Coyote Yipps

This is Pipa. She’s 10 years old: born in March of 2016, and radio-collared and tagged that Fall before she was even a year old. She was labeled with a number: F06. She was the sixth out of seven to be trapped and shackled with a collar that year, and purple ear-tags were punched into her ears. One of those ear tags caused an infection, leaving her ear permanently folded over. Purple purple — PP — that’s why her name is Pipa. She now has an injured back left leg which causes her to limp. [PS: you can click on individual photos to enlarge them for viewing better]

Moving onto the photographs, you can see how coyotes age by looking at this photo taken a couple of days ago, and comparing it to the next two photos I took of her in 2020, and one taken in 2018 while she was still in her birth territory where she is babysitting her younger siblings in the Presidio.

I’ve added a photo of her sister, Petal, with the yellow ear-tags — the Presidio tagged and collared 14 coyotes from this family in 2016 and 2017, and one in 2019.

Next is a photo of her father — he is the only member of the family who was not ear-tagged and collared. He, as an old fella, went missing from the territory in 2019, leaving his elderly mate to defend their turf against takeovers. She could not do so alone, and the territory was indeed taken over in a battle. You know the story: that was Wired and Puff who moved in. (Puff lasted only several seasons as Wired’s mate before he disappeared and was replaced by Sparks in 2020. So the history above is what transpired in the Presidio causing Pipa’s whole family to leave).

After being displaced with the rest of her family from the Presidio, Pipa wandered routinely through, among other places, Lafayette Park with her chosen mate, Blondie (last photo in the bottom row), who she is still with, before settling into their current long-owned territory where they’ve produced litters numbering 3 to 6 pups every year. Sadly, mange is something hitting them all at this stage.

Note that ALL of our coyotes have sagas worth hearing.

From my postings on Instagram, I want to add these additions:

Here is Pippa’s photo and update as of mid-March 2026: she is very pregnant and had her pups within a few days of this first photo. The next photo is Blondie taken that same week as he waits for his new litter of pups to arrive. Blondie’s history is encompassed in the next few photos, and I’ve pasted the story I wrote about him on Instagram below.

This fella is now 9 years old, and the only one of his seven siblings who still survives. Happy Birthday, Blondie!

Sister Cai2 lived 7.5 years, until the beginning of 2025 when both she and her mate contracted a bad case of mange from which they perished: she had inherited her parents’ territory at the age of two when they left. Her daughter, Galileo, now owns the territory, continuing the family line there.

Brother Hunter lived 5 years and disappeared in 2022 after his mate was killed by a car. He was living with a fractured ankle that never fully healed — caused by dogs chasing him.

Puff lived only 3 years and disappeared in 2019, probably killed by a car. He and his mate had fought for the territory they acquired.

These 4 siblings, unusually, all found and claimed major territories *within* the city limits of San Francisco: I’m lucky usually to find any youngsters at all who have found territories within the city and can count only about a dozen in 20 years. Their three other siblings were killed as pups, one by a car and two allegedly by car coolant.

Swipe for a younger version of Blondie (3 years old) — it’s hard to believe it’s the same guy because of facial scars around his eyes — but it indeed is the same fellow.

Next, as a yearling with his siblings who made it past one year of age.

Next a chart showing their dispersals to different corners of San Francisco where they each became the alpha of their own territories.

And finally, two photos of their parents in 2018: Cai and Yote in North Beach, where this family lived with their pups year after year. Blondie and his 6 littermates were born in 2017.