Tag Archives: Cats

Solstice photos

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A Royal Palm in Hawaii

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Again the Solstice.’ See more responses here. I didn’t have any good ideas for illustrating the solstice so, instead, plumped for photos taken on the solstice.

The top photo, I’ve run before in 2019, but who doesn’t love a grumpy cat? The second photo, from 2021, is of a royal palm amongst other tropical foliage. These palms can grow to 70 feet tall and look very stately when planted in a row. This one was quite a bit smaller.

The bottom two photos show a Fiery Skipper butterfly on a Mesembryathemum flower in 2020, and a Pacific Day Octopus hunting in the company of a goatfish back in 2018.

A Fiery skipper butterfly on a Mesembryathemum flower
A Pacific Day Octopus hunts with a goatfish

What’s he looking at?

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A spotted dove looks intent

The clue is right there in front of him. Is that bird food? I think not, but the photos below clear things up.

I first came on this scene from the other side and saw Smudge, the cat lying down, with an intense look on her face. Another pace brought the Spotted Dove into view. I took photos, but they were into the sun and not great. So I walked around the building to get the sun behind me.

The bird was still busy pecking at the food, the cats staring intently, but doing nothing else. That inactivity wasn’t surprising. These cats are very friendly when they’re hungry and utterly indifferent once they’ve been fed. And after the cats have eaten birds move in for the leftovers. The birds remain wary, but have learned there’s not much to worry about at this time.

In the end, Smudge decided she had to do something about this brazen intrusion so she got up and wandered away to the front of the building where she plopped down in the shade, serenely out of sight of the feathered affront taking place on the lanai.

A spotted dove and cat face off
A spotted dove and cat face off

Cozy cats

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A couple of cats rest in the afternoon shade

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Cozy.’ See more responses here.

I don’t have too many cozy photos, but cats seem to be cozy pretty much wherever they are. These two are from the place where I work. They seem to think that they run the joint, and in some ways they do. They look mellow in the photo, but it should be noted that I call the lower cat ‘Slasher.’ There’s a reason for that.

Smudge

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A cat rests in the dirt

Smudge is one of seven cats that hang out at the place where I work. They’re all a bit skittish having been feral before being captured, fixed, and given their shots. But, like most cats, they can be adept at relaxing.

In the photo, Smudge has found a nice patch of dirt in the shade of the office building and is clearly enjoying the moment.

The BGP

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A cat sits by a puddle

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Respect the Cat.’ See more responses here.

We don’t have a cat here in Hawaii, but this is one of our neighbor’s cat. It used to spend more time around our house, but as it’s got older, it seems to stick closer to home. We call it the BGP, which stands, of course, for big gray pussycat.

Cat up a tree

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A cat up a tree in Hawaii

I heard an uproar from the myna birds in the yard and looked up to see this cat bounding up a tree trunk. It disappeared into the leaves and, shortly after, the mynas flew off in a huff. I took this photo when the cat was on its way down, with nothing to show for its efforts.

Posted in response to Becky’s January Squares challenge theme of ‘Up.’ See more responses here.

Watching from the shadows

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I was taking photos of birds in the yard – northern cardinals, Japanese white-eyes, and saffron finches – when I noticed that I wasn’t the only one watching them intently. A neighbor’s black cat was following their every move, until it realized that it wasn’t the only one doing that. Then it turned its stare on me.