and can be found in popular diving places such as Hawaii and the Caribbean.  They form mutualistic relationships with numerous fish species that allow them to clean them of ectoparasites.  The shrimp are rarely found alone and work in groups, setting up cleaning stations where vertebrates may come and be relieved of burdensome invertebrates. What I found even more interesting was that these cleaner shrimp will also remove dead tissue from injuries that facilitates healing in the wounded fish.  The shrimp will willingly inspect all outward parts of the host fish and will also examine the gills, mouth, and oral cavities.  They will remove food stuck in the mouth as well, functioning somewhat like a living toothpick. The cleaner shrimp tend to be nocturnal, hiding in darkened areas (often coral) until evening when they emerge to feed.  They are p

A windy day at the bow of the Ruby Princess It was a formal evening aboard the Ruby Princess and I wanted to take some photos of my wife, Kathryn.  I have many of her, so I thought that today would be good to do something different.   It was windy out, and the charging ship increased the relative wind speed to near gale proportions.  As we approached the front of the craft, her hair started to fly wildly all about.  This was the place. On manual exposure mode with a low ISO, I set my 24-70 mm lens to its highest focal length and its lowest aperture (f/4).  The day's brightness required that I shoot at 1/600th of a second, too fast for the external flash I was using.  So I turned on the high-speed-synch (HSS) feature on my camera so the flash would fire continuously through the exposure. Given the blustery nature of the day, I knew that a single photo wouldn't be enough.  I took quite a few shots; you can see some of them on either side of the central image.  Of them all, one tu

A worker cleaning the Grand Hall at 3:00 in the morning I salute the hard working men and women of the cruise line industry.  They come from all over the world, each one looking to find work, possibly a career, and to help both themselves and their families have better lives.  It isn't easy, and many have to work long hours and are isolated from the passengers and passenger-areas aboard the ships.  They don't partake of the luxuries experienced by the guests and have a limited amount of free time.  But most of them wouldn't trade it for any other job they have ever had. I was photographing the Grand Hall aboard the Ruby Princess early in the morning before the place was crowded with guests.  While there, I met a gentleman cleaning floors and took some shots of him, asking permission first.  I also got quite a few photos of the hall itself without people; I used my 14-30 mm ultra-wide angle lens on a full-frame camera to get the three-story plaza in my viewfinder. As a teach

Lori with the first known baseball (left) and a Polynesian warrior (right) When the Polynesians arrived in Hawaii around 1200 AD, little did they know that they would soon be credited with the invention of baseball.   Besides chickens, the natives brought breadfruit plants with them.  The fruit grows to be quite large, up to 6 kg, but harvested early, the small fruit is hard and fits conveniently in your hand.  This was only one component of what was needed to complete the tools needed for the sport. The second component was, of course, the bat.  The Polynesian boy is shown holding a traditional  Niho Lei-o-Mano war club carved from Kao trees.  Popular for its ability to dissuade uninvited suitors from visiting daughters, it also had the ability to launch a hand-sized breadfruit a considerable distance.  It didn't take long before the breadfruit (bf) ball and club bat became well acquainted. Catching the bf ball was somewhat difficult; the course rind could cut up your hand should

Lori and Kathryn at the Polynesian Village on Oahu The left and right photos above were taken with the exact same camera settings, only the left included light from a flash.  You can tell that the girls are in a shaded area as the tree above them reduced the available light.  I exposed for the background and took two photos, one with (left) and the other without (right) flash. In order to keep the aperture as low as possible (to maximize flash distance), I needed to use a shutter speed faster than the synch speed (1/200th of a second).  My camera has a high synch speed (HSS) function that allows the flash to fire at shutter speeds higher than the normal maximum synch speed.  By turning it on I could then shoot flash at shutter speeds higher than this.  Nikons use a menu feature called Auto FP.  You can see it in the image below. I shot the photo with a shutter speed of 1/640th of a second.  By turning on the auto FP mode the camera allowed me to use flash at the higher setting.  Withou

Black tip reef shark photographed at Maui Marine Center, Hawaii. The above photo was shot with an ISO of 12,800, a shutter speed of 1/200th of a second, and an aperture of f/4.  Although high ISOs allow you to use decent shutter speeds in low light, the cost is digital noise.  This can be somewhat mitigated using in-camera high-ISO noise reduction filters and applying noise-reducing filters in post.  Even then, there is a price to be paid. Fine details tend to be erraticated when high ISOs are used, and noise-reduction software does little to bring it back.  What the filters do help with is the pixelated appearance and random colour noise that is associated with its application.  The end product is certainly better, but still not as good if shot under better conditions. Is it possible to take the same photo with a lower ISO?  The answer is yes, but again at a cost.  Like Newton's third law of motion that states every action has an equal and opposite reaction, there are consequences

I have photographed black-crowned night herons in Alberta and British Columbia, and for the second time now, in Hawaii.  While they are not terribly shy on the mainland, they are practically gregarious on the islands.  The term night heron comes from their tendency to eat after dusk, but on Hawaii, I have always found them foraging during the day.  It seems that they have forgotten who they are when off continent. When I researched the Hawaiian population, it seems my observations were right on.  The Hawaiian Department of Land and Natural Resources states that these birds are "gregarious" and "diurnal" unlike continental relatives.  It turns out that the night herons are indigenous to the islands and, as such, may have developed their own set of behaviours given isolation from North America.  Regardless of where they live, they are predatory birds that consume a wide variety of prey, both aquatic and terrestrial. This year has been a banner year for me in photograp

Domestic chickens gone wild in Hawaii Nobody will deny the allure of chickens.  Ubiquitous producers of eggs and meat, they are the most familiar of all farm animals.  Some are even pets.  Free-range chickens have the protection of the farmer and run of the limited range to forage as they like.  Hawaii, however, has taken the concept of free-range to a whole new level. The Polynesians brought many plants and animals with them when they settled Hawaii around 1200 AD.  Among these was the Red Jungle Fowl. These birds are the stock our modern-day domestic chickens were derived from.  So, it's not surprising that, when Caucasians brought chickens to the islands much later, the birds interbred. Part of the reason that the domestic birds escaped captivity is because of hurricanes that hit the islands in 1982 and 1992.  The resulting carnage facilitated the release of the fowl and the chickens interbred with already established native populations.  Although you can find these now-wild bir

Spotted moray eel hiding in coral, photographed at the Maui Ocean Center in Hawaii The number of endemic species of fish in the Hawaiian waters is truly amazing.  Of the 200 or so species of moray eels that exist world-wide, about 80 of them live around Hawaii.  Morays are fish, although they have snake-like bodies.  There are a few interesting facts about these creatures that are worth noting. Moray eels have a second set of jaws at the back of their throat.  The main jaws (the ones you see in the image above) grab the prey, but the second set of jaws extend forward to help bring the food toward the stomach.  These, called pharyngeal jaws, are well-hidden and not normally visible; I found an interesting video on the subject here . Moray eels can be poisonous in several ways.  In some species the mucus in the mouth is toxic, but the risk of it causing serious health complications is low if a human is bit.  The greater risk in the bite of a moray is infection related to bacteria present

Non-breeding plumage of Pacific Golden Plover The thing that stands out about this bird is the beautiful golden feathering woven through its dorsal area.  Looking closely at the feathers, you see that individual feathers are dark brown with golden scalloped edges.  I enlarged a section so you can see the pattern for yourself. I enlarged the back of the plover to allow a better look at the feathering. The pacific golden plover is one of the few birds that migrates to Hawaii.  All plovers travel remarkable distances, but I find that this one species does so over open ocean with no landmarks at all for thousands of miles.  It takes them three or four days to travel from their breeding grounds along the coast of Alaska to Hawaii where they overwinter.  They are not birds that swim and must remain aloft the entire time.  The kicker is the way they do this. A solo plover would likely die making the attempt.  However, if a group of them align in a V-formation, the average energy required per

A native to India, the red-vented bulbul is now a common resident on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.  Released from captivity in the mid-950s, it has spread over the island.  They are considered invasive in that the birds damage crops, are aggressive towards other birds, and out-compete native species for food. I saw this bird while visiting the Polynesian Cultural Center on Oahu.  It brought to mind North American flycatchers as I watched it.  Sitting high up on a branch where its vision was not blocked, it would suddenly dash out a short distance and pluck an insect from the air then return from where it flew.  Bulbuls also eat fruits and flower petals and buds.  It is estimated that they cause about $300,000 in damage to the orchid industry each year. The red-vented bulbul was one of the first birds identified as requiring vitamin C in its diet.  They are incapable of synthesizing the vitamin on their own.  Insects are eaten as a protein source, but fruits are where they get other vita

While visiting Hawaii I noticed a large black insect visiting flowers.  It caught my attention immediately because it truly was enormous; when it landed on a bloom the entire plant sagged noticeably.  It was two or three times the size of a bumble bee, except there were no yellow markings.  It was entirely black.  What could this bee-hemoth black insect bee? Researching the internet, I discovered it was a species of carpenter bee native to the southwestern US.  A female will use an existing hole in wood, or create one independently, using their mandibles to lengthen and widen the cavity as needed.  There, in the chamber, she will deposit pollen mixed with nectar and lay an egg.  Sawdust from her excavations is used to seal the site off and another egg is laid ahead of it in similar fashion.  This is repeated until the entire chamber is filled and the entire structure sealed.  I found an excellent cross-section of such a broodery here .   Another interesting thing I learned is that male

Jay, Howard, Rommel, Eric, Lori, Galina, and Kathryn aboard the Ruby Princess Imagine being on a cruise ship; an opulent floating hotel with every luxury known to man at your fingertips.  Shows, good food, exotic ports of call, bars, pools, spas, casinos; the list is endless.  Now, imagine being there by yourself. The lavish surroundings will certainly fill your time.  There are lots of ways to entertain yourself, and if nothing else there is always the television or personal electronic device to fill the void.  After the initial wonder settles in you would start to notice a creeping sentiment.  It would begin as a moment of melancholy but slowly advance until rampant loneliness took over.  There you are, floating in an ocean of water with nothing to drink. The presence of friends, family, and new acquaintances would bring new meaning to the cruise.  All the same features are available, but now you have someone to share them with.  That sense of loneliness would dissipate if not be obl