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!
02 Aug 2010 Leave a comment
in communication, coyote barking, coyote behavior, coyote reactions to dogs
My friend said that she would like to see coyotes up on the rocks howling: that would make it a rock concert, wouldn’t it? Indeed it would. And the price of the ticket would be an affordable hike through the woods! Take that, Warren Hellman!!
Notice how “into” their own performances these coyotes are, as revealed by their facial expressions!!
09 Jul 2010 Leave a comment
in barking, coyote barking, coyote behavior, coyote reactions to dogs, dog reactions to coyotes
This coyote attempted to enjoy a relaxed morning four times, but each time a dog came up barking at it, chasing it, or coming too close antagonistically. The coyote responded slightly differently each time, but always ended each time in a prolonged barking session which lasted long after the dog had departed.
The first three photos show how I originally found the coyote resting on a small incline.
The first dog came up like a dart, chasing the coyote aggressively and intensely for a long distance, round and around, and way up an incline. The coyote’s response to this was a prolonged barking spell, which includes the second row of photos.
When the coyote had calmed down, about 20 minutes later, it returned to the same area to relax.
Then the second dog intruder came by. This time the dog neither barked at the coyote nor chased it, but the dog came too close, and this occurred shortly after the preceding incident, so the coyote was already in an aroused mood. Again the coyote responded with an intense barking session. Notice the two photos showing the coyote coming down an incline after this barking session: the coyote is still upset as you can see by its expressions.
The coyote then went to a green area further from the beaten path. But soon another third dog spotted it there and approached the coyote barking. This time the coyote knew it could chase this particular dog off, so after the coyote had had enough of the barking, that is what it did, successfully. This time there was not a barking session. Note that the coyote narrows its eyes as it sees the second dog approaching and barking at it — it has decided to chase the dog off.
The last incident involved another full-fledged chase by a dog which chases the coyotes often — the owner refuses to leash in the area. The coyote ran far off and began barking its discontent. The barking session appears to be a complaining and a standing up for its space.
Some chases — dogs chasing after coyotes — appear to verge on teasing, taunting and play from the dogs’ point of view. I think the coyote is well aware of this. And it needs to be recognized that this coyote placed itself in these locations where there was a very high possibility that one of these dogs might come after it: it appears that the coyote may have been gambling on this design. All of the dogs except the first, have encountered this coyote often and the coyote knows them. The coyote may place itself so that it will be seen to keep all dogs aware that it is around and this is its area.
01 Jul 2010 Leave a comment
in avoiding humans, blatant visual message, coyote barking, coyote behavior, family interactions, group activity, hunting
[NOTE: In a coyote family, the designation of “dominant” “alpha” or “parent” are interchangeable. Coyote “packs” are actually not packs, but families — there really are no “packs” as there are packs of dogs, which where the members are mostly unrelated to one another, and which operate more as marauding gangsters or thugs. Coyote “families” are more like yours and mine, with parents and offspring. So, within the family, there will be parents who are in charge, and often one parent is more aware than the other.]
I zeroed in on a dominant mother coyote’s awareness and staying in control of her territory today. The day began with the coyote walking towards a dog which was trotting down the path — with one of the coyote’s year-old pups sauntering along behind the dog as if they were out on a hike together! The dominant coyote gave her bouncing warning display — thereby communicating what she wanted to communicate — and then marched off with the pup following her. It was the same display as in my posting of: Keep Away From Me.
The walker and dog continued their walk out of the area, the coyote pup disappeared, and I stayed to watch the dominant coyote perch high on a ledge where she kept a lookout on a place way across into the distance. After only about five minutes, the coyote leaped down and was off. I lost visual contact with her, but decided to head to the spot where she had been looking. Sure enough, that is where she had gone — she had followed her pups there, probably having seen them from the distance.
From here, she appeared to lead them all to another distant spot where they all stayed for a while. She kept an eye on the others who played and hunted. She did not participate, but sat down to watch. She watched the younger coyotes, and she watched a couple of dogs and walkers in the far distance. After about 15 minutes, she got up and began trotting back. She trotted in front of the other two — it was probably a signal to them — and they followed her to yet another area. At this point she curled up on a rock while one of the younger coyotes hunted for a few minutes and then disappeared as the other had.
Within a short time she got up, stretched, caught a couple of voles, then headed up to a bluff where she spent the next hour. She watched a few dogs on a trail below. As the morning wore on, several walkers and their dogs walked in the direct vicinity of the bluff, but on the path below it. When this happened, she sat up, or stood, to get a better view over the rocks. At a certain point, she began very soft, barely audible to me, but continuous “grunts” — as if she were preparing to bark. She was reacting to dogs, however distant they were from her; dogs which bothered her on some level.
This continued for some time, so I left to take photos of other wildlife close by. I was only about 300 feet away when she began an intense barking session, so I immediately returned. I could see a dog and walker on the path, but I had not seen what about them had provoked the coyote. The coyote barked for close to 20 minutes, then hopped down off her ledge and headed out of the picture for me. I had been watching her for almost four hours: I suppose she was “making her rounds.”
The picture I got was of a dominant mother coyote’s being very in charge of her life and very purposeful in her behaviors. She warded off a possible dog threat (not really a threat, but she was doing her job), she monitored the area from a high perch and kept her eyes on her pups who were far, far off in the distance. She ran hopped down and ran the distance to join them and then led them to an area for further hunting and playing. When she was ready to return she did so in such a way as to cause the pups to follow. She curled up in another area, always keeping vigilant of what was happening around her as the pups finished their hunting and then disappeared. Then she went up to another high ledge where she again, this time without the encumbrance of her pups, monitored dog activity, grunted when she became distressed, and then went into a full mode barking session as a statement of her presence and possibly a claim to her territoriality in that area. Then she hopped down and disappeared into the underbrush!
18 May 2010 Leave a comment
in coyote barking, coyote behavior, coyote howling, coyote reactions to dogs, coyotes and dogs, coyotes defending themselves
The only time I have ever heard a coyote yipping has been after it was intruded upon. I heard a coyote yipping, the same coyote, both yesterday and again today. The yipping is a distressed, high-pitched barking. It may go on for 20 minutes or more. It appears to be the coyote’s way of complaining. In the parks where I have heard it, it always has been caused by a dog. A dog had either chased the coyote, or came in too close to it. A human intrusion, such as throwing stones to ward it off, could possibly cause the same barking reaction from a coyote, however, a coyote is more likely to flee this scenario. By yipping, the coyote is both voicing its discontent and standing its ground, albeit at a distance, as far as I have seen. Please keep your dogs leashed when a coyote is around.
And now I’m seeing coyotes react to individual specific dogs walking about 100 feet away. These are usually dogs which have chased or intruded on the coyote in the past. But also, now, I’m seeing that a coyote will feel intruded upon if specific dogs “eye” the coyote on its perch — possibly in an antagonistic way — something like giving the coyote “the evil eye”. In addition to the complaining and standing up for itself which I’ve seen when a dog actually chases it, the coyote’s barking may also be voicing its territorial claim.
I know a number of people who think, “Well, it’s a coyote and that’s what they do: they yip.” However, there is always a reason for the yipping; it never occurs without cause.
13 Apr 2010 1 Comment
in coyote barking, coyote behavior, coyote reactions to dogs, coyotes defending themselves, dog reactions to coyotes, monitoring Tags: coyote behavior, coyotes and dogs
This coyote was out and about when people and their dogs began arriving in this park in the morning. I was at the other end of the park when some runners told me that people were talking about having seen a coyote. I headed in the direction they had come from. As I walked, I heard a couple of women repeatedly yelling at their dogs to “come” — it was the same desperate commanding tone I’ve heard every time from dog owners around a coyote. The dogs apparently did so, because when I actually arrived there, everything was calm, and the walkers had moved on. However, I am sure the coyote was feeling defensive at this point. I saw the coyote way off to the side by a hill where I could tell it had planned to make its getaway if it had needed to.
With the way clear, the coyote meandered about, sniffing the ground in various places. When it came to a specific spot, after sniffing the spot carefully, it urinated on it. I suppose that the coyote was leaving a message which “trumped” whatever smell the coyote had just found — this may have been the coyote’s reaction to the dogs that had been called away. It was right at this moment that a very large German Shepherd, an unleashed dog which has chased the coyote repeatedly, spotted the coyote and went after it in a full blown, fast and long chase. The coyote took off like a jackrabbit and was able to evade the large dog by dodging through some thick underbrush — coyotes all have a collection of secret escape routes if they need them. The coyote had gone on up to a high rock where it began barking its shrill discontent, loudly, for about 20 minutes. The dog was unable to pursue the coyote through the thicket. The dog owner finally retrieved his dog and took off for a walk away from this area. However, when he came back past this same spot, not long thereafter, the now calmed down coyote, still up on the rock, started in again: it was at this particular dog that the coyote was complaining.
I have noticed that once a dog chases a coyote, the coyote remembers the particular dog — as, of course, the dog remembers the coyote. It is the dogs which chase, along with the uncontrolled hyperactive dogs which the coyote watches in the mornings. The large, never-leashed German Shepherd is one of those which the coyote watches out for — monitors — because of its previous, and consistent chasing behavior — the coyote does this for its own safety. What I had not seen before is this coyote starting up its barking session again for a second time when the same dog re-appeared ten minutes later, albeit at a greater distance and without chasing this time. The barking is both a complaining and a warning to the dog to keep off. The intense barking ultimately keeps most dogs at a distance.
Also, most dogs won’t continue in at a coyote if it turns around and faces the dog. A similar type of behavior happened several times with my own dog shortly after we had adopted him: he chased a cat. When the cat just stood there and faced my dog, my dog had no idea what to do — it was the chase that mattered. However, by the time a coyote turns around to face its aggressor, the coyote is now in the driver’s seat and it may very well actually defend itself by nipping at the dog to get it to leave. For this reason, we need to keep our dogs from chasing the coyotes. Chasing is a game for our dogs, but not so for the coyote.
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05 Jan 2010 51 Comments
in barking, coyote barking, coyote behavior, coyote howling Tags: coyote barking, coyote behavior, coyote howling, coyote photos, coyotes
[For a more in-depth writeup and more examples, see Coyote Voicings]
I have made several recordings of coyotes yipping. These recordings are not the classical howls we all know about, rather they are of a very high pitched barking — it has a violin smoothness or purity of sound. The barking has intent, is very intense. Except when howling at sirens, every episode of barking that I have heard was the result of a coyote having been chased or intruded upon on some level by a dog. Howling and yipping which results from having been chased by a dog is easy to recognize because they are much more distressed sounding. A less obvious cause of the barking may be an antagonistic dog which simply came too close to the coyote, say within about 100 feet, without actually chasing it: it turns out that in most cases, the dog chased or intruded on the coyote in the past.
But also, I’m seeing that a coyote will feel intruded upon if specific dogs “eye” the coyote on its perch — possibly in an antagonistic way — something like giving the coyote “the evil eye”. In addition to the vocalized complaining and standing up for itself which I’ve seen when a dog actually chases it, the coyote’s barking at these intrusive dogs appears to be a statement to them of territoriality.
I used to think that the barking might be a warning to other coyotes in the family group, but I have now seen instances where this was definitely not the case. For example, a dominant coyote — the mother — was relaxing on a hilltop when one of her full-grown pups started a barking session not too far off — it had been disturbed by a dog. I immediately started watching for a change in the mother’s behavior, waiting for some type of reaction. There was none. This mother ignored the barking, even though I had previously seen her run to a pup’s defense when she saw a dog — a particular dog which she deemed dangerous — approach too close to one of the pups. In another case, I was on a hillside photographing one of these full-grown pups when I heard the mother barking in distress in the distance — it is a signature bark which I have come to recognize. The young coyote totally ignored the barking and continued its hunt! Now, maybe there are barks and then other barks, but in these cases the barking was not an alarm signal to others.
I have heard that coyotes will howl or bark just for the pleasure of doing so, and I’m sure they do, but I have never heard them under these circumstances. Males have a lower tonal range — barely — but you can tell them apart from the females if you hear them within a short space of time. Coyote “songs” can go on for 20 minutes or longer. I call them “arias”. Here are several videos of them:
Several coyotes barking at the same time can often sound like many more than there really are. They “come in” at slightly different pitches creating dissonances that sound like many.
Coyotes have various other vocalizations. There is the classical howl, there is childlike complaining in high pitched tones, greetings can sound like puppy sounds because they are high pitched, there is grunting which sometimes precedes a barking episode — as if the coyote is trying to decide whether or not to go ahead with it. There are anger grunts and growls.
For a more in-depth writeup and more examples, see Coyote Voicings
