Sunday, December 1, 2019
'Auku'u (Hawaiian Black-crowned Night Heron)

This is the 'Auku'u or Hawaiian Black-crowned Night Heron. Sounds impressive, like something out of an animated movie about dragons. Like most herons his fishing skills, or at least his standing-as-still-as-a-statue skills were definitely well honed. The only thing was this particular fishing hole was a Koi pond outside of a restaurant in Waikiki. I think the fish were on to him, and many of them were bigger than him. Of course the guy stalking him with a camera while he stalked his lunch probably didn't help much.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Koi Pond

I love Koi. These beautiful fish are in a small Koi pond in Goleta. From the road all you see are office buildings, but when you explore a bit more you find an amazing peaceful spot with a small bridge over a Koi pomd. They were very cooperative, but I did have to promise them some snacks the next time I'm in the neighborhood.

Saturday, October 31, 2009
Leafy Sea Dragon

This guy is one of my favorite sea creatures. He's called a Leafy Sea Dragon. He's related to seahorses and pipe fish, and is from the waters of Australia. This one is living at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in their cool Seahorse exhibit. As I'm sure you can guess he is less of a sea monster than his name suggests. His beautiful fins camouflage him in the sea weed as he floats with the ocean surge like a plant.

This was the second time we tried to get to the exhibit, right after it opened in April it was almost too crowded to see anything, but this weekend was much less crowded.

Saturday, January 31, 2009
Clams of Monterey

We came to Monterey this weekend to meet a friend and his son at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was a fun day, but very tiring. I've been there many times but somehow I must have missed the giant clams before. They are quite interesting.

April sixth the Aquarium will be opening a new exhibit on Seahorses in the space where the large Jellyfish display went away last year. I was really disappointed when the jellyfish were leaving, but I don't think they could have picked anything much better to replace them if they had to go! And it will be just in time for my birthday too!!

Sunday, October 30, 2005
Now there's somethin you don't see every day!

Ok, maybe it's a little late for Solstice photos. But, it has been hotter lately than the day I took this photo so I was starting to wonder just what season this is.

Friday, March 4, 2005
Floating Koi

This was taken at a Botanic Gardens in San Diego California. The blue one is called a "Soragoi Kawarimono" but I am not sure about the orange one. There are a surprising variety of them...

• Koi Identification