A Funnny Thing Happened on the Way to City of Refuge...Or the Debacle at the Coffee Shack

   This morning, we decided with our friends that we would spend Sunday snorkeling at City of Refuge.  Following a close run thing with a Galapagos shark, Kim is reticent to return to the seemingly placid waters of Ho'okena.  So City it was to be.  In either event, we were going to host our guests for breakfast at the Coffee Shack on the way south.

Star Eye Parrotfish,  City of Refuge  February 2020

   I got the mob out the door by 7:30 and we arrived at the coffee shack well before 8, the time that I thought they opened their doors.  To my surprise, the parking area was all but full and the place was humming.. We dropped Sandra off at the door and headed to the lower lot to park.

   By the time we positioned the Honda and walked back up to the restaurant, Sandra was not in front. We headed back into the restaurant to find where she had secured a table.  As I entered the second room, I saw a waitress pushing two tables together for us.  "Good job, Sandra!" I thought to myself.  That second room with the sweeping view of Kealakekua Bay through the open windows just reeks of Old Hawaii.  I love it there.

    The four of us sat down and waited for five minutes, surprised at the slow service.  About then a young lady in a nice dress asked if we had been helped, to which I replied with a smile, "No. But we'd like to be."  A waitress came a minute or two later and gave us menus.   Knowing that the Coffee Shack serves large portions, we had pretty much decided that each couple would have a three egg omelet, toast and potatoes and one of their cinnamon rolls.  Familia Hillis was going to have avacado on their omelet.

Whitley's Trunkfish  City of Refuge February 2020.

   At that moment, the well dressed lady returned and asked, "Are you the Schnitzengruber party of three?"  She didn't need to pull out her abacus to deduce that we were not a party of three.  She then asked, "Did you check in at the front desk?"  All eyes turned to my beloved who said, "No.  I just walked through and got us seated."

   The pretty lady in the nice dress departed, but was soon followed by the waitress who had pushed the tables together.  "You will have to leave."  she said.  "There is over a twenty minute wait for seating and you didn't check in out front."  Not wanting to create a scene, we slunk out ignominiously. 

   That's what it feels like to get Coffee Shacked!

    Outside, we were pondering the small amount of food we had brought with us, presuming a huge breakfast at our sometimes favorite eatery.   Culprit Number One said, "They sell cinnamon rolls to go."  And so I went back in and addressed the lady behind the counter and next to the sign saying, "Please check in to be seated!"

Pyramid Butterfly wearing papal colors for Sunday.  City of Refuge 2020

   "I represent the poor schmucks that you guys just threw out of your family restaurant, " I said, "And we are wondering if you would sell us a couple cinnamon rolls to go."

    And so, twenty minutes later, we found ourselves seated bayside at City dining sumptuously on the best cinnamon rolls in Hawaii.  You can't beat the view at Two Step and who would dare complain about dining al fresco?  I dare ya.  I double dog dare ya.

    Just before 9:00 we hit the water.  I went in first and before my colleagues could join me I had the pleasure of observing two pretty wanna be geishas speaking to each other in Japanese through their snorkels.  Amazingly, I understood them just as well as if they had been conversing with out their snorkels.  A regular polyglot, he was.

   .As is so often the case, the couples immediately split up, each to find their own fishy treasures.  Sandra and I headed for the north cusp.  On the way we saw a handsome star eye parrot and a

Thompson's Butterfly in mourning because he got thrown of of the Coffee Shack

Whitley's trunkfish, the first of two that we would uncover.  At the corner we were pleased to run into a solitary pyramid butterflyfish.  Dressed in yellow and white, this may be Hawai'i's most elegant fish.  Certainly those papal colors could not have been more appropriate for Sunday snorkeling.   A moment later we saw two more, making a holy trinity of pyramid butterfly fish.

 Dominus vobiscum.

    We swam along until we were just about at the end of our usual route when we hit a small group of Thompson's butterflyfish.  Pyramids and Thompson's share the small genus  Hemitauricthys and on occasion we find both species in this bay at the same time.  Having said that, such an occasion has not occurred for about two years, so this was a real treat.

   To begin our swim back, we chased an Achilles tang for 10 meters and then, temporarily exhausted, we paused to photograph some handsome and remarkably cooperative agile chromis.  Sandra and I then continued back in tandem, defeating the efforts of the competing snorkelers to separate us.

Agile Chromis says, "Where's my omelet !"  City, February 2020

   As we neared the congested Two Step entry I was surprised by a reticulated butterflyfish.  About the time our friends Bob and Kim took flight, which is to say about four years ago, we were seeing this fish every now and then.  Over the last three years this beauty has been uncommon at best.  Along with the pyramid, it is an extremely elegant fish.  I delighted in its crisp markings and hounds tooth coat.  All day the water had been clear (in addition to cold) and this made for a great photographic opportunity.

    Finally ashore, we waited for Bob, who was investigating tiny, obscure species in the caves and crevices of Honauna Bay.  That, along with an astute power of observation coupled with intellectual curiosity, is how you build a really impressive list of species.  I finally captured him, emerging from the sea like a primordial monster.  Not satisfied with his underwater work, he took some amazing pictures of those tiny fish that live in the tidepools.  Cameras filled to the brim, we repaired to Sandra's by the Sea where we feasted on the sausage, cheese and rolls prepared especially for apres swim.

    Who needs that damn Coffee Shack, anyway?

jeff

Reticulated Butterfly   City of Refuge  February 2020

  

The Kamehameha Butterfly with Kim and Bob

   Late Thursday night our friends, Bob and Kim Hillis, arrived from Southern Utah.  It was 19 degrees Fahrenheit when they left and a balmy mid 70s when they stepped off the plane at 9 PM at KOA.  Yesterday morning we ate a leisurely breakfast and headed south to the volcano with the intent of watching butterflies.  One nice thing about watching butterflies, as opposed to birds, is that they don't start flying until it warms up.  So unlike bird watching, where a start at the crack of dawn is apt to be the best, mid-afternoon can be the best time for les papillons. 

Gulf Fritillary Butterfly courtesy Wikipedia

   Our first stop was Manukā State Wayside, about half way between Oceanside and Naalehu.  Back in the day, Kim had spotted Painted Lady Butterfly at this park.  In the back seat, Sandra and Kim had been studying Hawaii's Butterflies and Moths by Jamieson and Denny.  As we arrived at the shelter where we were going to have breakfast Kim said, "There's a Passion Butterfly."  This was a chip shot for your faithful correspondent;  the Gulf Fritillary butterfly uses lillikoi, aka passion fruit, as its host plant.  Hence Dean Jamieson coined a common name for his book.  There is no discipline among the butterfly people.   

   We looked at this small orange butterfly fluttering around twenty or more feet away and I asked Kim how she could be so sure.  Apparently her eyesight is much better than mine and it was no problem.  The girls wandered down and had a look then Bob followed, finding the beast in resting position on the ground.  He pointed and I approached within three feet and got a wonderful look at the spotted fritillary wing.  I didn't attempt a picture, so I am showing you a photo from the internet of a gulf frit in resting position. This was a great look and I was really pleased.

The amorous red billed leiothrix recovering on our lanai. 

   We walked around the grounds looking at the flowering plants.  Bob plucked a hibiscus blossom, tucked it behind Kim's ear and off we went to the volcano.

   We arrived at the volcano about 10:30.  It took only a few minutes to get organized and we were off on the Bird Park loop trail.  I had us walking in a counter clockwise direction.  This turned out to be a mistake. There were no butterflies on this part of the trail, the portion where Sandra and I had our best look a year ago.  It was extremely pleasant weather, dry and cool, so we enjoyed the walk.  After about an hour we had a little bird action, a distant view of some apapanes (the red endemic honeycreeper with black wings and bill) and a killer look at a pair of red billed leiothrix.  This latter bird is introduced and Sandra and I have a great deal of experience with it.  Five years ago a pair of RBLs were chasing around Casa Ono.  Every few months one would smash into the plexiglass that surrounds our lanai.  I took some wonderful pictures of these dazed birds as they
recovered on our tile.  Eventually they both brained themselves and we have had no leiothrix

My best picture of our Kamehameha butterfly resting under a leaf.

sightings for a few years.

    By this time we were only about a quarter mile from the end of the trail.  We had not seen any butterflies and the pressure was mounting.  Bob had taken the point and he suddenly stopped and said butterfly.  What he had was a Kamehameha butterfly that had flown in and perched upside down on the leaf of a large mamaki plant.  The butterfly had rotated her back wing forward, a common butterfly tactic in which the cryptically colored ventral surface of the back wing shields the more colorful parts.  So complete was this rotation that we could not see any of the front wing.  Even in resting position, the front wing shows a patch of bright nautical orange. 

    The butterfly was somewhat shaded, hanging as it was under a leaf.  And this leaf was back lit.  We took multiple pictures with Sandra's cell phone camera and with the Olympus TG 5.  Considering that the object of our desire was still and we were only ten feet away, our results were disappointing.

  The butterfly was extremely patient with us.  We were able to approach withing ten feet without disturbing her.    I discovered that close focus with our binoculars was approximately twenty feet; by

Victory is our.  Sandra, Bob and Kim on the Bird Park trail.

receding down the trail a couple steps I could get an excellent look.  Bob had some bright compact binocs and by the time five minutes had elapsed, we had all had our fill of this rare insect.  As she showed no sign of taking wing, Bob was elected to shake things up.  We were hoping the butterfly would rise gently from her perch and flutter about our benevolence.  Using a handy stick, he touched the branch and the butterfly shot into the air in a blur of bright orange. 

   Down the trail, a mere50 yards, a large tree had collapsed.  a crew from the National Park Service was there cutting it away.  Kindly, they ceased their activity and let us pass on an alternate route through the forest.  Soon after we were out of the woods, posing for a photo on the unlit trail.   Mission accomplished.

jeff

A Scouting Trip to Kawaihae

    Yesterday morning I awoke early and gave my upper lip a careful shaving, the better to secure a proper mask fit.  My son Charles, a connoisseur of facial hair, names this treatment a Salvador Dali.  I can live with that.

   Following the barbering I spent twenty minutes loading a variety of limbs into the trunk of the car. 

Juvenile Pale Tail Unicornfish,  Kawaihae   February 2020

Those branches had had the temerity to brush against the house.  In a particularly clever maneuver, Sandra and I extended the pole cutter through our bathroom window to prune a larger trunk that was otherwise in a difficult position..  Our marriage is based on team work and creativity.  And cheap red wine and Costco muffins.

   Our arrival at the transfer station was carefully timed. So popular is the yard debris depository, that if one does not arrive before 7:45, he risks waiting in line for an hour.  This early arrival afforded Sandra the opportunity to meet Jackie, my new best friend and the auntie of the early morning transfer station.  Jackie is old Hawaii; her grandfather emigrated from Portugal and worked as a paniolo.   And she is full of aloha.  

   We enjoyed a group hug and then wandered back to the venerable Honda to wait for the enormous

Christmas Tree Hydra on Platform One  Kawaihae 2020

Hawaiian to open the yard debris at 8 AM.  Or when ever he got around to it...his massive girth being matched in dimension only by his passive aggressive nature.

   Finally we were on our way, north to Kawaihae.  We are anticipating the arrival of that fish finding

wizard, Bob Hillis, and his lovely wife Kim in only a couple days.  He has been reading all about Kawaihae here in the blog and is eager to see a few nudibranchs for himself.  Considering how stormy it has been of late, the day was not half bad.  We enjoyed a fine view of the snow atop the sacred mountain, Mauna Kea.

   We had correctly gauged the low tide and did not need to ford the flood as we drove beside the harbor.  At about 9 AM we were parked beside the sweet little park.  First things first, I was dispatched to check out the seaside shower.  Miracle of miracles, the water has been restored.  I watched with glee as the shower water was carried away in the steady south easterly breeze.

    As I returned to the car an especially vicious gust picked up the dust from the drive and blew it in a sand blasting cloud out to sea.  Luckily we had the Honda parked behind the trees and so we were not exposed to the sand blasting.  Never the less, Sandra asked, "Are you sure you want to go

Decorated Nudibranch with a good look at the foot.

swimming?"

    Well, hell yes!  Soon enough we were swaddled in our neoprene and over by the harbor where I placed our slippers behind a small eroded ridge and buried them in a mound of coral fragments, simultaneously uttering a prayer to the Great God Ku that he leave our footwear alone for the duration of our swim.  Good Ku.

    As expected, the water was cold and the wind was whipping across the harbor.  Just as we started our swim, a  young hau'oli fisherman walked out on the breakwater exposed by the low tide.  We have seen people fish here before, but always from  shore.  Walking out on that tenuous rip rap seemed especially sporting of the young piscator.  Thoughtfully, he left his small yappy mongrel on the boat landing pad to serenade us.

   Along the side of breakwater, we spotted a juvenile paletail unicornfish.  Not a world shattering find, but a nice little fish in his own right.  We swam over to the first platform where Sandra was pleased to see a pair of porcupinefish paddling between the pylons.  On the windward side of the platform , I spied a small group of Christmas tree hydroids that were especially nice.

   As we headed out to the second platform, I was pleased to see how quickly I made the swim.  This

A Juvenile Red Shoulder Tang Cruises Kawaihae

was not because I am the reincarnation of the psychically plagued Michael Phelps, but rather  because the wind was creating a considerable surface current.  If one simply floated he was moved at the rate of about ten feet a minute in a north northwesterly direction.

   On the second platform I spotted a tiny decorated nudibranch.  Hai and Lottie have been good teachers and I was able to pick up on this minuscule mollusc, just bigger than a self respecting match stick.  As we were on the lee side of the platform there was less bounce and current and I nabbed one nicely focused picture.  This picture shows well the foot of the tiny critter.  No wonder the nudis are known a sea slugs.   Mr. Wikipedia tells us that all gastropods, be they terrestrial or marine, produce slime.  Obviously it is easier to see the slime of a terrestrial snail, as Donovan, back in the 60s, must have as the snail navigated his garden wall.   A snail that's what it is.  This, however, was a marine nudibranch and no matter how well we see the foot, I submit that his slime is not readily visible, even with the TG 5. As you look at the nudi, recall that the rhinophores are in front and the external gills are in the back,

A good picture of a pied brittle star courtesy of Keoki Stender

   Around on the windward side of number two, Sandra found a cute little tube worm.  The outlet of the tube was flattened and the worm itself was reddish.  Given the wind and the water movement, and the fact that it was just beneath the surface, I was having a Dickens of a time trying to get its picture.  As I turned around to get readjusted, the elements bumped me into the pylon and the worm retracted, never to be seen again. 
 
   The third platform was a bust and we swam back in and then headed east to the coral patch where a few weeks ago I saw the juvenile sailfin tang.  He was no longer there, at least we didn't find him.  Our efforts were rewarded with a bright yellow red shouldered tang juvenile bearing a fine red shoulder patch.  And, as  final treat, I got a life echinoderm.  I dove down examine an especially handsome cauliflower coral and noted the finger of a pied brittle star exploring the margin.  I was unable to get a good picture, mostly because the animal was tucked away, but I did get a good look at his pretty black and gold brush-like tentacle.  Sorta like one of those Japanese comic books, only colder and wetter.  To compensate for my inadequacies,

In lieu of another photo, a sign by the Kawaihae shower:  86 papio equals one 'omilu.

swiped a picture of a pied brittle star to satisfy your zoologic curiosities. Isn't it pretty?  As Mr. google says, these images may be copyrighted, so don't go taking any untoward liberties and I think we can all get along.

   Ashore, Sandra and I were enjoying a cold, windy shower, when who should drive up but Hai and Lottie.  With them, they had Hai's sister Poon and baby Naia.  While Sandra and I shivered uncontrollably, we said our hellos.  It sounds like Hai and Lottie are totally up for swimming with the Hillises in a few days and Sandra is more than eager to assume duties as auntie.  Tres Hawaiian, no?

jeff

The Blue Goatfish and the Ulua

     Yesterday after breakfast I looked down our long tropical slope to Lyman's, the surfing break that we can see from our lanai.  To my surprise, there was little surf and no surfers.  We have experienced so many days of surf, that I couldn't recall the last day that I didn't see surfers.  Sandra was scheduled to have lunch with a couple girlfriends, so the coast was clear for a solo snorkel at Kahalu'u.

Deep Cruiser   A big ulua at Beach 69 2015

    As I said, there had been many days of surf which translated into many days on the dry.  In my scruffy case, this meant many days without a shave of the critical area that an otolaryngologist might call the frenulum.  For us lay people, it is that patch between the bottom of the nose and the upper lip.  Along with the adjacent territory, it is the narrow strip I keep clear to guarantee a good mask fit.  As I made the short drive down to K Bay, I confirmed that I might have a problem with mask leak. 

   When I got to the beach park, I discovered another issue.  In addition to high surf, it has been cold and rainy of late.  This was a beautiful day, albeit one with a 15 knot kona wind, and the tourists had come out in force.  On my first pass through the parking lot I could not find even an illegal spot to park, so I explored the adjacent streets.  All the parking was taken there, as well.  Unprecedented!   I really wanted this swim, so I returned to the lot and nabbed an extremely marginal parking spot.  Like swimming in cloudy water with tiger sharks, this is not recommended, but

Ulua hunting at Kahalu'u  February 2020

desperate times sometimes call for desperate measures.

    The park was full of sunbathers, but the shelter was only modestly occupied.  I nabbed a table, donned my two layers of neoprene, and made the low tide crawl through the rocky entry out into the bay.  In spite of the low tide, there were many snorkelers with which to compete.  Being tourists in large part, many of these competitors were wearing sneakers in lieu of fins, the better to kick me in the teeth.  Since I have grown fond of my dentition, I proceeded to snorkel in a defensive mode.

    The water was cool and clear and only a manageable amount of it was entering my mask. Stopping for a mask dump every few minutes, I enjoyed some fish, including a close encounter with a pair of lined butterflys.  As you will recall, this is the largest of the butterflies, about the size of a dinner plate.  With luck, that dinner plate might include a toothsome portion of Sandra's famous spaghetti!  But I digress.

    Towards the end of my swim, I encountered a bevy of blue goatfish and an adolescent ulua hunting together.  This ulua is known most correctly (in English) as the bluefin trevally.  Sometimes we encounter schools of small trevally called papio.  These are small guys, less than five inches, with

Ulua Hunting with a blue goatfish  Kahalu'u  February 2020

bright yellow pectoral fins.  I assume they eat plankton.  As they grow, the ulua transitions to a diet of crustaceans and octopus.  Hence their association with the blue goatfish, who has a similar diet: gluten free, heavy on shellfish.

   When they get older and bigger, the ulua is called 'omilu.  these bigger jacks transition to eating mostly fish. Down at the Kailua pier when the baitball is in, you can see five or six ulua hunting in a pack, much like wolves of the sea. Rarely we encounter a really big ulua, which might push up to around three feet in length.  When one of these brutes gives you a close pass it can be a pretty awesome experience.

    Back at Kahalu'u, this group of blue goatfish and the ulua were not swimming quite as fast as usual.  Both species are quite beautiful in their own right, but when they are working together they are all business and swim away faster than I can catch them on film.  This time they circled.  I clicked away and got several good shots.  You have to admit, they make a pretty group, especially if you like that rich tropical turquoise with a splash of yellow here and there.

   The ulua and his hunting mates were the treat for this swim.  After my shower I found the venerable Honda un-towed and un-ticketed.  It was a good day all around.

           🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟       🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟         🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟      🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟

    Yesterday afternoon I received some wonderful news.  In an email from Beth Wood at the Fort Vancouver Regional Library, I was invited to display my art in the main library for the month of June.  This is a wonderful new building on the edge of downtown Vancouver.  Five fabulous floors, the third hosting a children's museum and the fifth a deck from which you can see (I believe)

The shiny new Fort Vancouver Library

Sacramento.   For me, it is dream come true.  I was only asking for enough space to display 15 butterflies out at the small library in Cascade Park.  Instead, they are going to give me a variety of spaces for the art at the award winning main library; there will be butterflies in five pedestals, fanciful fish and butterflies in the entrance window and tropical fish in the display case.  Something for everybody!  I have about 50 fish stashed back in Vancouver, but there is work to do.  If you happen through PDX in the month of June, make the short trek across the I-5 bridge and have a peak!

jeff

For an article introducing the library in The Oregonian, see here:




https://www.oregonlive.com/clark-county/2011/07/new_vancouver_community_librarys_granduer_a_product_of_good_timing.html

Alexander "The Crab" Haig

    Alexander Haig was a military man who rose through the ranks and ascended into the the heady world of national politics.  Although he went on to serve President Reagan, he is best known for his tenure as Chief of Staff to Richard Nixon.  It is likely that in this capacity he convinced Nixon to

resign.  During the last four months of the Nixon presidency things got a little hectic around the West Wing and one afternoon Haig confided to a group of reporters, "As of now, I'm in control here in the White House." Those few words stand as Haig's enduring legacy.

    By comparison with our current impeached potentate, those were halcyon days.  One thing is for sure, any aide who suggests to the Donald that leaving office might be the best thing for the country will find himself on the next bus to Hoboken.  If you want to work in this White House, best if you are a toad or a lackey, certainly not a wanna be Al Haig.  Along similar lines, if the Republican party

Snowflake Moray Eel,  Kahalu'u,  February 2020

had rallied behind Nixon (as the pusillanimous Republican solons have supported Trump)  he almost certainly would have survived.  And there would be no Gerald Ford Presidential Library.

    It is a little known fact that Haig, while stationed in Viet Nam, became an avid snorkeler and developed a life long fascination with hermit crabs.  All of which is a sneaky way of leading you into today's blog. 

    As I finished the last blog, in which I made excuses for staying out of the ocean, I found myself in a sea of shame.  That very afternoon I made it down to the pier, where the water was far less cloudy than I expected, given the excellent surfing conditions.  There were a fair number of fish; I saw all the common butterflyfish and an illusive saddle back butterfly, as well.  Nothing blog-worthy, but a very pleasant swim.

Haig's hermit crab,  Kahalu'u  February 2020

     It was great to be back in the water and so, with the surf diminishing, yesterday I went to Kahalu'u.   It was a beautiful winter day with a blue sky and cool, clear water.  Out in the bay, I immediately got an intimate look at a snowflake moray.  He let me dive down and take a picture only a few inches from his snout.  Good eel!  As the coral dies, some species are experiencing the dwindles.  The eels, on the other hand,  seem to be holding their own.

    A short distance away, down in a coral crevice, I spotted a handsome shell, possibly a knobby triton, heavily encrusted with pink coralline algae.  I plucked it from its niche and positioned it, hoping for a hermit.  I was so pleased when after a minute or two, out popped a Haig's hermit crab.  With purple legs and eye stalks, Calcinus hagae is extremely easy to identify.  I encounter this crab infrequently, maybe one crab every three or four years, so it is always an unexpected treat.  This guy waved his purple legs about and we rewarded his histrionics by putting him and his pink home back into the coral.  Be safe my friend.

   I swam further out, into a patch of healthy Evermann's coral.  There, crawling up the side of a coral, I found another hermit.  This fellow was sufficiently exposed that I did not need to move him to get his picture.  Diving down, I secured a handhold under the lip of a nearby coral.  He was positioned in such a way that I couldn't get a very good look with my eyes.  I suspected that it was one of the more common species of dark Calcinus hermits,  hidden or Hazlett's seemed most likely.

Haigs hermit waves his arms, Kahalu'u  2020

     In situations like this, the camera does all the heavy lifting, assuming conditions are such that the photographer can hold still.  On this day, Kahalu'u was giving up without a fight; there were no waves and no current.  I didn't get a chance to examine the result until I returned to shore.  As you can see, here is a second Haig's hermit crab.  This time the TG 5 outdid itself and the photo is in perfect focus.  This hermit is living in a top shell handsomely encrusted in dusty rose. 

    This points out a curious phenomenon.  Haig's hermit crab is far from a common species.  I doubt that I have seen one at Kahalu'u before.  And suffice it to say that in the last thirty years I have looked at a plethora of hermit crabs in K Bay.  So, why two on the same morning?  I believe that there is some physical signal that activates a given species...suddenly the time is right to get active, put yourself out there, look for some action.  Whatever it may be, it is species specific.  How lucky I was to be there when the Haig hermits received their signal.

jeff

Haig's Hermit Crab.  Calcinus hagae  K Bay 2020

   

The Sphinx Moth

     Great surfing conditions persist on the leeward shore of the Big Island.  This means that snorkeling and fish watching have been on the back burner.  That does not mean that our zoological observations have come to a screeching halt.  We have monarchs and swallowtail butterflies flying through our yard, cardinals to serenade us in the morning and coqui frogs at night.

     On Saturday the butterfly exhibit came down at the Kailua Kona library.  It was truly gratifying

Boerhavia Sphinx Moth in the carport at Casa Ono, February 2020

how the people associated with the library came by to tell me what a success it had been.  The very next morning, as we were getting ready to head for church, we received a blessing in the form of a Boerhavia sphynx moth that had chosen to roost for the day inside our carport.

    As we started learning about butterflies, our internet sources had instructed us on the moths of Hawaii, as well.   Besides the much smaller and prosaic moths, I had only seen the large black witch and that species was the only one included in the exhibit.  It was tantalizing to look at the pictures of the other larger moths that should be found in our area.  And it was a little frustrating, as well;  aside from leaving a light on at night, there is no good way to attract moths.

    Suffice it to say, we were very pleased with our sphynx moth.  As luck would have it, Sandra had checked out a book, Hawaii's Butterflies and Moths, by Jamieson and Denny just the week before. There was a Cracker Jack picture of our new friend.  The authors made a sspecial note of the rose colored patch at the back of the after wing.  I would have called it a rufous patch, but why quibble?  The book goes on to tells us that Hippotion rosetta comes from Southeast Asia, was first noticed on

Pentas spp growing wild in the garden at Casa Ono, February 2020  photo by SKG

Oahu and Kauai in 1998 and uses Boerhavia and Pentas (two genera of flowering shrubs) as its host plants.  Sandra is apparently a more avid lepidopterist than I.  She made the effort to study these two plants on the internet and found Pentas growing as a favored weed in our garden.

    As an aside, the book shows the larval stage of the caterpillar of this species as being a gorgeous turquoise.  The older caterpillar, by comparison,  is a boring combo of gray, black and brown.

   It is of interest that at the time of printing, 2002, the book stated that the Boehavia Sphinx moth was found only on Kauai and Oahu.  My sweetie is here to tell you, that is no longer true.  You keep looking and maybe you can find a new species of moth for your island!

Yours 'til the butter flies,
jeff