There is no other term — just look at the photos: adoration. I’ve known these particular coyotes for a while now. They have a very close relationship: a mother and her two-and-a-half year old son. The jumping for joy, touching, wiggling and squiggling, hugs and kisses were absolutely overwhelming displays of affection — it lasted about 25 seconds. This greeting was an intensely demonstrative one, though there were no accompanying squeals and whining which often go along with greetings.
Almost all of the affectionate display came from the younger male. Mom seemed just as happy to see the son — after all, she is the one that came up to him; he had been standing there and eating — but hers was less demonstrative and much more of a solid and dependable Rock-of-Gibraltar affection. This is how I saw it, based on many hours of previous observations of their behaviors.
After this intense “greeting”, they both ran off together, and out of sight. It appeared to me that Mom had come to “fetch” the younger one — and he seemed ready to go with her, though, until she appeared, he seemed in no hurry to go anywhere. He had spent the previous hour hunting and eating a number of gophers. They both then headed for a denser growth area in order to “turn in” for the day. I did not see them again.
Friday I saw four of my Los Angeles area coyotes, all more or less together. Before twilight, Mom and Bold headed north from the nesting grounds to the rendezvous area. Then Mister showed up to bark as I followed them. I hadn’t seen Mom since June 13 and at that time she appeared to be traveling alone, as did Bold on June 30. I often see my coyotes either singly or paired.
Although two coyotes together aren’t unusual, three suggests my pack may be gathering for a rendezvous. At dusk a fourth coyote showed up, Shy. Eventually the three yearlings moved out of sight, like Mom who hadn’t showed herself since before twilight. The only adult I didn’t see was Dad. I reasoned he must have been with the new puppies and hoped they would head towards us. They didn’t. Perhaps Mom went to join Dad and the rendezvous was rescheduled. Or perhaps there is another rendezvous area and I delayed them moving there to join Dad and the puppies. In any case, I didn’t see Dad and the puppies.
My presence is definitely seen by my coyotes as involved and the behaviors I see are mostly of their interactions with an involved human who brings his dog. It was my dog who introduced us, and my interest in coyotes sprang from my interest in their field as a playground for my dog: not a good start, a start that won’t be overcome.
Once I attempted to break Dad’s misimpression by playing tag with my dog while Dad watched. I was thinking he would possibly be persuaded that we were cool. There was no sign of reappraisal, his unamused glare embarrassed me. Mom expresses Dad’s view, as do Mister, Shy and Bold. If they have a theory of my mind, it wrongly informs them that I share my dog’s desire for their food. Yet admittedly, given certain hypotheticals, I would eat their food though they could hardly know I wouldn’t relish it. Then again, with a flame, ketchup, mustard, vinegar and a dill pickle I can conceive of their food as enjoyable. I concede they know me in my essentials as well as they need to.
Mister
From time to time I’ve seen coyote life seemly unaffected by my presence. For example, some crows once buzzed Mom. She moved her gaze off me and onto the crows, sauntered from the road into wild mustard and returned to gazing at me as the crows moved on. I had expected a more energetic defense by Mom. Later I realized that crows can’t fly through wild mustard and that her defense was elegantly parsimonious. My imaginary defense against buzzing crows, flailing wildly as I thought she should have done, would have been untutored. It didn’t occur to me that Mom knows crows better than I do.
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.
My Los Angeles coyotes are certainly more available to me than they were over the winter. Yet I am only seeing Mister and Bold moving around.
A couple days ago at twilight Mister quickly trotted down their road, stopped in the brush to wait and then a few minutes later returned to where he had come. I believe he wanted coyote companionship because his gait was unusually brisk and because in the past I have repeatedly observed family members rendezvousing around dusk at the area he briefly visited. Twice this week I saw Bold travel from their nesting grounds to a marshy area a little north east of it. She seemed driven by an idea of where she wanted to go and what she wanted to do. On Saturday she found a spot suitable to urinate on and had her legs set in order to precisely aim while she stared at me. Her ears are deliberately positioned to sense any approach from her left or her right. She seems as a self-possessed young female who knows what she wants out of life and how to get it. Mister seems as a coyote who for now takes his anxieties a little too seriously, too quick to bark at me, too impatient for others to be there when he wants them to be. (Mom in contrast waits for others very patiently.) Shy for now seems to enjoy everything in too full a measure. Perhaps her wariness balances her and keeps her from getting into situations she isn’t yet ready to greet.
Bold on Thursday
I haven’t seen Mom or Dad for over a week. I speculatively attribute their absence to their being preoccupied with new puppies. I have been wondering how helpful the yearlings are with day care. It is starting to look like they aren’t all that helpful because what I have been seeing is them either playing or walking around absorbed in themselves. Still, the mere fact of their presence at Mom & Dad’s surely must make their home a more secure place for them all.
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.
On Friday at dusk, Mister stood by himself staring at my dog and me as we watched him from the river bank. He then stretched and proceeded to defecate on his road. Done with that, he resumed glaring. Then Shy ran up to him. Mister had tasked himself with inviting us to leave, but Shy wanted to play. Mister kept glaring at us despite Shy trying to distract him. Then Mister gave Shy an “enough!” and she left him to his job. As I was leaving, Mister came half way closer and began to bark and yip. We stopped and he went back to the road and laid down. Then we left.
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.
Sunday at twilight Dad spotted me as he was coming down his Los Angeles area road. I was on the bridge to his north about 225 feet away. He paused and then kept coming. He stopped again to sniff. In a moment, he resumed his trot and Mister came from the brush to join him. Mister is new to me though he has been with his parents and sisters all along. Dad made Mister get down as shown in the “Dad and Mister” photograph. Soon they were up and both trotted across my bow, Mister coming first. I had seen Dad first, Mister came out on the road and got in trouble, then Mister led them away, apparently doing as he had been told by Dad.
Was Mister truly in trouble? I can’t know. Until yesterday I didn’t know that Mister was there, had confused him with his sister Bold, and had thought he therefore was female. There is room for getting simple facts like gender incorrect, so my story of Mister and Dad’s complex behavior has plenty of room for other interpretations. For example, Mister may not have seen Holtz and me on the bridge and Dad may have been communicating my presence and a danger assessment to Mister. Both continued on, Mister in front. As they went camera left, both glared at me, Dad with his neck and shoulder fur flared to make him look big.
The one thing I consider clear is that Dad is in charge of his son Mister, whether reprimanding Mister’s misstep or warning Mister of what they both have come to regard as a concern: Holtz and me on the bridge.
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.
Before sunset today, as I stood on the river bank that borders my Los Angeles coyotes’ field, three of them went by. The bold daughter came first. Three minutes later I saw a park ranger’s car driving in the area where the coyotes were headed. A minute later Dad stopped to stare before following the bold daughter. Three minutes after that the shy daughter went by.
I didn’t see Mom today, nor did I see any puppies. It is significant to me to have confirmed that two siblings remain with their parents, both about a year old. Mom is lactating and there are new puppies in that field. Getting a look at them is another matter. The park ranger said he was looking in the field for two boys. The boys had been fishing where they shouldn’t have been. Today I was where I should have been: on the road.
The park ranger said delightedly that he had just seen a fox hunting, pouncing on prey. I said there were coyotes in the field. He said he knew what a fox looked like and that it was a fox. I asked him if there was anyone in the neighboring nature area who was familiar with the coyote groups there. He said that he didn’t pay any attention to coyotes. If he doesn’t pay attention to coyotes, can he distinguish between a fox and a puppy coyote? Do four adult coyotes let a fox live in their home range? Has my desire to see the puppies affected my ability to properly reason?
The park ranger didn’t stay around long enough to catch the two boys that I later saw leaving the field with a bucket. The boys walked along the field’s roads without encountering a coyote. Yet just a few minutes before, three had gone to the area in which the boys were hiding. The coyotes had a lot to keep track of before sunset: a man, the man’s companion, the man’s dog, his companion’s dog, a man in a car, two young boys and an unknown number of puppies. And don’t forget the fox, maybe.
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.
It may come as a surprise that coyotes do not use dens except to give birth to their pups and as a place to nurse their young: whelping — the pups move out for good after these beginnings. They retain use of a core home base area, but not the den itself. Think of a coyote den as being similar in usage to a bird’s nest: it is a temporary “nursery”. However, the nest, if it is still somewhat intact, may be fixed up the next year to be used again. This is how the coyote dens I’ve seen work. People are constantly asking me where the dens are, and I have to respond that, unless they are having pups, there are no dens: coyotes sleep out in the open and can sometimes be seen doing so. See my posting of July 15, 2010: Sleeping and Resting Right In The Open.
The den is dug by both parents-to-be on sandy hillsides and steep creek banks, under logs or rocks, within underbrush and in open areas where the digging is easy. These are always areas chosen for protective concealment, but also, they are places that can be watched by a coyote parent from some distance, again for protective purposes. Not all coyote dens are made by coyotes themselves: coyotes sometimes dig out and enlarge holes dug by smaller burrowing animals, such as badger or fox dens. In suburban and urban areas coyotes may dig dens in golf courses or in other vacant lots, under sheds and under culverts and storm drains.
Dens are usually three to six feet below the surface and can run from only a few feet to 50 feet into a hillside. The dug out tunnel leads to a large chamber, which often has a second or even more entrances that are better hidden than the digging entrance. Active dens are hard to find because of the various entrances — and because coyotes are very careful not to lead anyone there. Coyotes have not one, but several dens which they move between, not only to protect the pups from predators, but also to protect the pups from the fleas and other parasites which build up.
A coyote will fiercely defend its den if it believes the pups are in danger, even charging full-grown grizzlies who came too close. This is why dog owners are warned to keep their dogs far away from coyotes during pupping season. Pups are born from March thru mid-May, and then are nursed for 4-6 weeks. But the end of nursing is not the end of “pupping”. I’ve seen mothers fiercely defend pups who are approaching two years of age when dogs go after them. It is best to respect coyotes and allow them the space they need to feel safe.
Here is a wonderful link to a video of pups emerging from their den for the first time, produced by BBC Worldwide. It is called Coyote Cub Singing, and shows a very young coyote pup producing his first high-pitched howl!! Also, see more coyote pups emerging from their den.
You’ll have to judge for yourself, but what I am seeing was brought home by the two ravens dancing and cawing in a pine tree above where I was watching a couple of coyotes. The ravens cawed, moved away and then towards each other, made cooing sounds (yes), and danced their heads and upper bodies back and forth in what probably was courting behavior. Ahhh, yes, this is what is going on.
The two coyotes were not as explicit as the ravens, but the same thing was going on. It is that time of year when hormones and pheromones guide behaviors that will affect the future. The two coyotes stuck closely together. The female was a little bit reactive a couple of times, but the male was very solicitous — he read her well. They traveled and hunted side by side. They rubbed against each other, they made intense eye contact, and they did so touching noses a number of times — not fleetingly, but emphatically. He sniffed her often, and whenever she “marked” the ground, he lingered to sniff it and then marked the same spot — the middle two rows of photos show two instances of this. All behavior was extremely gentle and calm — especially when compared to the sibling rivalry I had been observing for the last few months. Do these two now reign over the territory that used to belong to three?
Sibling rivalry exists in almost all families, and in almost all species. The first baby eagle born makes it his job to push the others out of the nest. Fratricide is the most extreme result of sibling rivalry. But before that point is reached, a sibling might be driven by another sibling from what had been his home.
This is the best-case scenario I can think of, in a coyote family which I have been observing for two years now. The more submissive of the twin male siblings had been bullied and dominated for several months. Although when this happened he would always increase the distance between himself and his brother, more recently he had been standing up for himself by growling and snapping back, and even remaining close by — as if stating that he wasn’t going to be pushed around. Then, one morning, I heard unusual coyote sounds: these were complaining-like squeals which lasted about five minutes before petering out totally. Charles Wood has suggested that those squeals might have been from the type of fight that produced the rump wounds I had seen and posted earlier on. I don’t know if this is related or not, but the day I heard those sounds marks the last time I saw the more submissive of the two coyote siblings which I had come to know as a family. Until that point, he was the one that was most visible and out in the open. His disappearance was very sudden and very total.
Did he just disperse, or did something worse come to pass? Charles Wood has suggested another possibility: that this coyote might have been banished from contact but not from the area — hiding in the day and eating at night. If I see him again I will post it, but it has been a month now since I last saw him. Worst-case scenarios also exist, brought to mind by hearsay and conversations I’ve had with individuals in the parks. Although highly unlikely, these possibilities include kidnapping either for breeding purposes or as bait for pit bull fighting — an illegal practice which continues in this area, or even removal by park visitors who have been wanting coyotes “relocated” for some time. Let’s cross our fingers that any of these is not the case.
There are 39 slides in the sequence above. The lighter coyote is the Mom who is fairly neutral — she looks away most of the time. But the two others are diametrically opposed in their behaviors: they are male sibling rivals.
The more submissive coyote usually has his ears back or down, showing his submissiveness. He runs off when threatened, sometimes bares his teeth or snaps at the aggressor, hits the ground, and twice reaches out towards the neutral mother.
The dominant aggressor rushes at the submissive guy. He keeps his tail high, stands high, appears overpowering, has an intense gaze, pursues, pushes, mounts, knocks to the ground and generally bullies. He also pushes himself between the other two to keep them apart! The sequence here lasted about 13 minutes.
In this posting, you have three different sets of interactions — each row across is a different set. In the first row, the dominant sibling approaches the more submissive guy. He displays his dominance initially by urinating. Then he approaches as overpowers the submissive guy. In the last slide of the first row, notice that Mom is calmly watching from the sidelines.
In the second row there is a display of oneupmanship by the dominant sibling. But then they seem to hunt together: each totally interested in what the other is doing. In the last photo of the second row they look like they are hunting peacefully side by side.
In the bottom row, the sequence begins with all three coyotes watching an onlooker and a dog-walker team in the distance. Then the dominating sibling, with hackles and tail up, approaches the less dominant fellow, who, in the last slide, runs off with head down and ears back.
A family of three interacts in their habitual manner. In the top two rows, the submissive sibling is in the middle, with Mom on the right and the dominant sibling on the left. The submissive fellow keeps his ears back and somewhat together. He’s the one who puts his paw up on the dominant sibling in supplication: “hey, take it easy.” The last photo of the middle row shows Mom reacting angrily to the dominant sibling, and he, in turn, reacting to her — each bares their teeth viciously, but only for show, for communicating feelings. This altercation ends quickly.
Bottom row: the submissive sibling, now in the middle, tries to assuage Mom’s anger. In the middle slide, this submissive fellow has moved to the right keeping a vigilant eye on the dominant sibling to the left — notice his eyes. In the last slide, with Mom safely off to the far right, the bullying sibling in the middle feels free to go after the more submissive fellow who snaps back. They all then moved apart and there were no more interactions.
Here, Mom and one of her offspring, the more submissive of two siblings, watch dogs approaching in the distance — a common coyote activity. At one point, the offspring looks intently at Mom: visual communication is common — coyotes read each other through eye contact, expressions, and body language. When the more dominant sibling approaches — he’s the one standing to the right in slide #3, the more submissive sibling heads off about 50 feet and sits in the distance with his ears down — a submissive sign showing that he is not a threat. He does not want to tangle with his more dominant sibling.
noses touch: dominant guy to right w/tail out & standing tall; submissive guy leans back with ears back
dominant guy overpowering submissive sibling, Mom watches in back
dominant guy moves between mom to the right & submissive guy to the left
submissive guy to the left kisses dominant guy in the middle – a supplication
this I don’t understand: Mom allows dominant guy to smell her inner leg ??
submissive guy in the middle, ears down, solicits acceptance from Mom
same as the last slide
maybe submissive fellow didn’t get what he wanted — ears are dejectedly down
A tenuous respite from the interactions
I found this family of three coyotes together – a rare sighting lately, but I’ve seen it several times in the last few days. There is a mother and her two 21-month-old male offspring who are working out their relationships.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw a coyote hurry by, obscured by the dead thistle growth from last year. That is not so unusual for me — I see coyotes often enough. But then I heard something I have heard only a couple of times before and only very faintly: defensive growling — it was intense this time! I looked over and saw a more dominant coyote sibling bullying his more submissive sibling. The more submissive brother skulked off, as usual, but he also growled and snapped in self-defense. And then he hung around — he was not going to be forced to leave this time! The last photo shows him shortly after the incident, after the dominating sibling departed. This fellow hung around, relaxing and enjoying the turf instead of fleeing. We’ve been rooting for this underdog.
