Who Spy Who?

At the beginning of the road to the Makiki trails, squawking resonated off the tops of the trees. Pausing a bit to investigate, I noticed something investigating me.

Hawaiian 12 Days of Christmas

"On the first day of Christmas my tutu give to me, one mynah bird in one papaya tree"

Merry Christmas to one and all! Since it's Christmas day, I thought to do a series of images for my own rendition of the Hawaiian 12 Days of Christmas. Starting on December 25, the song describes gifts that one receives from their Hawaiian grandparents or "tutu". Reaching Epiphany or January 5th, the song ends on the 12th day after Christmas. As part of today's capture, this beautiful bird flew in front of my lens and began posing. All it took was a few shots and I had my photo and I took off before it did. It's not a mynah bird but since the song takes precedent over the photo, I included this handsome avian. Capturing a shot of a nearby papaya tree I merged the two images together to hold true to the first day of Christmas.

Makiki Rain Forest Hike

Deep in the jungle of Makiki hiking trails are wild cherries and guava fruit. Every once in a while wild pigs are spotted eating the fruits. Although it was raining hard, we remained protected from the elements by the trees and the thick foliage. Click here to see a wide angle shot of this rain forest. The trail was muddy and slippery which made the hike a perilous one.

Bird Watching on a Lazy Sunday

Sometimes it's nice to just bird watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Santa's Toy Shop

Every Christmas, it is tradition for Honolulu City Hall to deck it's halls with holiday cheer. There are Christmas trees lined up in the lobby with a life size gingerbread house in the center and Santa taking photos with the kids, a giant snow globe with moving polar bears, and lots of lights for that winter sparkle. Above is one of the displays. Click here to see a photo of the gingerbread house.

Sample Them Uncooked

In Kahaluu near Kualoa Ranch, there is a macadamia nut farm tucked to the left headed north. With garden tours, jams, jellies, sauces, and of course macadamia nut products for sale at the gift shop, people stop in for a look-see. There are thousands of nuts still in their shell in a container where visitors may crack them upon a log with a rock to sample them uncooked. They have a hint of coconut flavor when eaten raw. Click here to see another image of all the mac nuts.

Cliche' Palms Redefined

Click here to see the runner up for the photo of the day on facebook

The sun hung directly overhead behind the stillness of the clouds today, humidifying downtown Honolulu and raising the temperature of the day. Finding a bit of shade underneath these cluster of palms allowed me to cool off before traversing from here to there. Having lived in cold climate before, I empathize with the temperature drops during the Fall season for the rest of northern hemisphere.