In contrast to the dominant coyote in the previous posting which felt secure enough to sit out in the open while watching and assessing the walkers and dogs in a park, this coyote here immediately became alert when it heard dogs and humans approaching in the distance. When I first saw it, it was walking as if it needed to get away. It was on the move and very aware of “danger” to itself from the possibility of a human or a dog encounter. It didn’t seem to be headed in any particular direction, rather, it was assessing its immediate options for fleeing: looking around in a nervous sort of way for escape routes and for exactly where the “danger” was. It climbed up on a rock for a better view, but it could not see any more than when it had been on the ground. As the noisy group of dogs and walkers came down a main path, several hundred feet away from the coyote, the coyote suddenly dashed, swoosh, into a dense brush area where no dogs or humans could follow. I did not see it again. None of the humans saw it, and if a dog saw it, it did not go after the fleeing coyote. I noted that this coyote was visible for less than 4 minutes.
This particular coyote has always reacted to human and dog sounds in the manner described here. Although it has allowed itself to be seen for a few moments, it always has dashed off shortly thereafter. The behavior is consistent for this particular coyote and cannot be generalized to all coyotes. Each coyote is different. Each coyote is an individual. The same is true for the “monitoring” behavior of the coyote I posted below: that coyote is consistent with itself. It will also flee when it needs to, but it has a predominant need to “check things out”, which requires it to be out in the open more.
