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A second day on Brannan IslandMarch 23, 2008

This photo essay is part of a series. Here’s the first one.
06 March 2008
I set out in the morning to pay for another night (it’s usually done in an honesty box at this time of year, though they do check sometime during the day). I spotted a large, well-fed cat having some fun in the [...]

This photo essay is part of a series. Here’s the first one.

06 March 2008

I set out in the morning to pay for another night (it’s usually done in an honesty box at this time of year, though they do check sometime during the day). I spotted a large, well-fed cat having some fun in the grass.

He failed entirely to catch anything, so then nonchalantly wandered in and out of the bathrooms, exploring.

After that I wandered over to see if he wanted any company. Turned out this was a friendly, obviously domesticated cat. When the campground host came around, he thought it was my cat and let me know that there were coyotes around, so he should be indoors at night. I said that no, it wasn’t my cat; so he wandered over to where he thought the cat came from.

Lo and behold, a few minutes later there was a whistle and the cat charged off home. Huh!

I’d been reporting all this on the walkie-talkie as I went for my walk. I stopped by the rig for a moment to admire the intriguing sky.

Then I wandered over to the closed-to-traffic part of the campground, which was being manicured in time for the season, which probably starts later in March or April. There was a nice clear cycle path there, which I followed for a while.

The previous night we’d been listening to the curious hiss-clunk of vehicles crossing one of the many local steel-bottomed bridges. I caught a glimpse of the bridge and decided to detour to go and take a photograph. I’m rather fond of bridges.

The path went as far as the visitor center, which was still closed, and then crossed the road and continued. I headed back to the rig, enjoying the sight of birds en route. I don’t know what this one is…

…but this one, of course, is familiar. ;)

Linda R. Moore

6 Comments on "A second day on Brannan Island"

1. Buffra | March 23, 2008

It’s a robin.

(little robin red-breast….)

2. Mary (20 comments.) | March 23, 2008

The red-breasted one is an American Robin. Like the robins in England, it’s a thrush, just a different variety. :D

3. Linda R. Moore | March 23, 2008

Hi Buffra! I guess so. Though it just looks so different from what I know as a robin. :)

4. Linda R. Moore | March 23, 2008

Mary: I didn’t know about the thrush thing, and I have a hard time figuring out how they (European) robins could be seen as thrushes. Thrushes are long and sleek, while robins are little fat things (and agressive too). I’m not arguing: just saying it’s weird to me.

I looked it up on Wikipedia and learned a curious thing: they were considered to be part of that thrush family, but are now considered to be part of the Muscicapidae (old world flycatchers) family. Whether that’s accurate or not I couldn’t say.

But whoever came up with Turdidae for thrushes deserves a good talking-to. ;)

5. Mary (20 comments.) | March 23, 2008

Ah, the joys of taxonomy. :) It used to be done so much by description, but DNA has thrown a big giant spanner into it.