Carefully Investigating from a Safe Distance
01 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in coyote behavior, coyote reactions to dogs, coyotes and dogs
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- peacefully resting
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- dog walker appears over the hedge
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- following to check things out
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- waiting inconspicuously in the background
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- keeping well hidden
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- making sure to keep dog & walker in sight
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- keeping far behind but continuing to investigate
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- watching from the distance
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- The dog and walker move on
This resting coyote — hidden from view — perked up when a dog and walker went by. A number of dogs had passed, so I don’t know why this one was of particular interest, but the coyote felt that an investigation was called for. As I’ve noted before, the interest is often about “what are you doing and where are you going.” The coyote followed, ever so carefully, at a fairly long distance, keeping an eye on the dog and owner who walked in the vicinity of hedges where the coyote had been resting. At several points, the coyote stopped to wait for the walkers to move way ahead, and then followed at a distance that just allowed it to keep the wakers in sight, yet not be seen. When the coyote stopped and stood still, it was almost undetectable. Then, when the dog and owner finally headed off for good, the coyote just sat down and watched them leave. The activity, from start to finish, lasted thirteen minutes, and the dog and walker never noticed the coyote.
I don’t know how this dog might have reacted had it seen the coyote. Some dogs can smell coyotes from afar and know they are around, even if the coyote can’t be seen. Some dogs are either oblivious or don’t care, even when a coyote can be seen. And there are some dogs that show real respect for the needs of wildlife, leaving them alone and giving them their space on purpose. But most dogs have no such comprehension and think coyotes are to be chased. The chasing sets up a precedent which the coyotes then come to expect. Most often, the coyote will just flee. But it could stand up for itself by messaging its needs to be left alone or to leave its territory. This could entail charge-and-retreat sequences, or sometimes even nipping at a dog’s behind, cattle-dog fashion, to get it to leave. Keeping your dog close to you and leashed can prevent such incidents.
Coyote Interrupted
14 Jan 2012 4 Comments
in coyote behavior, coyote reactions to dogs, dog reactions to coyotes, oneupmanship Tags: coyote, coyote behavior, coyotes, dogs and coyotes, urban coyotes
Sirens set this coyote off, with long drawn-out howls and barking, and pauses in-between. I’ve only included part of the recording here. During one of the last pauses you will hear, unusually, a dog’s response, which surprises the coyote who stops to carefully listen. “What the. . . . . who does he think he is?” Anyway, the interruption seems to tick off the coyote who throws herself into the next howl with a spirited leap, howls some more, and then hurries off to a place where she might get a view of her competitor. I don’t think she saw anyone. The coyote continued to howl, but the dog did not, and the siren had long since ceased, so things quieted down fairly quickly.
Grunting More Than Huffing Here
10 Oct 2011 2 Comments
in coyote behavior, coyote reactions to dogs Tags: coyote, coyote behavior, coyotes, coyotes and dogs
This video, again, shows the reaction of a coyote to a hostile dog appearing on a path about 200 feet away. Coyotes seem not to be bothered by dogs that have never bothered them. So when a dog appears that causes a coyote to react this way, it is because of the dog’s previous behaviors — a coyote always remembers each dog and its behaviors, be it a blatant antagonism, or something more subtle like a “dirty look”. I’ve seen this over and over again. By the time I got the camera set up, most of the grunting was over — it had gone on for over a minute. The grunts are very audible in this video. Fortunately the walker and his dog veered off the path and left the area, so the grunting just petered out, as in the last video I posted. The coyote took the opportunity to lie down right there where it was camouflaged by the tall grasses. Coyotes frequently are right there in the open, but you can’t see them!
Shortly after this grunting episode, another dog and walker — with a history of being hostile and antagonistic towards coyotes — appeared in the distance. The coyote heard them coming and stood up, waited until they were in sight, and, before being seen by them, trotted off into some bushes rather than wait for the possibility of an encounter. I’m sure if the coyote had stayed down, it would not have been seen, but it chose not to take this chance.
One might wonder why a coyote would be out when dog walkers are out. Do rodents tend to stick their noses out more during certain times, making hunting more successful at these times? I don’t know, it’s just a guess. Also, though, coyotes seem to want to get a glimpse of what is going on in “their” territories before hunkering down for the day.
The Huffing Continued
07 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
in coyote behavior, coyote reactions to dogs, huffing Tags: coyote, coyote behavior, coyote huffing, coyotes, coyotes and dogs, huffing
This is actually a continuation of the last posting on “Coyote Huffing”. I should have included it in that posting. By the time I took this second video, the coyote had sat down. But you can still see the movements of her throat, huffing and puffing, during the first 13 seconds of the clip. The activity is very quiet, barely audible, if at all in the clip, but nonetheless audible in real life. In this case, after the huffing stopped, at 13 seconds into the clip, the coyote calmed down and the matter was forgotten for the time being. The coyote soon got up and continued her slow trek towards one of her snoozing spots.
Coyote Huffing
04 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
in coyote behavior, coyote reactions to dogs, huffing Tags: coyote, coyote behavior, coyotes
The coyote was minding its own business, looking for a possible meal on a grassy area. Occasionally she would look up to watch walkers in the distance. Then, suddenly an unleashed dog caught her eye. The unleashed dog glared at her giving her a feeling of uneasiness. This dog has regularly chased the coyote in the past, and, of course, the coyote remembers all such incidents. Fortunately, the owner saw what was happening and was able to grab the dog.
However, the coyote remained upset — it is not easy for anyone to turn around their fears and uneasiness on a dime. After running over to a bush, she watched as the dog and walker left, but her emotions were running high. She sat there, huffing her discontentment. Notice her throat area which shows the huffing after she reached the bush. Very often, this kind of soft huffing segue’s into a loud and distressed barking session. It did not happen this time probably because the dog left, though that is no assurance that the barking won’t happen anyway. This adult coyote, whom I have seen and know to be an “alpha” coyote — was openly displaying her feelings. In fact, whenever you see a coyote in some kind of fired-up state, it is expressing its feelings — and these feelings are a reaction to the situation at hand.
Sniffing For, then Scratching At an Irritant
13 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
in communication, coyote behavior, coyote reactions to dogs, coyotes, dog reactions to coyotes, oneupmanship Tags: coyotes, urban coyote behavior, urban coyotes
This fellow had been relaxing when he suddenly bolted up and looked into a neighbor’s yard, then trotted over and stood behind some thick growth and sniffed intently, with his nose high in the air. He spent a full minute doing this, closing his eyes sometimes as if to really savor what might be in the air. He was in an overgrown empty field, and directed his sniffing towards the yard next door where several dogs lived. These dogs were never out of their house without their owners. However, I had seen one come over to the overgrown field to do its business and I had seen this particular coyote sniff out these messes and urinate on top of them. Also, I’ve seen one of the dogs chase this coyote, though not in a very intense manner. These dogs are particularly acute at either hearing or smelling coyotes that come to the property: at the slightest hint that a coyote might be around, one and then all of them will begin barking together. I think there are four dogs who live there, on and off.
On this day, no dogs were around. The coyote sniffed carefully from a long distance away, and then slowly trotted closer to the hedge which divides the properties — yawning on the way over. I think coyotes sometimes yawn to maintain a casual-calm mood for themselves. At the hedge-line, the coyote stopped and stretched its neck up to get a better view. Again, no dogs in sight, and no barking. So the coyote carefully and slowly entered the yard, walked around casually, found the smell he was looking for, urinated on the spot, and then kicked and scratched that area of ground where he had urinated. The coyote had probably found a spot where one of the dogs had urinated. ”Take that!” It was one of those “oneupmanship” behaviors directed towards the dogs which have been an irritant to the coyote. When done, the coyote exited the yard and continued trekking through uninhabited areas before disappearing.
Mom Rushes In, by Charles Wood
30 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
in coyote behavior, coyote reactions to dogs, group activity Tags: coyote behavior, coyotes, urban coyotes
Monday my Los Angeles area coyotes were less congenial than on Sunday. Mister showed up first and started barking. Then Mom and Dad arrived. I didn’t see any others. Perhaps they acted differently for the three having time on their hands while waiting for the others
In the video, Mister first solicits play from Mom. She refuses and Mister turns to Dad who also refuses. Mister comes toward my dog Holtz and me. Note that Holtz, sixty pounds, stood to my immediate left wearing his harness attached to a fully retracted and locked leash. Mom joins Mister who steels himself with a stretch and a yawn and then comes closer while Mom and Dad watch from behind.
Holtz had been sitting quietly, paying more attention to his itches than to the coyotes. A little late seeing that Mister was now close by, Holtz rises to bark. Mister flinches. On Holtz’s first bark, Mom set her left rear foot. Mom might have ignored one bark. To one bark, Mister might have replied with dirt scrapes and yips. As it was, Holtz barked more. Mom’s exaggerated run towards us was intended to give Holtz pause until she arrived in position. Holtz’s excessive ruckus decided Mom’s course.
Mister’s course was decided after his parents refused him play. Holtz didn’t notice. Mister had reinforcements, yet Holtz’s position was superior to the three because Holtz had me. Holtz didn’t notice. Holtz was reactive. In contrast, the coyotes were acting out a plan, a plan that allowed for the contingency of Mister needing help. The coyotes wouldn’t have acted out a plan had I left when Mister began to bark or left when later they started to warn me with stares. They see Holtz as a serial intruder into their home range and don’t want him around because they perceive Holtz as a potential competitor. To a coyote, showing one’s self to a lingerer is supposed to be enough to cause an intruder to leave. In fact, Holtz had wanted to leave well before Mister showed himself, having planted his feet and refusing to go with me towards the brush out of which Mister later emerged.
After Mom joins Mister her eyes follow Holtz. Mister moves right, perhaps too soon. Mom waits and continues to study before deciding to approach on our left. She made an assessment and a decision based on how we were physically positioned towards her. I didn’t notice what tipped her to our left.
Mister draws in behind Mom and they rush in. Holtz barks and then whines in frustration at my restraining him. Mom and Mister stop short and withdraw. They meet up with Dad who comes to them from within the bushes.
Still King?
In the past, Dad has been the one to message Holtz and me in the way Mom and Mister did today. I don’t know if Dad’s health doesn’t allow it or if the parents think it good experience for Mister. If Dad is losing it, Mom is stepping in to fill his shoes. It isn’t my experience of Dad that he hold back or prefer greetings, scratching and play to messaging Holtz and me. My goal is to find him alone in order to better assess his temperament and health, to see if he still is the king I’ve known him to be.
Posting written by Charles Wood. Visit Charles Wood’s website for more coyote photos: Charles Wood. His work is copyrighted and may only be used with his explicit permission.
Chased Into A Hollow
28 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
in coyote barking, coyote behavior, coyote reactions to dogs Tags: coyote behavior, coyotes, urban coyotes
Being out at twilight in a park allowed me to glimpse an owl hunting — I don’t see this often. It was quiet and it seemed at first as though no one was around, but I was wrong. Soon a dog appeared, and the owl took off as it and its owner got nearer.
As I watched the owl fly away, I heard another man yell sharply at his dog. That was the tell-tale sign that alerted me to the possible presence of a coyote on a trail. As I headed in the direction of the voice, I began to hear two coyotes bellowing out their distress at having been chased. One coyote must have run off, because its barking receded into the distance.
However, the other coyote was very close by, in the bushes. I could not see the coyote at all — so, to begin with, I just took a photo of where the sound was coming from. It was in a hollow right next to the trail — not, as usual, up high and away. Although at first I had heard two coyotes barking together, the barking pattern changed when one ran off. The barking began alternating between them, one after the other, taking turns, seeming to answer each other, until the far coyote stopped altogether. The nearer one continued a little longer and then also stopped.
Within a short time, the closer coyote must have sensed that the danger had passed — the dog and walker were long gone — because it came out to inspect it’s surroundings, looking around carefully before trotting off to continue what it probably had been doing before the dog arrived: hunting for voles and gophers.
I’m including the recording in which you can hear the near and the far coyotes’ barking. Unfortunately the recorder picked up the sound of my walking as I was trying to visually spot the coyotes!
Dad Ten Days Later, by Charles Wood
18 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
in coyote behavior, coyote reactions to dogs Tags: coyote behavior, coyotes, urban coyotes
It is hard to believe I haven’t seen Dad for ten days. Wednesday I went into my Los Angeles area coyotes’ field hoping to come across one. Dad was in the rendezvous area, apparently alone. He saw my dog Holtz and me before I saw him. Dad approached us and I pulled Holtz closer with his leash and made him sit. I stepped towards Dad and he backed off. I then began to video.
The video shows a fairly low key Dad. Near the end of the video he scrapes with his head pointed toward me. Usually that’s when he starts to approach. I didn’t want him to come closer so I put my hand into my pocket for a clicker. He ran off as I fiddled with my pocket, not waiting for the clicker. I’ve never used a clicker before. A few times in the past I’ve reached into a pocket for a golf ball to lob at him. I’m pretty sure he suspected that I was going for a golf ball. I took my eyes off him to reach into my pocket. When I looked up a moment later he was gone and I had to play the video to see how and where. He watched Holtz and me as we left.
The previous day as I sat under the bridge I heard Dad’s pack howling. They were in the nature preserve hidden in the distant trees. Their calls echoed faintly under the bridge and were muffled in part by the sound of traffic passing on the street above me. The howling stopped and I didn’t see any coyotes. Several minutes later several teenage boys on bicycles rode towards me out of the nature preserve. I asked them if they had heard the coyotes. They said yes and that although they hear them frequently, they have never seen them.
Posting written by Charles Wood. Visit Charles Wood’s website for more coyote photos: Charles Wood. His work is copyrighted and may only be used with his explicit permission.
No Wiggly Squiggles For Me, by Charles Wood
26 Jul 2011 1 Comment
in coyote behavior, coyote reactions to dogs, oneupmanship
Mister runs
Monday my leashed dog Holtz and I went into my Los Angeles area coyotes’ field. A man headed toward the east end of the field with his dinner. He asked me if the coyotes were still coming in there. I said they do and that I had seen some last night. He walked on in and I got settled. Mister and one of his siblings soon came north towards me. Mister wasn’t happy and immediately ran towards me. My friend Lynne and her dog were watching from the bridge. It unsettles me to see one of my coyotes running towards Holtz and me. I know they are going to stop short, yet I still feel a little like turning and running. I wonder if an intruder coyote would turn and run upon seeing Mister’s territorial display. Mister stopped short, as they all have in the past, and delivered a message. He hovered over it for a long while and I had thought he was heaping on a lot more. He wasn’t. Although his eyes were on my friend, his ears were on Holtz and me, which I think was an interesting choice.
It is hard for me to reconcile Mister’s warning behavior with his rendezvous joy. Is this tough guy the same coyote that wiggly squiggles with his mom and dad? He is tough with me. After giving us his message he ran back south some. Then he started barking and yipping, doing so until I left. Meanwhile his companion was hidden.
When I disturb a pair, one typically warns while the other either hides or backs off a bit. I don’t think the one that doesn’t warn lacks courage. I think it waits as a reserve force. I think so because when meeting paired Mom and Dad, they trade off as to who warns and who holds back. Whether Mom or Dad, the one who warns is probably the one who feels the most irritated by me that day.
Mister dumps
A few years ago I ran into a fellow in a wetlands area. He told me he had once been surrounded there by eight provocative coyotes near where we were standing. Feeling uneasy, I asked him what he did to get out of that situation. He said he picked up some rocks. I looked around and didn’t see any rocks handy. I asked him where he got the rocks. His girlfriend’s jaw dropped, her eyes bugged out and she stepped back. The fellow’s answer was embarrassed and vague. I didn’t believe his story. In fact, in that same general area, I once did happen upon a number of coyotes (I didn’t count them). One came forward to bark and yip while several waited to its rear. It was easy to walk away with leashed Holtz and none of the coyotes followed.
I’m not sure who Mister teamed with Monday, its photograph was unclear. Yet it seemed to have Mister’s lower lip black bubble, which I thought was a trait shared only with Dad. Yet Mister’s Monday companion almost certainly wasn’t Dad, the size and the eyes weren’t Dad’s. So who was it? To confuse me further, the coyote in my April 21 video post I first identified as Bold and subsequently as Mister. It isn’t Mister, the lower lip isn’t right. Yet I’m not sure it is Bold either. Bold’s conformation is superior and the April 21 coyote’s isn’t. That its body shape was lackluster made me think it Mister, but I missed that the lower lip wasn’t Mister’s. I wonder if there are four, perhaps five of the seven last year pups still with Mom and Dad. If there are more than three yearlings in there, I may never really know it to a certainty, and if there are extra yearlings in there, I don’t really know if they are siblings to the others or not. What I do know is that this group is pretty good at delivering confusion.
Posting written by Charles Wood. Visit Charles Wood’s website for these and more coyote photos: Charles Wood. His work is copyrighted and may only be used with his explicit permission.
