Puppy Watch – No Sightings, by Charles Wood
27 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in "home", avoiding humans, coyote behavior, coyote living areas, coyotes and dogs, dog reactions to coyotes, evading, territoriality
Here in Los Angeles County my coyotes see me before I see them. Once I noticed Mom in the distance observing me. Once I looked up to see a yearling watching me. Dad also kept the pressure on me, seeing me first about every other day. I received their attention despite trying a new tactic.
Typically I walk east to get to watching places. Saturday I instead went north along the eastern boundary of my coyotes’ field. Along the east is a fenced off structure that has only a couple places where I can see into their field. Unfortunately, they too can see me.
I hoped they wouldn’t see me. As I happily walked, Holtz was ahead of me. Then he turned to come back. Immediately he started adversarially stalking towards something to my rear. Holtz’s head was slung low, protruding with his tough guy gaze fixed on the other side of the fence. I grabbed him and turned around. I expected to see a dog with a walker. I saw nothing. It must have been a coyote, no doubt one of mine that had been tailing us. Compared to a few months ago, my coyotes are visible and active.
Coyotes with puppies are more active for a couple of reasons. First, they are alert for interlopers. Coyotes hide and protect their young and are vigilant for all possible dangers. Also, they hunt more for having more mouths to feed. Fortunately for coyotes, nature provides them with more to hunt during spring.
This time of year, my coyotes’ rabbits also produce offspring. Controlling rabbit populations is an important coyote job. Young rabbits are easier to catch than adult rabbits, and I imagine that in good years there are lots of them for adult and child coyote alike. The richness of vegetation from good rains provides more cover for rabbit nests. Rabbit nests would be fairly easy for a foraging a coyote puppy to find all on its own. Yet the coyotes and other predators don’t find all the nests. One reason they don’t is that adult rabbits make themselves conspicuous this time of year, acting as fast running decoys that lead predators away from their nests. Dense ground cover with a bumper rabbit crop in their field is an excellent incentive for my coyotes to remain in their field.
A balance between predators and rabbits protects the field itself from a being overgrazed by rabbits. Fifteen years ago, when I would only see foxes, rabbits were a problem down river at Leisure World which suffered from a rabbit invasion. I suspect that since the coming of coyotes, that invasion silently went away along with the foxes.
Recognition of individuals, bonded, walking home
08 Jan 2010 2 Comments
in "home", bonds, coyote behavior, reactions to a human Tags: coyote behavior, coyotes recognize individuals, reaction to humans
It was still dark as two coyotes ran by in a hurry — it was hard to see them in the dim light. I looked far up the hill to see a group of walkers and their unleashed dogs — the coyotes were evading them. The coyotes kept their eyes on the group, but then stopped and looked at me. I always stand still when I see coyotes. The coyotes stopped fleeing and hung out for a moment some distance in front of me. But the walkers could then be seen again, and a woman from the group was yelling at her dog. The coyotes must have sensed danger to themselves because they then headed off and disappeared into the brush. I don’t think the group of walkers or dogs were aware of the coyotes.
The walkers moved, temporarily, out of sight and out of earshot. When I got over the crest of a hill I saw both coyotes walking slowly and calmly, and exploring the ground together. When the walkers could be heard again in the distance, the coyotes stopped their activity and looked up. When the walkers became visible again, the coyotes continued walking away from the group and in a direction I have seen them walk before. I’ve seen them walk in this direction often at about this same time — they gave the feeling that they were walking “home”. The coyotes were not in a hurry — they were far enough away from the group to know they could get away if they had to. They crossed the path, out of sight, avoiding detection by the walkers who then came down this same path.
I’ve been able to see that these particular coyotes distinguish me from groups of walkers with dogs. Through their behavior, one can see that coyotes can recognize and distinguish certain groups of dog walkers, certain dogs, and, yes, certain people.
Of note is that these two coyotes, nine-month-old siblings, tend to stick together most of the time — they appear to have a strong bond. One is definitely the leader, the other, the follower. I see them less and less often with their mother.
And the third observation that I’ve been becoming aware of, is that these coyotes were actually walking home — a direction in which I’ve seen them head, shortly after dawn, where they probably remain until dusk can camouflage them again. These coyotes are not out during daylight hours. ”Home” may be a den area or close to a den area, or it may just be a place where they feel comfortable, safe and at ease: the same as what we use our own “homes” for — a place we head for at the end of a day.
