Coyote Yipps

A friend let me know that she discovered a coyote den fairly close to her own home! Chert rock formations and outcroppings are common throughout the entire Bay Area. The den apparently was not used this year and is not being used now, though she told me that several years ago she heard coyote pups all the time from that area.  It appears to be a very “classical” den, with a very deep entryway protected by an overhanging rock. And, of course, it is located in a hidden and secluded area, although not far from my friend’s home.

I wanted to find out more about the den, but it would have been impractical to dig it out, and I was fearful of sticking my hand in it: who knows what might be lurking in there now!  What you see here is the opening into a large hollow area. There had been a mass of overgrown tangled blackberry brambles hiding the entryway, and it was only when these were thinned out that the den opening became visible at all. It is likely there is another opening close by, hidden like this one had been.

Not far from her home, about an eighth of a mile away, is another den which her neighbor told me about. It is completely different from this one, consisting of a flat area hidden below tall grasses close to a natural spring — not a cave at all.  I couldn’t get a photo of this one, also hidden in thick brambles. But I am sure, it being so close to the other one, and from what these folks told me, that it was used by the same coyote family.

Coyote dens are used for giving birth and nursing young pups. Most coyotes have several dens between which they move the youngsters, both for protection against possible predators and to escape from bug infestations. As the coyote pups grow up, they stop using the dens. Adult coyotes sleep out in the open or under bushes, usually during daytime hours.