honeyletter.
Map of Santa Catalina Island, California

delight

Bison arrived for a movie in the 1920s and never left

Santa Catalina Island, California ยท 7 July 2026

Bison graze on Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of California, in footage captured by a wildlife videographer for CBS Sunday Morning. The animals moved slowly across the grass, the kind of morning that asks nothing of anyone watching. The herd has an unlikely history on the island. Bison are not native to Catalina. They arrived in the 1920s for a film shoot and stayed after the crew left, which is a very Hollywood way to end up somewhere. Generations later, their descendants still roam the hills above the Pacific. The footage carried no narration and no urgency, just the wind and the low sound of animals eating breakfast. They did not seem to know they were being filmed, and would not have cared if they did.

Read the letter it ran in → See it on the honeymap →

Sweet news, for once.

Five good things, every weekday at 7am. Free.

Get the letter →