Bad Food?
11 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
in bad food, coyote behavior Tags: coyote behavior
Today I was photographing this little coyote when I noticed what looked like “heaving” as if it were going to upchuck. Sure enough, I had my camera right on the little fellow when whatever the problem was came up and out. The coyote looked disgusted at what came up, it sat down to rest a minute and then wandered out of sight. I was alone now. This was my opportunity to see what had “come up”. I went over to the location, but decided that it really wasn’t my “thing” to analyze the stuff, so I took several photos instead.
Then, something interesting happened. AS I was taking the photos, who should I see coming purposefully towards me, but the mother coyote. She was headed directly towards me with an intent gaze. I decided to move off quickly — my immediate impression was that the upchucked stuff I had been looking at was not to be interfered with. I watched as the mother went right up to the spot I had left. She spent some time there sniffing it out intensely. She must have seen the little coyote spit it up. Otherwise could she have been drawn to the area in the first place by the smell? Was she trying to figure out why this piece of food was bad? Did it really smell bad? Don’t coyotes avoid bad food? After it had all been checked out to her satisfaction, she trotted off to a rock on which she curled up. I didn’t see her go back to the spit up area again.
I’ve noticed several dead rodents on the ground — maybe four in the last few days. They were all soggy, but entirely whole. One was a rat. Could these have drowned in the recent rains we’ve been having — someone told me this was not unusual. Or could one have been poisoned by humans? Coyotes, after all, eat carrion. I’m wondering if the coyote ate a dead rodent that was bad? No way to tell without analyzing the stuff, and I’m not up to that.
Like “Ferdinand”: Coyote behavior
09 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
in coyote behavior Tags: coyote behavior
When I see coyotes resting on hill slopes, I can’t help but think of the children’s story about Ferdinand the bull, who cared for nothing more than to sit peacefully in a field and smell the flowers. Be that as it may, Ferdinand was taken to the bullring to fight because he was seen as the most furious bull in Spain — his finders happened upon him right after he had been stung by a bee.
There is a lot that goes on in a coyote’s life, but I have found that predominantly they want to remain peaceful, be left alone, and live their lives. This is what we all would like for ourselves. The peacefulness can be seen in the photos I’ve taken, day after day, of one or another coyote that I’ve found on a hilltop somewhere: basking in the sun, napping, watching contentedly as the world goes by. Some coyotes engage in this type of activity for a couple of hours at a time. Although most coyotes do not lie around in the open during daylight hours, even if it is in the distance on a hill, some apparently do.
Of course, coyotes are more active than this. I have seen plenty of hunting, playing with other coyotes, walking home. These all are fairly calm activities. And then I saw a coyote yipping: this was totally different. The yipping is a very intense activity, and I have only seen it in the daytime after dogs have chased a coyote. I have since become aware that coyotes are much more alert and active when dogs are around. This is because dogs are their chief threat in the parks.
When dogs are around, the calm “resting” I had initially seen so often, became more of a “watchfulness and monitoring”. Dogs walking or loping by with their owners produce little reaction from a coyote watching from a hill top. But I’ve noticed that small hyperactive dog types, or dogs running wild off-leash, or two dogs instigating a fight or something resembling a fight, will cause a coyote to sit up at attention: coyotes do not like commotion.
Coyotes feel intruded upon by dogs coming after them or chasing them. But coyotes are also alert to potential chasers — a coyote can read this by a dog’s activity level, body language and gaze. A relaxed coyote watching from a hilltop may sit straight up if it senses the possibility of a dog threat. A coyote might also react to this with a blatant antagonistic display: hackles up, scratching the ground, teeth displayed. This could be frightening to a dog owner who is not used to it. Keeping dogs leashed can prevent a problem.
And during pupping season — May through October — the coyote’s alertness increases many times over, especially for coyote mothers: they are no longer just looking out for themselves, but during this time frame they are also watching out for their den areas and the pups themselves.
A coyote assesses, monitors, patrols for its own security. I’ve now seen coyotes do this in the early morning until dogs and their walkers leave the park. Ahhh, we do this too. To maintain our peaceful existence, we have our patrol cars to keep an eye on things: it’s a precautionary measure. When threats or possible threats are gone, our coyotes like sitting up on their hill tops, smelling the flowers, like Ferdinand
Blatant Visual Message for Newcomer Dog
08 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
in blatant visual message, communication, coyote behavior, coyotes and dogs Tags: blatant visual coyote message, coyote behavior
Today I entered one of the parks to see a young fellow with his dog standing on a path. There was a coyote in the distance in the field next to the path. The fellow was tossing stones to keep the coyote at a distance — he had no idea what coyotes were like. He told me he had just moved to the area from Florida — he had not seen a coyote here before. He leashed his dog and we both watched as the coyote sat in the distance watching. Finally the coyote decided to go: it got up and trotted down the trail and out of sight. It was a young coyote born last spring. The owner then unleashed his dog.
I walked with the fellow down the path the coyote had taken and told him a few things about the coyotes, such as that they were not aggressive but will defend themselves, and that it is best to keep dogs leashed and next to us. As we rounded a bend, I looked up to see the mother coyote watching from a rock ledge high above us. The mother is still protective of her offspring and was keeping an eye on the new dog as a precaution, making sure it wasn’t about to chase her or the other coyote. More than likely she had seen the dog staring at the young coyote a few minutes before. Often when a leashed dog sits quietly beside its owner looking at a coyote that is not too far off, the coyote itself will become curious and just sit, trying to figure out what the stillness is about: the dog’s eyes may be communicating one thing, yet the leashed dog is just sitting there.
This dog stayed with us only a moment before rushing off towards the coyote up on the ledge. The dog couldn’t get up to the rock ledge, but it got close and it barked at the coyote. Coyotes do not like to be pursued.
The coyote hunched over with her hackles up: her message is meant to be blatant and clear for those who might not want to take her seriously — she was trying to let the newcomers know that she wanted to be left alone, she did not want to be pursued. The coyote then came down from the rock ledge, towards the dog, which caused the dog to come directly to its owner. The dog clearly got the message. At this point the owner leashed his dog — this calmed the dog and kept it next to us. If the owner had not been able to grab his dog, this could have ended with a firmer statement by the coyote: a nip. But it ended here, and the coyote then climbed up on a rock not too far away.
The display we saw of this mother coyote is pictured above: hackles up, teeth bared and back bent – it is the exact same display a cat gives to warn another animal off. It is meant to look frightening which makes it very effective, and all animals understand it. But it is not aggression, rather it is a strong defensive message.
The younger coyote then appeared and joined its mother on the rock from which they watched us, to make sure the infraction was not repeated. We watched them. Fortunately the fellow was very positive and excited about the coyote. This was a great introduction for him — he knows what to expect from this coyote, and he knows how to keep his dog from chasing the coyote so the coyote won’t come back after his dog. When the fellow and his dog decided to go, the mother coyote followed them. Although the younger one followed its mother’s departure with its gaze, it went in another direction.
I suppose the mother coyote made sure that the newcomers were headed out of the park — she does this sometimes when she has been chased.
Young coyotes will almost always flee from a dog threat. But the mother — the mother is always the alpha leader of a family group — often will turn back to make sure a threat is stopped in its tracks, thus letting the chaser know that she does not want to put up with this. Please take note of the display above: it is a message. It is a very clear message to read, imparted for self protective reasons. Keeping our dogs leashed will keep your dog away from the coyotes and will help us all co-exist peacefully in our parks.
Please read postings on December 12th: “Dog Reactions to Seeing a Coyote”, November 4th:“Some Reactions to Dogs”, November 17th: “ANOTHER Reaction to Dogs”, and December 1: “Significance of a Seemingly Unprovoked Challenge”. “A short back-and-forth chase: oneupmanship verging on play” 2/4/10. “Coyote Safety” of 11/3/2009.
Morning Rest with One Eye Open
05 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
in coyote behavior, resting Tags: coyote behavior, coyote resting
Here is a typical coyote morning for a coyote who likes to stay out in the open. For the most part, coyotes retreat under cover once dawn has broken. But some, including this one, enjoy the open. Mornings can be a time of rest after some pre-dawn hunting, but if resting takes place in the open, one eye has to be kept open!
So, I came upon this coyote watching a group of dogs and walkers go by — they were on a path far below as the coyote watched from a perch high above them. I do not know if the walkers saw the coyote. As dogs and walkers moved out of sight, the coyote disappeared from its perch, and then soon reappeared on another hill on the other side of the path, where it could see the dogs and walkers exit the area. Once the group was out of sight, the coyote felt safe enough to settle down for a couple hours of rest, as seen here in the photos.
Occasionally this coyote eyed dog walkers in the very far distance — you can see this by where the coyote is looking — it was a calm observation because of the distance. But when two large dogs in the mid-distance began growling and running at each other — they seemed preparing for a fight — this coyote sat right up at full attention and watched intently until the altercation settled down. Coyotes don’t like commotion, I’ve noticed. When the dogs left the area, the coyote resumed its rest before shaking itself out and heading over for one last lookout from a rock. Then the coyote was gone. Few people, if any, noticed the coyote and not one dog was aware of it way up on the hill.
A “short back-and-forth chase”: oneupmanship verging on play
04 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
in coexisting with coyotes, coyote behavior, coyote reactions to dogs, coyotes and dogs, dog reactions to coyotes Tags: coyote behavior, need to leash dogs
Coyotes invariably shy away from humans. They have no interest in us. The closest I’ve seen a coyote come to a human is when one approached a person’s unleashed dog, either out of curiosity or for a short back-and-forth chase interaction. Coyotes are similar to dogs and have an interest in dogs, but it is best to keep our dogs and coyotes apart.
Keeping our dogs leashed and next to ourselves is always the best insurance for keeping coyotes away. A leashed dog is calmer and less likely to pose either a visual or physical threat to a coyote, or be available for the chase-chase behavior. Also, with a dog leashed and next to you, if a coyote were to approach you, you would have only the coyote to think about, rather than having to think about how to grab your dog. You can shoo a coyote away by making loud noises, flailing your arms, and looking directly and defiantly at the coyote.
The most obvious threat to a coyote is when an unleashed dog chases it. A dog might think this is fun, a game. But a coyote may not. A younger or beta coyote might just run off if chased — most do not want to confront a dog. But an alpha pack leader — these are the breeding females, the mothers — often will defend herself, often coming back after the dog that went after her. She may not only be defending herself physically, but also she may be defending the challenge to her alpha status.
Several individuals have told me that a coyote has “played” with their dog. In 2005 we read about dogs playing with a lone coyote on Bernal Hill in San Francisco. Apparently the coyote chose only certain dogs to play with: they ran together and even wrestled. Everyone seems to be in agreement as to what was going on. I wasn’t there, but I read about it.
On the other hand, someone else told me that their dog, too, has played with a coyote — this was in a totally different area where we know there was a mother and her offspring. The dog owner told me the coyote would weave in and out of hidden tunnels in the brush along a path, “teasing” his dog to get it to “play”. But this supposed “playing” occurred in March and April, which is pupping season — the dens are prepared and secured against danger and pups are born. Knowing what I do about where this “playing” took place — it is more likely about a female alpha coyote leading the dog away from an area she felt very protective of.
A number of times I have seen short back-and-forth chases between an off-leash dog and a coyote, lasting only a few seconds, only with large dogs which the coyote knows. I’ve come to see that these are not “true chases” but rather a kind of bantering, or maybe taunting, with the intention by each that the other should “go”, “no, you go” — it is an interaction which is not really aggressive and is not meant to harm, even though the coyote has its hackles up and lips pulled back — it is more about messaging. Usually it is the coyote who ends up finally running off because the dog owner is close by. And usually it occurs when the dog and coyote happen upon each other by pure chance — maybe both were headed in the same direction at the same time at dusk, or each rounded a bend to find the other.
In a similar vein, today I followed a coyote around a hill where, up ahead, it saw a lone, large dog with no one around. It was an area in which the coyote had been resting only ten minutes earlier. The dog’s yard is right by a park — the dog was actually in the park itself and not in the dog’s yard. Coyote pups were heard in the area last year, often at night, which may or may not be relevant. The coyote approached the dog with its hackles raised. The dog just stood there. So the coyote then bared its teeth: these are the coyote’s attendant behaviors in the “short back-and-forth chase” interaction — the intent is oneupmanship and messaging. This caused the dog to run off. The coyote then chased after it into its yard which was only a few feet away, and finally waited a few moments to be sure the dog had gone.
I contacted the owner to hear her thoughts about this interaction — I’m trying to understand coyote behavior, so that we may all benefit. She also had seen the event. She told me that her large Afghan dog is a five-year-old female. She saw the Afghan run into the yard and then chase the coyote out. The owner’s opinion was that this “short back-and-forth chase” was a form of interaction verging on play and that it was done for the interaction, that it was totally harmless. There is no real “friendship” between the dog and the coyote, she said, but these two have interacted in the past, loping together in a nearby field, or engaging in this short back-and-forth chasing. It was the owner’s opinion that coyotes sometimes get lonely and seek this kind of non-aggressive interaction akin to play which lasts only a minute, although it might appear to be more “serious” than it really is to someone seeing it for the first time.
Letting one’s dog wander alone in a park where there are coyotes is probably not a good idea. This is especially so if your dog is small and very active. It is the small, hyperactive types of dogs which seem to provoke a stronger instinctual reactive response in coyotes. A human at the scene can prevent a coyote from approaching the dog in the first place.
Please read postings on December 12th: “Dog Reactions to Seeing a Coyote”, November 4th:“Some Reactions to Dogs”, November 17th: “ANOTHER Reaction to Dogs”, and December 1: “Significance of a Seemingly Unprovoked Challenge”. “Blatant Visual Message for Newcomer Dog” on 2/8/10. “Coyote Safety” of 11/3/2009.
Coyote Hours & Avoiding Humans
02 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
in avoiding humans, coyote behavior, evading, hours Tags: avoiding humans, coyote behavior, hours
I’ve noticed that most coyotes tend to have their preferential times of day for their activity — this tends to be predominantly at dawn, dusk and night time. However, I have discovered that at least one coyote has been active at any hour of the day and at all hours of the night over time. I’ve run into people who told me that they had heard this coyote at 7:30 pm, 9:00 pm and at midnight and 2 am and then at 5:00 am. I myself have heard it at 7:00 am and later in the morning. People have seen this coyote at dusk, in the late afternoon and in the early morning. I saw it recently right before noon — not just a glimpse of it, but I was able to keep track of it for close to an hour because it was out in the open. We all tend to believe that coyotes are nocturnal or dawn/dusk creatures — but this is not so.
So, before noon, I came around a bend to find a coyote standing on a slightly elevated area. The coyote looked around and then stretched as it walked down and over to a greener patch of ground. I successfully moved off to the side where my presence wouldn’t be an intrusion. The coyote climbed up onto a rock where it ate grass for about seven minutes, after first having wandered through this very grassy area to select where the grass was best. It seemed to carefully pick each blade, and seemingly savored each leaf.
When a couple of bikers became visible in the distance, the coyote stood very still and watched until the bikers could no longer be seen. The coyote also stood perfectly still as a runner ran by — probably within 100 feet of the coyote — the runner said hello to me but did not see the coyote. I seldom point out coyotes to others anymore, except if there are children or dogs involved. Right after this, a mom and her young child appeared on the scene. I knew this mother and child and pointed out the coyote to them. The coyote was right there in plain view and not far off. These new observers must have tipped the scale for the coyote after the bikers and the runner: the coyote now walked up and away. But I found the coyote again, resting in a secluded spot.
After about 20 minutes, the coyote stretched and scanned the area quickly before it began trekking back to where I had originally seen it. On its way, it stopped short and stood frozen and still. About 200 feet ahead, right on the coyote’s path, was someone practicing their Tai Chi Chuan. The coyote just stood frozen for a few seconds trying to figure this out, and then quickly descended a steep, pathless incline into an overgrown and secluded meadow area where it was all alone. The important point about all of this is that this coyote avoids people whenever it can. It might stand perfectly still if it thinks it will not be seen by a person who has suddenly appeared, but otherwise it moves away from people, and it does not move forward on a path if a person is up ahead.
I watched as the coyote hunted in this secluded area: it noticed stuff in the ground — I know not what, and it noticed birds in bushes, cocking its head with interest now and again. It ended up on a main path where a father and son were enjoying some time together perched high on a rock. I thought I should point the coyote out because of the child. These people, it turns out, live right on the park and know this coyote well. They and I watched and I took photos. The coyote checked out the trail ahead by climbing again to a lookout, and then wandered on, watching the ground for a possible meal and noticing bird movements in trees. The coyote continued walking on until it saw someone approaching on the path ahead with two large dogs. At this point the coyote slithered into a dense brush area and was gone from my view. The approaching walker and dogs never saw the coyote.
So, this coyote wants to stay away from people: it froze to avoid being detected by bicyclists and it did the same when a runner went by; it walked off when people approached, it checked out trails before taking them, descending into secluded or brushy areas when people were on the paths ahead. Only the two parents with kids noticed the coyote for a few brief moments. Although the coyote did pass towards the father and son, they were high on a rock and on a totally different “level” than the coyote. I have noticed that “levels” create an added degree of removal in the coyote’s and in human eyes.
This was the third day in a row that I had found this coyote in the same area at close to the same time, and it made me feel uneasy — a kind of fear for its safety. Although the coyote had been on a bluff overlooking what was below, at the same time it was right next to a path on the bluff which put it on the same level as walkers — not “one level removed”. The path is not heavily used, but on this last day there eventually were two bikers, a runner, a mom and son, myself, and someone practicing Tai Chi Chuan — all within less than an hour. On other paths, main paths, there was a dog walker with two dogs and a father-son. Again, this was right before noon.
