A coyote had appeared, as always out of nowhere, way up ahead of me. It was on a path, standing still, and looking in the direction of a whistling man and his dog. The man and his active, unleashed dog were far in the distance. I had been hearing the loud and intense whistling for a few minutes before this.
The coyote’s attention was on the dog, though the whistling might also have attracted the coyote’s interest, as it did mine. I was on the same path as the coyote, but further on. The coyote barely gave me a glance: as usual, its attention was focused, and riveted towards the dog — a large, active unleashed dog which probably had the potential for harm — at least in a coyote’s eyes.
The coyote then continued on the path, keeping its head and eyes turned on the whistling man and his dog. It kept walking, purposefully, but not fast, up a hill and to a rock ledge where it could feel safe and could make a quick getaway if it needed to. It remained there for about half an hour, standing and then sitting, apparently making sure that the dog wasn’t going to pursue it. It waited until the dog and owner exited the area, as I have seen it do before. After the park had become totally quiet for a while, the coyote got up and left.
I then walked in the direction the coyote had taken, thinking I would not see it again, but I found it quite a ways further on, in a dark area, just sitting — sitting quietly. It stayed seated for about 15 minutes — closing its eyes sometimes but remaining sitting up. I walked on and was surprised to see a second coyote — the offspring of the first — resting about 200 feet further on! I watched both.
Each coyote had become aware of the other fairly quickly and looked in the other’s direction. They also looked at me. And then, at about the same time, both began moving indirectly towards each other, glancing at each other and probably communicating. They ended up sitting about 20 feet apart. The second coyote then meandered back and forth along a nearby path and finally moved away and out of sight. The first coyote groomed itself for a fairly long time and then also slithered into the brush area.
This sequence seems to be the routine: A coyote family heads “home”, the younger one goes quickly to a more secluded area before retreating totally, while the parent lingers if there are dogs around, to make sure they don’t follow, then joins the other.
