Coyotes have a fabulous ability to appear stealthily on the scene, and to stealthily disappear! In the early morning you might see one, on the horizon suddenly, and barely at first, in the form of a whispering shadow — coming in “on little cat feet” like the fog. Or, you might see one, suddenly, sitting some ways in front of you when you turn your head, where it was not before. I think this feeling of “sudden appearance” involves a psychological aspect “the not-expected”, along with a coyote’s slow, smooth and even movements, and the coyote’s absolutely wonderfully camouflaged coat. Most of us are not expecting to see a coyote, so it appears, seemingly, out of nowhere, like the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland. Once it is spotted, it is easy to keep in your vision — until it decides to disappear.
Several times I’ve followed a coyote that was fleeing from something — it was running quickly down a path — only to find it had totally disappeared around a bend. That part is not so unusual, but when I have questioned people who were around, most often none of them ever saw it!
Another time I saw a coyote veer off into a brush area — a small brush area. I could not find it anywhere, even though I’ve gotten pretty good at tracking and trailing wild animals. But later I saw that it had gone nowhere at all — I found it close to where I had last seen it!
I’ve seen coyotes evade, or sometimes even never be seen by, many dogs and many humans. Dogs and humans will walk by on a trail without a clue as to what is watching them — coyotes can be very still and they like to watch. They really don’t care to be seen, for the most part, and they know how to make this work — for the most part.
