Family Play Scene
18 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
in coyote behavior, family interactions, identifying individual coyotes, playing Tags: coyote behavior, coyotes, urban coyotes
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- Ma in back youngster in front
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- Pa holds down the fort in his own way
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- Ma and youngster horse around
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- Ma and youngster play
The most obvious sign of a family is when what you thought was a twosome suddenly shows itself to be a threesome or a foursome! We had only been seeing two coyotes at this site, an older male and a young female. After identifying them, I stopped looking closely at these individuals, because it was so easy to distinguish them.
Then we came upon this family play scene. Ma played with a youngster, while Pa curled up to hold down the fort in his own way — with shut eyes. He’d glance over at the play now and then but didn’t want to be a part of it. Dozing off, away from the others, but within view of them, was his idea of fun. Pa is substantially older than Ma in both his appearance and in his energy level.
Playing between Ma and the youngster consisted of chasing, tumbling, leaping and wrestling, with continual forays in our direction to check us out. The youngster also kept looking off into the distance which made me think that maybe there was a fourth coyote who we did not see — and one of the photos certainly made that a possibility — though it could have been the lighting that prevented definitive identification. I only actually saw three coyotes at any one time.
Interestingly, we could have predicted that there were young ones in this area because of Ma’s unceasing guarded and anxious behavior whenever we saw her, and because of her seldom leaving her protected area unless no people were present. It turns out that we’ve actually been seeing this youngster at various times without knowing it: somehow I mistook him for his Pa since we only ever saw two coyotes at any one time, and I assumed the lighting was causing the slight difference in appearance which I saw — it is easy to mistake the identity of coyotes under poor lighting conditions. However, once you definitively identify a coyote, it is easy to go back to the older photos to distinguish what you couldn’t before, and I can now see that the youngster has been around for many months.
Dealings With A Mole
01 Jul 2011 5 Comments
in coyote behavior, hunting, perfume bath, playing, wallowing
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- Plucking up prey effortlessly & running off with it
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- toying with it as if it were still alive — waiting for a response
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- rubbing its smell on himself
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- examining it again
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- urinating on it — marking it
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- walking off
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- I checked it out — it was a mole
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- checking to see what I might have done
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- finally leaving for good
I watched as a small prey was quickly and effortlessly plucked from the ground — I mean, after a single nose-poke into the ground, the coyote ran off with the small prey dangling from its mouth. I marveled at how adept some coyotes were at hunting. I’ve seen moles and gophers hunted down, and it always takes some doing. The coyote nosed its prey and watched it intently, picking it up a few times and watching it intently again. The coyote was looking for a response, for any sign of movement. I’ve seen coyotes do this with most of their prey before consuming it. The coyote was treating it as if it were not quite dead.
Once absolutely sure the mole was not moving, the coyote lowered the front part of its body onto the dead animal and began rubbing its neck on the critter. This was repeated several times. When done, the coyote examined the critter again and then urinated on it rather than eating it. This clued me in that it was probably a mole: they don’t seem to eat moles, but they do like rubbing themselves on them because of their smell.
After the coyote walked off, I took the opportunity to go see what the animal was. It was a mole. Not only that, it became obvious to me that it was a mole which had been dead for some time — it was hard and cold. Hmmmm. I wondered why the coyote had treated it as if it had been alive, waiting for it to move, toying with it and watching for it to react. Maybe he was hoping; maybe it was just a game. I feel that the coyote knew it was already dead when he found it. I had concentrated on the toying behavior of the coyote instead of the speed with which the critter was plucked from the ground as the main clue to what was going on.
As I finished photographing the dead mole, I looked up to see the coyote — still there — watching me. I thought that the coyote had moved on — I had no idea that I was being watched. I immediately and quickly walked away — I had no intention of giving the impression that I was actually interested in “stealing” it.
As I walked off, the coyote, again, approached “his” mole and examined it for any changes I might have made — such as that I might have declared ownership by urinating on it? He smelled it intently, as before. This time he was assessing me through any markings I might have made. Satisfied that I had not marked it as mine, he wandered off, this time for good. This is the first time a coyote I’ve been observing has actually checked me out and thought I was “involved”. My personal method is never to be “involved” in whatever a coyote is doing: if I’m reacted to in any way, I know I’ve overstepped the bounds I like to maintain for myself. It happened this time.
Shy Wants To Play, by Charles Wood
25 Jun 2011 Leave a Comment
in coyote behavior, family interactions, playing
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- Let’s play
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- Come on
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- Uh-Oh
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.
What To Do With A Long Strip Of Tree Bark?
15 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in coyote behavior, curiosity, exploring, playing Tags: coyote behavior curiosity
If something like this were to appear in your path, you might be inclined to look at it, grab it, move it and then, after some thought, abandon it as not being too interesting after all. A good long bored yawn might cap off the “encounter.”
Checking Out the Crook Of A Tree Stump
08 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in coyote behavior, curiosity, hunting, playing Tags: coyote behavior
“Something must be hiding in here which might be good to eat or fun to play with.” The stump was explored, but nothing of interest was found.
Wanting To Play; Getting Bullied
26 Dec 2010 Leave a Comment
in coyote behavior, family interactions, hierarchy, playing Tags: coyote family behavior
One of these two young coyotes found an abandoned dog’s ball and picked it up to play with it. Bullying brother came over and knocked the coyote over for the sole purpose of showing him who was boss, and then hovered over him menacingly. When the bully became momentarily distracted, the more subservient coyote was able to run off. This kind of behavior happens regularly these days and serves as a constant reminder and confirmation of a ranking status which has to become accepted by both coyotes. These photos were taken at the beginning of November when there were still attempts by the more subservient coyote to interact with his sibling.
The Stick Finder & The Stick Snitcher
26 Nov 2010 Leave a Comment
in coyote behavior, family interactions, hierarchy, playing
Here, one fellow finds a stick and begins having fun with it: tugging at it and chewing on it. But a second guy comes up and wants that very same stick.
The first guy repels the second guy’s attempts to take it with a growl. However, the second guy doesn’t give up and tries to weight down the first guy and then he tries a frontal approach again, both unsuccessfully. Finally he tries the ultimate put-down: he mounts the first fellow who then moves to get away from the tight grasp.
Seeing that the stick is no longer his, the first guy resigns and moves off some distance to watch. Not to be totally defeated, he returns and grabs a different stick to pull on. Ohhhh, but now fellow #2 actually wants THIS particular stick and goes for it.
Fellow number one snarls angrily, but it is fellow two, who at this stage is succeeding in showing himself to be the more dominant of the two, now has the second stick.
So, the fun is over for the time being.
Back When Play Began Turning Into Bullying
26 Nov 2010 Leave a Comment
in coyote behavior, dominant vs. submissive, hierarchy, playing
The two siblings in this coyote family used to play evenhandedly — this is not so now. In the first slide, as one of the siblings begins to dominate the other, Mom snarls her discontent at them and moves away from them. Notice that one sibling continually goes after the other one to dominate by pushing him, mounting him or forcing him to the ground — it is always the same one that does this. In the end, the dominated runs off from his tormentor, almost always with ears back, tail under and back arched. These photos were taken at the beginning of October — about when I started noticing this one-sided pattern to sibling interactions.
Chasing Game — On One’s Own Terms
18 Nov 2010 Leave a Comment
in coyote behavior, family interactions, group activity, playing
I was watching as three coyotes appeared on the horizon and remained there. The activity was minor. Suddenly, one of them shot down the hill in a frenzy — as if he might have flipped out — there was a swishing sound and suddenly he was down at the bottom of the hill. The others gazed at him seemingly dumbfounded — probably as dumbfounded as I myself felt. What the heck was going on? Then this coyote raced up the hill again with great exuberance and pure gusto. He just wanted to play! His frenzied activity worked. Invitations to play lately have been met with cruel put downs by his sibling. This time, he ran in, but didn’t give the other guy a chance to dominate him. It was almost a dare. This fellow whizzed by his dominating sibling, and the dominating fellow felt compelled to go after him. Ah! The long awaited game finally was happening. Mom got excited and joined in. And less-dominant guy led the whole thing, smiling exuberantly as he did so!! Finally, out of breath, the two followers ascended to the top of the hill, still with their full attention on this guy, and he, the force behind the show, remained below, panting hard but obviously happy. He had had his game! The chase game lasted less than two minutes.
Play Wrestling: Only A Short Time Ago
18 Nov 2010 Leave a Comment
in coyote behavior, family interactions, playing
These photos, too, as in the last posting, were taken at the end of September. Notice Mom is off to the side keeping an eye on things — a behavior I have seen frequently with her. I have not seen this kind of bantering for some time now, though only yesterday I did see a wonderful game of “chase” — initiated by low man on the totem pole. Chase can still be played because, after all, you keep out of the grasp of the other fellow who likes to bully you!
These playful behaviors may pick up again after the hierarchy has firmed up — we will see!
