Information and stories about San Francisco coyotes: behavior & personality, coexistence & outreach, by Janet Kessler: Unveiling first-hand just how savvy, social, sentient and singular coyotes really are!
As Mom stares at daughter’s strange eye, daughter warns her to leave it alone.
Recall that Lapis — the 10-month-old female who I’ve written about — has an eye condition which is either congenital, or possibly an early injury. According to the vet, her eye isn’t hurting her or she would be squinting it. But we don’t know if she can actually see out of it, though she appears to because she doesn’t turn her head to favor her *good* eye. We also don’t know if the eye itself, or the socket around it might be more sensitive than normal to the touch in any way.
Mom stares into her daughter’s compromised eye trying to figure out why it’s odd.
These photos above show her mother’s keen awareness of that eye. In other words, to us the eye stands out visually, and it does the same for her mother. This “staring into her eye” lasted many moments, probably trying to figure out what might be wrong, or figuring out if there is a way she might fix it. So for example, if there was a foreign object in that eye, Mom might be able to physically pull it out, but, of course, this is not the case here.
a foreign object & goop in the eye
And here, to the right, is a photo of such an object lodged in another youngster’s eye: mostly goop around something the size of short fur. This is not Lapis’ situation. This is a coyote youngster from an entirely different family, just to show that grit and objects sometimes end up in eyes..
With Mom’s intense gaze, along with her body movements indicating she was about to approach that eye, Lapis pulls back her lip and bares her teeth with a snarl: a clear message that this kind of intrusion, even from her mother, would not be welcomed: “Please DON’T!” At the same time, Lapis emits a few high-pitched squeals of pain at her mother: “Please STOP!” emphasizing that anything the mother might try is going to hurt her.
Brother comes to sister’s rescue: sensitively and intelligently!
After Lapis emitted those short squeals of pain, BFF brother comes over to his sister’s defense. He seems to know she doesn’t want to be poked at, even by a well-meaning mother. In this family, he has spent the most time with his sister: he and his sister play constantly and I’ve watch them achieve a very nuanced and keen awareness and understanding of, and communication with, each other, and I’m sure it’s even deeper than anything I can see. So he is more intimately aware, even than his own mother, of what his sister’s feelings and needs are: I would say that he has a handle on her very essence.
Of course he has to be very diplomatic and careful how he “tells” mom to back off: this is hard, because naturally Mom is top dog here and everyone falls in line under her. Since she is the dominant one and he has to submit to her, he messages Mom gently to move away by offering himself to be groomed instead. What a brilliant move!
Above: brother inserts himself in front of Mom to be groomed, and she obliges.
Well, that solved the problem! Sister moves off, and brother becomes the object of Mom’s attention! (2-8)
This series of photos shows Mom on the right letting Dad on the left know what she feels about what he’s doing. One of their youngsters is there, in the middle, looking on, and obviously anxious about how their “conversation” is going. Coyotes communicate constantly through eye-to-eye contact, facial expressions and body language. They are always aware of each other’s moods and intentions, and most of their communication is silent like this, though sometimes these might include quieter grunts and growls.
Top row: Dad had been lazily relaxing in the aftermath of a rain, when Mom approaches from the right. He’s taking it in stride, with his ears pulled back and focused eye-contact which shows he’s really listening. Notice how intently pup, in the middle, listens to it all and is upset about it’s intensity as shown by the anxiety in his face. He shows his nervousness by licking his lips.
Middle row left, pup is kept quiet and out of the conversation — or maybe even calmed down — by Mom who grabs his snout: this is usually a disciplinary move and reasserts her status and will over his. At this point, pup steps back but continues to be totally focused and absorbed in his parent’s “conversation”.
Bottom row: On the left is when they become aware of me: “Oh, hi over there!” But they’ve come to know me as a benign fixture in the distance, so their conversation resumes. It appears that Mom wanted Dad to get moving because she beckons him to follow and leads him away. Dad complies, and pup trotted along in back of them.
Another conversation that might interest you is this one: Coyote Conversation: An Example. These communications are very directed in their messages: they have a specific intent and planned outcome by the coyote delivering the message, and the message is understood absolutely by the recipient.
Besides eye-to-eye contact and all sorts of body language including physical arm pokes, coyotes also use smells to communicate: this is a whole different channel of communication that we “mere” humans do not have access to except in academic studies. In fact, in our terms, coyotes almost “see” with their noses. They produce and detect pheromones which convey all sorts of specific information, including territorial boundaries through urine scent marking, the presence of outsider coyotes including their meekness or boldness, reproductive status and gender, they can identify specific coyotes who have passed by even days beforehand, and they can smell injuries in each other. And, of course, much more.
In this photo here, it’s interesting to see how a parental communication to one youngster so thoroughly affects an onlooker pup. They, of course, can identify with the situation they are watching.
[This has been written for distribution to several neighborhood newspapers and newsletters here in San Francisco. I’m posting here so it will be available to more of the same.]
In the ‘hood.
Hi Neighbors!
This is Janet. I’ve been documenting our coyotes here in San Francisco for the past 16 years: their population, dispersals, family life, and behavior including their encounters with people and pets.
We have about 17 coyote families here in San Francisco, each living in a separate territory about the size of the Presidio (2.4 square miles): ONE family lives on each of these territories and have ever since I started documenting them in 2007. A family consists of the mated alpha pair — i.e., Mom and Dad — and then pups born this year, and possibly some of the yearlings born the year before who haven’t yet dispersed. All of these territories extend beyond the parks and include our neighborhoods. Sightings in neighborhoods is normal.
Territories: Most territories include a substantial sized park, or a number of smaller fragmented parks, but a few territories do not even have this. In other words, a couple of coyote families live in the neighborhoods and retreat for most daylight hours to small patches of green spaces. Their main trekking activity is through the streets where they become visible to human pedestrians and car traffic. Please note, there are no more coyotes now than there have been over the last several years, but some people are seeing them for the first time.
Exploring front door steps along the street
Trekking: *Trekking* behavior involves brisk trotting/walking around a dozen or so city blocks. The coyote — usually one at a time, but two together have also been spotted, and more rarely more together — is either moving to another resting spot within its territory, or he’s patrolling to find out what’s going on in his territory: he’ll do so through sniffing, looking, and poking around. Of interest to him is that no outsider coyotes have been around, what animals have been around, and where food scraps have been tossed. He’ll be on the sidewalks and zigzagging down the streets. He’ll enter driveways and alleyways. He’ll go up people’s front steps, even if those steps are steep and take him three stories up. He’s checking things out. He may take a shoe, a ball, or a newspaper. Sometimes he’ll sit and watch: I’ve seen him sprawled out on some dirt, just chilling for a few minutes.
Stopping to examine the terrain in his territory.
Main hours: His main hours of activity are between sunset and sunrise, so this is when you are most likely to see him — though note that they can be out any time of the day. All you need to do is always walk away from him the minute you see him. He’s not interested in any kind of confrontation with you and he’ll do his best to avoid you by going around and hurrying away. But dogs have always been an issue for coyotes. Dogs and coyotes are notoriously mutually antagonistic and need to be kept far apart. Part of this is for territorial reasons: coyotes keep other coyotes out of their territories in order to preserve the scarce resources there just for themselves: in other words, the territory is owned by the one family that lives there and they exhibit ownership behavior. Because of this territoriality, the population is consistent and stable which is what we all want. If you see them repeatedly, it’s because you are seeing the same coyotes over and over again, not different random coyotes from all over the place. These coyote territorial owners often come to know by sight — always at a distance — the regular walkers and dogs and vice-versa.
Interestingly, few people even know these coyotes exist here, and even fewer actually ever see them. Those folks who have seen the coyote — usually as they walk their dog — have seen a coyote 3 or 4 times during the past year, even though the coyotes are out daily. Unfortunately, several of those people have been spooked recently because the coyote approached or followed them. I’ll explain more about this below.
Dogs: Coyotes avoid and ignore most dogs, but they are suspicious of them all. They have a need to tell dogs that the territory is theirs, especially if the dog gets too close or is in the pathway of the coyote. Sometimes they do this through a sort of one-upmanship eye-to-eye communication most of which we humans are not aware of. But at other times it is more blatant, with the coyote actually approaching or following a dog. The minute you ever see a coyote, you need to always walk away, in the opposite direction, with a shortened leash. Your dog may bark and lunge towards him, so you need to drag your dog if necessary to walk away from the coyote. If your dog is small, he may become frightened, rightfully so, because coyotes have picked up small dogs. It doesn’t happen often, but it has happened. It’s a good idea to pick up a very small dog as you walk away from the coyote.
Examining debris, a newspaper and chilling in the neighborhood.
In approaching a dog, the coyote’s main interest is usually simple curiosity — they are sniffing to find out more about the dog: sniffing is how they pick up most of their information –dogs exude so many hormones and other chemical odors full of information about themselves — but also to test the dog’s potential reaction to themself. The coyote may then follow your dog: again, this could be simple curiosity, OR he’s ushering or escorting the dog away and making sure the dog is leaving. Just keep walking away from him. In rare instances, a coyote’s suspicion and even dislike for a particular dog (your dog or a similar dog may have chased him or lunged at him or snarled at him in the past, and of course any coyote would remember this) may cause the coyote to approach the dog from the back (where there are no teeth) and nip the hind side of the dog, cattle-dog fashion, to get that dog to leave. It’s not a frequent occurrence, but it has happened. You are unlikely to encounter any coyote regularly, so when you do, just follow these simple guidelines. IF you feel crowded by the coyote approaching or following your dog, you should face the coyote and angrily heave small stones or pinecones at his feet without hitting the coyote. You may have to do this several times. Making eye contact almost always stops a coyote from approaching any further: he’ll stop, and then you should continue walking away, keeping your eye on him.
It might be a good idea to actually practice this so that you know what to do — then, if the occasion should arise, you’ll know exactly what to do without thinking.
Dens: If there is a den within 1/4th mile of where you walk, you need to know that parent coyotes are very protective of their personal space, their areas, and their young and their suspicion of other dogs is compounded. A parent coyote can be persistent, insistent and intense in his communication to make a dog leave. I’ve been through it: it indeed is scary. The same guidelines should be followed: stay away and walk away when you see a coyote. If you are seeing a coyote regularly on your walk during denning season, you might consider taking a different route for awhile.
I am available in person to be there and help out. Also, if you have questions about *your* neighborhood coyote or coyotes generally, please contact me: janet@coyoteyipps.com
Summaries of easy guidelines
Cats: Cats, should not be allowed to roam free where there are coyotes — cats are at risk if they are accessible. Cats are not equipped to handle coyotes, dogs, or cars, ALL of which kill cats, with cars leading the list — cars kill 5 million cats a year. Dogs — because of their sheer number in our area — are the biggest issue when it comes to coyotes. It’s best to simply keep your pet as far away from a coyote as possible — this is easier to do with a leash.
Relocation: Some people have asked if coyotes can be relocated. They cannot by law. The reason for this is that moving them kills them inhumanely. But even if a coyote could be eliminated in some way — which the city does not do — its niche would soon be refilled by another coyote, and you would have the same dog issues to deal with as with the first coyote. Keeping your dogs leashed gives you control over your dog. Dogs love to chase coyotes, and a leash prevents this. Leashing keeps dogs safe from coyotes, cars, and others dogs. Over 3 million dogs are killed each year by cars; their second greatest killer is other dogs. .
Danger to humans: As for dangers to humans from coyotes, these are almost non-existent. The 17 — yes, only 17 or so — *scratches or bites* to humans from a coyote each year throughout all of North America have almost all been due to separating a dog from a coyote, hand feeding, or to a small child where feeding has gone on. Small children indeed have to be watched as carefully as you would watch your dog — but hopefully you do that anyway! Please compare this figure to 1000 dog bites to humans every single day of the year ending up in emergency rooms.
Feeding: Lastly, please don’t feed coyotes. Not only does it draw them to the area, it can cause them to hang around which increases the potential for pet incidents. Profusely fed coyotes become unnaturally docile and sometimes even get closer to humans in the hopes for a toss out. This is no good for the coyote or us humans or our pets.
Trekking through a neighborhood street in San Francisco
The evening began with Mom asleep — or half-asleep — close to some bushes: every once in a great while she raised her head to assess her surroundings, and then dropped her head and closed her eyes again. Meanwhile, one of her three 8-month-old pups — the boldest of the three — was out “grazing”: hoping to find a vole or gopher as he waited for rendezvous time.
Mom, half asleep, while 8-month-old pup wanders close by in search of voles and gophers.
That’s when 19-month-old yearling appeared on the scene, strutting confidently down the path. But that didn’t last long, as immediately an unleashed dog with no owner in sight decided to chase after him.
Yearling appears on the scene, and immediately afterwards, so does the dog.
The dog was no match for the coyote who — confidently — sailed over obstacles and ran that dog in circles. This went on for several minutes. The dog wasn’t deterred.
The dog begins a lengthy chase of the yearling.
The coyote continues to run from the dog as the dog wears out.
The yearling bounds effortlessly up a steep incline which is more than the dog can do at that speed.
But Mom was watching and decided to get ready to help. She stretched and slowly walked over to where the two had been running.
Mom is not quick to respond: she stretches and the walks over to where the dog is.
The next time the dog came around, she faced him. The dog took one look at her and knew she meant business with the look on her face, her hackles up, and not flinching as the dog approached. I saw that dog waver only for a moment, and then beat a hasty retreat towards his owner. We didn’t see him again.
As Mom approaches the dog, he has a sudden change of heart about chasing and turns away. Now it’s his turn to flee!
Mom faces the dog defiantly — i.e., she’s not running from him.
Yearling plopped down on a mound, almost defying the dog to come back. The dog didn’t return.These little acts of defiance against their tormentors shows how coyotes are willing to stand up for themselveswhen pressed.
Yearling brother returned and lay on a mound, sort of claiming it, in defiance of the dog, as seen above. He lay there, keeping an eye on where the dog had disappeared, just in case he might reappear. That’s when this video below kicks in.
The video begins with the pup’s grunting sounds which soon cease as Mom begins howling — he keeps himself in the distance near the shrubs. The dog was gone, but she was upset. However, it wasn’t the distressed howling that comes from being chased. After all, she herself hadn’t been the one who was chased. As she howled away, her chased yearling joined her. Mom continues to howl, now apparently calling out to Dad to come — they face in the direction they know he will come from — and sure enough, soon he soon appears.
You’ll see a greeting session with all that involves: kowtows, body rubs, grooming, nose touches, licks, nips, vocalizations. Dad then leaves Yearling and Mom then to check on the pup. Everyone then waits for the other two pups to arrive — which is where the video ends — before continuing their rendezvous and trekking for the evening.
First there were sirens. Coyotes often respond to fire-engine or ambulance sirens. This older alpha male responded with howls as you hear here.
Then he stopped and listened. This is the part that’s most interesting to me: the listening. His family was responding to him. Notice him cocking and turning his head as he listens intently, trying to catch every meaningful sound in the reply howls of various family members — they are in the far distance, but you actually can hear them in the video.
His family consists of his mate and two of his mate’s yearling offspring. He himself joined the family only a year ago, shortly after the then-alpha-male died.
He was listening for WHO in his family was responding and where they were — each coyote has his own distinctive signature howl that includes a certain voice and pattern — I myself can distinguish some of these, and of course he would be able to discern their locations. Also, though, he was picking up on everything else being conveyed in their vocal responses conveyed by duration, tone, urgency or lack thereof, etc: there’s a lot of information there that we humans have not learned to decipher. Most of it, I believe, is emotional states. After discerning what he wanted to know, he then belted out his own long reply.
I have a whole page on vocalizations if you want to delve deeper: Coyote Voicings.
When he began kicking the dirt — a usually angry reaction — I turned around to see what had prompted him to do that. A walker and his dog had stopped close to me to listen, and the coyote appeared to be reacting negatively to that presence. Coyote often react to dogs and even intrusive photographers in this manner.
When the vocalizations stopped, the dog and owner walked on, and the coyote went in the direction of the howls he had solicited.
I’m reposting this from my Instagram account because it’s important for people to know that a coyote protecting a den area, though indeed this might be scary, does not constitute an “aggressive” coyote.
Neither dog nor owner saw the coyote hidden in the tall grasses — they were just walking along a pathway as usual. But in fact, without knowing it, they were encroaching.
This mother coyote walked slowly up to the dog to message that dog to leave. Notice everything about her: tucked-in tail, hackles (fur on her upper back) up, teeth bared with lips pulled back, wrinkled snarly snout, and direct gaze: this is how she firmly messages her need, and the need is for the dog to go away. It’s a clear communication, telling the dog not to enter or come closer to this area, to turn around and go. In addition, she or her mate may follow you as you leave — she’s basically escorting you out of the area. It’s best to keep going away from her — she’ll soon stop following. But always keep your eye on her — if she comes critically close, you’ll need to firmly scare her away: the best way to do this is to have a small stone (2″) in hand and toss it angrily at her feet, without hitting her ever. You are intimidating her to back off as you do the same thing.
Please don’t read her behavior as aggression or as an attack. You and your dog are the ones coming too close — you, in effect, are provoking her, even though you may have done so unknowingly.
It’s her denning area: coyotes may protect up to about 1/4 of a mile around their actual birthing den. All you have to do is turn and go the other way. Also, make a mental note that this is a denning area and that it might be smart to stay away from it for awhile. Denning signs have been put out at many of the sites — but not all — asking you to stay away. There are plenty of other paths you can take for the next little while. After the dog left, mama coyote lay down on the path, in effect closing off that path from further encroachment for the moment! Pretty spunky coyote!
In a non-urban setting, she would have chosen a more remote area to den in, but in the city there are now few places which remain remote from people and their dogs.
Below is a more intense version of the same thing: It is intense, persistent and insistent — this is what makes it scary to us. But this is NOT an “attack”: note that when coyotes hunt or want to attack, they go in directly without this kind of messaging. Instead, here, the coyote is trying to herd you away from the area and herself. Please, especially during denning season, shorten your leash and walk directly away from a coyote whenever you merely see one. You can eliminate stress for both yourself and the coyote by doing so. I’ve had to watermark these photos so they won’t be used out of context.
And below are two videos showing this behavior of coyotes towards dogs:
Please note that coyotes use their teeth, mouths and body language constantly to communicate, even when playing, as here. This is the equipment they have for such communication.
Of interest is the size of these youngsters: although they were only six months old, they were pretty close to full-size at this age — some filling-in has taken place since then, but not much. I’m not going to say a lot because the video speaks for itself. Just notice the perpetual motion and the perpetual engagement with each other. These critters are absolutely social and they love interacting. There’s lots of good-willed teasing going on, competition, and vying with each other. There’s constant visual engagement and communication through body language. Emotions, desires, moods are all on display. Through play they hone physical and social skills which they’ll use throughout their lives. Enjoy!
The cast: Lil’Girl, Pepper, Pinocchio, and Captain. Cyrano wasn’t there in this play session taken on October 12th, two months ago. Since that time, Captain was found dead of rat poisoning. And an older sibling from last year’s was killed by a car.
Mom was napping in the brown grasses in the late afternoon which is something she routinely does before the evening rendezvous: it was peaceful and calm as the day wore down. “Ahhh, this is life” could have been a thought coming from her head just then. She held her head up every few minutes and looked around and then let it fall back down and closed her eyes. As it got darker, she slowly began to move more and more, and finally she got up and stretched and ambled ever so slowly to I don’t think it mattered where, and then she stopped short.
Mom relaxing, getting up and stretching, and stopping short
My camera was focused on her, so at first I didn’t see what was going on outside the area of focus, but her stopping and staring told me that something had grabbed her attention.
Two of her seven-month-old youngsters — I would not call them pups anymore since they are close to full-sized coyotes — appeared. She watched as they greeted each other according to the ranking they had established between themselves. Suddenly my expectation turned to the wiggles and squiggles and ever- so-happy greetings I’ve seen so often at these greetings.
The two youngsters greeting each other and showing their rank towards each other
But no. She apparently wanted at that moment to have nothing to do with them, and possibly to continue in the calm space she was in. Communication between coyotes is very definite and precise — much more so than human words which, as we all know, can be very imprecise: facial expressions and body language leave no room for misinterpretation. She was facing away from me, but I knew exactly what was going on with the little I could see: she opened her snout threateningly, wrinkled her nose, pulled back her lips and displayed her teeth: “Hey kids, leave me alone!”
The youngsters approach mom very hesitatingly and carefully, and in the next photo you see whyIn these two photos above, Mom is snarling at her pups who just wanted to say hello and pay their respects
And the youngsters, of course, knew exactly what she meant. They had been approaching her in low crouched positions, carefully and gingerly, showing their respect and subservience — they had obviously encountered her unwelcoming side before. Mom apparently was not in a mood to deal with them. She stood there, keeping them at bay through her snarls and body language.
Well, they approach anyway, and her snarls become very prominent — maybe they are conflicted about what is required of them. Note their eyes in the photos above: one looks sideways rather than directly at Mom; one looks at the other questioningly.[To enlarge photos, click on any one of them, and then scroll through the rest]In the above two photos she puts them down and continues to snarl at them
They move away from her
The youngsters were nervous and turned to interacting calmly with each other: grabbing the other’s snout, falling to the ground, hugging against each other as if for self-protection, etc. They then slowly approached Mom — they felt compelled to greet her — it’s their innate etiquette to do so — even if just to allow her to grab their snouts in a show of solidarity with their respective relationships. After that, and with the continued snarling, they moved on slowly and Mom lay down again in the grasses — the rendezvous and interactions would have to wait until SHE was ready.
They keep looking back at her wondering why she’s so off-putting.Well, above, mom is back resting in peace, which is all she wanted in the first place; and below is one of the youngsters, following her cue: “might as well wait it out”.
These stills are of that interaction, taken in bursts, and at late dusk when there was little light, which is why they are blurry. I could have taken a video, but you would have missed the nuances of what was going on, which requires stopping the action, to see, interpret, and reflect on the behaviors.
You’ll recall from my posting that Rookie was actually an unwelcome intruder to begin with within the family he joined and then left. He had moved in on that family which had lost its long-time alpha male to old age, and he moved in right during the short breeding period. The scent of hormones called and he filled that role. But I don’t think Rookie was ever totally accepted. I continued to see the original family grooming each other ever so affectionately — in Rookie’s presence — but he himself, Rookie, appeared to be groomed less often and more out of a sense of duty than anything else.
The remaining yearling male in that family, a two-year-old who might otherwise have been encouraged to disperse, was obviously being encouraged by his mom and remaining sibling to stick around — something I could see through the family’s greetings, grooming and interactions. Well, he’s still there, and with Rookie gone, he appears to be in the process of moving into that alpha male position if he hasn’t already done so.
I get the impression that both Rookie and his abandoned family are happier and better off with the change. Rookie has been warmly and openly accepted by his new mate in a new territory, whereas I don’t think he had ever been totally integrated into the family he left — he always remained “the outsider”. This may be the reason he left. From what I’ve seen in coyote families, interpersonal dynamics and feelings run very much parallel to our own, the big difference being that they seem to move on quickly with the challenges and changes that confront them: with an attitude of, “it is what it is”. And this “abandoned” family is doing just fine — even better — without him. Several generations before this, by the way, within this same family, the family existed and thrived without an alpha male — that male had been killed by rat poison. Over time, one of that alpha’s male offspring ended up moving into that alpha position. This family is quite an inbred one.
How has the abandoned family adjusted to Rookie’s departure? The old alpha female is now the sole overseer and guardian of the family — she had been very much under the thumb of her previous old mate — the one who died of old age — she was always “second” to him in command. But that has now changed. She can be seen guarding and messaging intrusive dogs. Her vigilance keeps her more out in the open, and takes her to knolls with vistas where she perches herself for snoozes, always with one eye open. And she is raising her pups born this year. She still keeps them well hidden, and disciplines them severely for breaking her rules. A couple of days ago I heard intense angry growling, and then the response: the high-pitched complaining yelps of a pup being disciplined. I tried recording it, but did not catch enough of it to post it.
I have not seen the alpha female’s two-year old daughter lately — this is a littermate of the remaining male yearling. Remember that she also and unusually, for being in the same territory, became a mother this year. The last time I saw her she had a horrible huge (6″x 12″) raw, red, inflamed wound on her side. I got the impression it was some kind of mite. I hope she’s healing and I hope she’s still around. I’ll keep my eyes open for her. [UPDATE: Good news! I saw the two-year-old daughter one day after I posted this writeup: she was hunting alone in a field and her hotspot seems to have resolved itself!]
Two-year-old male son of the alpha female is acting as the ipso facto alpha male now. He obviously feels very relaxed at the way things are now.
Alpha mom grooms her yearling male son, creating a tighter bond and promoting him as the territorial male.
And her son grooms her in return just as affectionately.
Pups are a big part of this warm domestic situation (above).
And off this pair goes, for their evening trek together, probably very happy that Rookie left.
Most coyote activity usually begins after dark, but sometimes some family members are ready to begin their evening activities well before then. Yesterday, by late afternoon I found this young, almost-two-year-old female lying down in a field in the shadow of some bushes. She was very well concealed, but visible if you actually knew what you were looking for. She kept her eye on the passers-by in the distance, keeping her focus mostly on unleashed active dogs running energetically all over the place, but none came in her direction. Soon, grooming herself became her focus of activity –the bugs were bugging her!
grooming
bugs!
grooming
She began getting up to better reach some of the irritating rascals on her body, then she lay back down. After several of these getting-up and then lying-down again cycles, she sat up, stretched, and slowly began to wander off.
“Boring. . .”
stretching while sitting
stretching
She probably had been waiting there for the rest of her family. It’s a place they have met up frequently before heading out together in the evening, but today she was probably tired of waiting and decided to jump-start her activities. Even coyotes can get bored!
leaping after a sound she heard, but coming up empty handed
She walked calmly along, following the line of the bushes, and stopped sporadically at whatever movements caught her eye. A couple of times she bounced fast and high over tall grasses, a little like a jackrabbit, towards something that caught her interest, but the prospective meal never panned out. So she continued on.
She stops to listen
Everything seemed quiet when she suddenly stopped, turned around, and looked into the distance. She listened intently, and then she began calling out. In between her calling out, during the silences, far, far into the distance, I could barely hear two other coyotes calling out (you will also hear a couple of domestic dogs barking). Our young female was responding. This video covers her responding. Her sporadic vocalizations went on for a couple of minutes (this video is the entirety of it) even after the others had ceased their end of the communication. When she was through, she trotted off in their direction. They would meet and greet, as I’ve seen them so often do, and then head out together on their evening trekking expedition, sticking together for a while as a family, splitting apart at time, and then coming together throughout the evening and until dawn.
Each coyote’s voice and pattern of sounds is identifiable and distinguishable by the other coyotes — not dissimilar to the way you recognize voices over the telephone. I myself am able to identify some of the coyotes by their vocalizations.
Mom angrily forces son down and kicks dirt angrily
She adds snarls and growls for emphasis
Dad comes over to support her — or maybe just to see what’s happening
The family was out together, all four of them: Mom, Dad, Daughter and her brother. It’s not often that we see the young daughter: she’s just not comfortable at this point being out when people look at her. The minute she feels noticed, she hurries off and disappears into the surrounding foliage.
Her brother also dislikes being watched. This makes a lot of sense: in the wild, if any animal looks at another animal, it’s probably a predator sizing it up as prey. But brother has become more tolerant of humans eyeing him than his sister. He might leave an area if he feels the focus is on him, but he inevitably returns to the same spot, especially if his parents are out there.
So after Sis left today, only Mom and Dad and Son were out. They wandered around a little, and then Dad moved further away from the others. Suddenly Mom was beating up Son: he was on his back and she was standing over him with teeth bared. Yikes! She seems to have a short temper recently. She got annoyed at Dad recently while I was watching: I think simply because he bumped into her, maybe brushed against her or stepped on her heels. She not only snarled at him, but she then acted on her “words” and let him know who was boss by raising herself above him: it was an instance of interpersonal coyote communication and interactions showing HER emotional response to him, and HIS tolerance and total deference to her.
The tongue lashing continues
Might getting more physical help this lesson stick?
And here’s a bite for emphasis
What happened with the youngster today? I didn’t see it, it happened very quickly, but probably the same thing. I’ve seen dogs get pretty upset when they’ve been bumped — nothing else but a clumsy bump — by another dog, and maybe something like this happened today. It’s probably disrespectful. Anyway, here are the photos of Mom letting little guy have it with snarls and growls. Dad soon arrived and seemed to take sides with Mom. He may have had to — if you know what I mean. In fact, Mom in this family is the “top dog”.
Mom, with Dad standing by her side, makes sure son got the message.
Mom and Dad leave as son watches them go
Eventually, after making sure Son got the message, the two parents walked off. And the little guy stayed behind. He looked dumbfounded, like he had no clue why that had been so intense: “What did I do?” But he knew he was not invited to follow his parents. Parents proceeded to walk around the periphery of their park together, and Son stayed right where he was, searching for gophers, alone.
Maybe this was just a temper-tantrum on Mom’s part — maybe she just wanted a little more respect from him? Then again, maybe she’s setting the stage for dispersal. The earliest dispersal I’ve seen occurred when a pup was nine-months old, which is what this pup is now. We’ll have to see what happens next..
Mom and Dad walk off in a huff
Mom looks back to ensure son isn’t coming with them
The video depicts 11 week old pups at the end of June, two months ago. It covers the week before they abandoned their denning site entirely.
This is a time-lapse video sequence taken over a week’s time, showing coyote pup and parent behavior at the entryway to their denning area. This is not a “video” but a “time lapse” sequence. I’ve speeded it up to 2.5x — so please remember that the action actually was occurring at less than 1/2 the speed which you are seeing here. Time lapse at original speed is excruciatingly slow to watch. All of the activity occurred in the dead of night when it was safest for them — and with only a distant dim street lamp for lighting for the video: this should explain the jerkiness and the blurriness. But the story is captured! It turned out to be a milestone in their lives, i.e., practicing and first steps for moving out of the den.
The camera was placed at the periphery of their denning area. The “outerworld” — dangerously full of people, traffic and dogs — is past the stake to the right. Before the video even begins, there was one wise little pup who had caught onto parental departures and returns. Hmmm. So, “Where were parents going? What’s out there? Why can’t I go? Looks scary!” Coyotes, even youngsters, are curious. Sneaking past the pups started not working. Mom or Dad had to turn around, turn them back and distract them, thwart them by carrying them and then leading them back to safety. This is how they began to learn that “out there” was not safe. Boundaries seem to be understood early on, as they later are in territorial divisions between adult coyotes: coyotes firmly understand these.
The videoed part of the adventure, then, begins with the pups going to, and hovering around, this “exit” area. You can see that they are both apprehensive and excited, as they look around hesitantly. They repeat this approaching of the boundary line in the same way for several days — both fearing the outside world and at the same time drawn to it, encouraged now at this age and stage by their parents. Finally Mom or Dad begin leading them out a little way, but one pup is afraid and opts not to go, sitting down and looking back over his shoulder at Mom and siblings beyond the exit. The two beyond the exist see their brother and also get cold feet — decide to hold back too, and they hurry back. It takes a while to get the minds and bodies of the pups all moving in the same direction at the same time! This “sticking their toes out the door” happened once a day. They were getting used to the idea and any new stimulation right there close to home. It’s probably overwhelming to begin with.
By 1:50 in the video, the pups have now finally begun venturing out as a family and this is them returning. Mom anxiously makes sure everyone is in. You can almost hear her “Whew!” She lovingly mouths one of the youngsters (2:40 in the video) over and over: “Good job, Kids!”
The sequence after that, which is the next day, shows them now returning without too much fanfare — it’s old hat by now!
The move obviously required forethought, aim, intent, and direction on the part of the parents who were on the same wavelength with each other, working together and in unison on the project. They were able to communicate this to each other and then to the pups. Their communication isn’t something humans have a handle on — it’s too complicated for us! I know that the ultimate goal and objective had been to prepare the pups for the move — the area was vacated the very next day. It took over a week of working on this project before it was actually carried out. Coyotes think ahead, plan, retain the plan in their minds, and communicate to each other about it!
Most “denning areas” I’ve observed remain “home” for months, but not in this case. After abandoning this site, the pups were moved every few days to at least four locations until they settled down in the safest spot, where they now have remained through 4 months of age.
Introduction: That “coyotes are known to mate for life” is something most of us have heard. In fact, I think it’s the only reality I’d ever seen in 13 years. However, as events in one of my families unfolded in early February of this year, I had to question this. My own perception of the turn of events came in bits and pieces and in fits and starts as revealed through a field camera which was out only at night, and not always then. My own desire for this pair-bond to be everlasting caused me to latch onto any details to support my belief, and herein lies a sort of soap opera aspect to the story which I weave into the ending. My ‘hopeful speculations’, along with background history have grown this posting into an unusually long one — a mini-tome! Yikes!
Please know that every single one of these photos, as all the photos on this blog, were taken as photo-documentation at the time these events occurred. I don’t substitute a photo from another time or place that might simply “do”. What you see, and what you read, are authentic and concurring.
Background. The years immediately leading up to this story serve as an important point of reference for what comes later, so I’ll sum those up here.
When coyotes communicate, there’s little room for misinterpretation. You already saw this in my last posting about “coyote insistence” through body language. If they are insistent towards humans and our dogs, you can be sure they are just as insistent towards each other. This short video clip, above, shows this. It was taken after a family howl session in response to a siren. The howling and yiping in response to the siren were sing-songy and upbeat as you can hear here:
The family howling then segues into the evening rendezvous, where the entire family excitedly meets and greets for the evening trekk and other family activities. But Mom is not so keen on having all that high-energy wiggly and excited youngster activity around her. Her vocalizations at this point, as seen in the above video, are of the “raspy” type I discuss in my posting on Coyote Voicings. These are anger, annoyed, and warning vocalizations directed at family members. She’s telling the rambunctious youngsters that she wants space and calm: “get away from me”. She also displays her frustration by complaining with a wide vocalized gape to Dad who happens to be standing beside her. These are sounds you may not have heard from a coyote: they are very cat-like — the kind of sounds a cat would make before swiping at something with its claws.
Remember that coyotes also “pounce” for prey in a very cat-like manner, they toy with their prey as cats do, they splay their toes as cats do, and they “warn” with that very familiar “Halloween Cat” stance which includes a hairpin arched back and often a gape and hiss. I have been asked if coyotes are cats or dogs: I can see why such a question might be asked. Of course, coyotes are neither: they are simply themselves. However, they can reproduce with dogs and have many dog-like qualities, but they also have several very cat-like behaviors which dogs don’t have.
Not all coyotes are experiencing the intense drama you’ve been reading in some of my recent postings. Some have been leading calm and routine existences, without notable incidents except for dogs, and here’s such an example I observed last month.
I find the female snoozing in a large field. Eventually, slowly, she gets up and stretches and wanders off, foraging as she goes. The evening looks to be a very routine one, which is what I want to post here. Soon a siren sounds. She sits down and begins her yipping in response, and then her mate joins in, even as he is hidden from view in the close-by thicket edging the field.
He emerges from the thicket as their chorus ends and looks around until he spots her. Ahhh, there she is! He does a lot of marking and looking around, and both coyotes continue foraging, maintaining a substantial distance between themselves. He keeps glancing over at her, more than usual because it’s mating season — his protective and possessive instincts are in overdrive.
He watches her
climbing a hill to be with her
Here she is looking back adoringly at him
Dogs are always around in this park, and today is no exception. During mating and then pupping seasons, coyotes are particularly protective of themselves and their mates or families, so it’s important to keep dogs away from them. This is easy to do: the minute you see a coyote, shorten your leash and walk the other way.
A small unleashed dog appears in the not-far distance coming in the direction of the male who, therefore, kicks dirt. Kicking dirt shows he doesn’t like the situation, that he’s angry. Nevertheless, he moves off and out of the dog and walker’s way. But when the dog, who had been oblivious to the coyote finally sees the coyote, he runs several feet towards the coyote and starts barking. This all takes place at a distance of about 100 feet. The coyote turns around to face the barking dog and begins walking in their direction: the coyote is responding to the dog’s challenge. I ask the owner to leash, and they head the other way. Note that it would have been a much calmer situation had the owner leashed the minute she saw the coyotes and simply walked on. The coyotes continue on their way with the male sniffing and marking the ground continually.
Kicking dirt shows he doesn’t like the situation with the dog approaching, nevertheless, he moves away and out of the dog and walker’s way.
Soon, the female stops foraging and heads off on a path and the male follows not far behind, continually marking. They walk more parallel than together.
When they reached a larger field within the park, the female somehow captures a bird within the blink of an eye. I’ve seen coyotes catch birds a number of times, and its almost always an injured bird on the ground. This seems to have been what happened here because she expended no effort in the process. She begins devouring it right away. The male, forever curious about everything the female does, comes towards her to investigate. Ahhh, she knows about his tricks (he has taken things she dropped) and so she walks away from him as she finishes off the bird.
As the duo continue foraging in the grass, another dog — a leashed one this time — approaches closer and closer, so, of course, the coyote messages the dog to keep away. I explain the behavior to the dog owner, and that it’s best not to ever approach them. The dog owner is understanding and goes the other way. These messages always look scary and aggressive: it’s meant to be in order to be effective. Note that coyotes really don’t want to tangle with dogs, but if a dog comes after them, they’ll defend themselves. However if you walk away, they become assured that you aren’t after them. So you need to heed their message and go the other way. Actually, you should not walk in their direction to begin with. Here is a photo sequence of this messaging:
Hackles up as dog gets closer
Messaging: “get away”
Messaging: “get away”
Messaging intensifies: “get away”
Coyote crouches, ready to run – this can look like dog play bowing, but it isn’t
turning to run
running but facing his potential foe
running but facing the foe
Dog walks off and all calms down
The coyotes keep moving along. They have a direction in mind — it’s one of several paths they routinely take as they head out trekking for the evening. But soon they stop: half a dozen people and dogs are lingering on their intended pathway, so now the two coyotes find a place to hunker down and wait-it-out until the path is clear. The coyotes are in no hurry and they know from experience that, as dusk thickens, dogs and people disperse. When it is clear, they move on.
Everyone who sees them this evening appreciates them sitting and waiting so patiently on the hill above the path. One set of dogs barks and lunges at them ferociously, but they are leashed and far enough away so that the coyotes don’t react. One set of runners goes by without even seeing them. When it is dark and the path is clear, they slowly get up and descend into the forest and then out into the ‘hood.
Female waiting for stragglers to leave
Male waiting for stragglers to leave
There’s always drama in coyote lives, but sometimes it’s in routine packets and not life-altering as in some of my other recent posts. The everyday life of a coyote is a pageant full of activity, emotion, tension, suspense: i.e., a true melodrama.
About My Site and Me: This website reflects my 17 years of intense, careful, and dedicated field-work — empirical observations — all photo-documented without interfering or changing coyotes’ behaviors. Be welcome here, enjoy, and learn!
Coyotes reappeared in San Francisco in 2002 after many years of absence, and people are still in the dark about them. This site is to help bring light to their behavior and offer simple guidelines for easy coexistence.
My information comes from my own first-hand observations of our very own coyotes here in San Francisco. They have not been studied or observed so thoroughly by anyone else. Mine is not generic information, nor second-hand.
Note that none of the coyotes I document and photograph is “anonymous” to me: I know (or knew) each one of them, and can tell you about their personalities, histories, and their family situations. There have been over 100 of them, distributed among over twenty families, all in San Francisco. Images and true stories have the power to raise awareness and change perspective.
Introduction:
Coyote Yipps 