September 21 – 27, 2020

I took my kayak out into Pere Marquette marsh an evening this past week. Launched at Sutton’s Landing Park and took the river west. There is one utility bridge that you need to go under on the way to the lake. The bridge is not much above the water and I can reach up and touch the bottom of the bridge as I pass under. As I went under the bridge on the way to the lake I noted that there were pigeons roosted under the bridge on the concrete girders. Even though I could basically reach up and touch them, they held their ground and didn’t flush. An hour or so later on my return back to the launch, I made a mental note that there were pigeons under the bridge to prepare myself in case they flushed this time. As I went under the bridge, a mammal (what I first thought was a raccoon) scurried just above me and lost footing on the pipe he was trying to run away on. Hanging on by only his front feet with his bottom half hanging he frantically tried to get back on top of the pipe and not drop into the water (or onto me) below. Then I realized it was not a raccoon. It was a bobcat! Fortunately he regained his traction and got back on the piping and headed off. I was only able to photograph his legs as the other pipes were blocking his body. Then as he got back on land, I was able to get a brief silhouette as he headed back onto the land above. Needless to say, I was not expecting to have a bobcat dangling mere feet above my head as I went under that bridge but I was happy to have the opportunity to see the cat up close.