Synchronized Spashing

Shot hand held and cleaned up (meaning color corrected, sharpened, straightened, and aligned by hand in Photoshop). Originally I uploaded this to Google+ where AutoAwesome did a GIF transformation. It didn't do a bad job of it, but I wasn't all that happy with it. If you want you can find it there as one of my postings. A better GIF could have been made if I had Photoshop CC or Camtasia... but I have neither. So I made this using ProShow Producer... my usual method. It was all worth a shot and the little amount of time spent just the same, and it was the first time I've tried anything AutoAwesome.

This was taken off the coast of the Big Island of Hawaii up near Hawe. The humpbacks migrate here each winter between about November and April and calve. Then they all head back up to Alaska for feeding. Each island in Hawaii sees some whales each year, but Maui and the Big Island probably the most. If you ever visit here this time of year a whale watching cruise is well worth the price.

How in the world could these guys pull this off if they weren't communicating somehow?! Stick your head underwater here anytime while they're here and you'll immediately know they're talking to each other all the time.

A Day in the Forest

I'iwe feeding on Ohi'a luhia blossoms

I’m not a birder and have never spent time around any of them, but when I got an opportunity this weekend to go on a guided hike in the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge on the eastern slope of Mauna Kea I jumped at it.  This tour is specifically for viewing some of the rarest plants and animal species on earth, but especially oriented for spotting rare and endangered birds of Hawaii.  The Hakalau tour is provided by Hawaii Forest & Trail and is a long (12 hr) day from start to finish that includes 2 ½ hrs of driving one way, over 11 miles of off road meandering into the forest reserve, and roughly 4 miles of hiking with about 650 ft of elevation gain.