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!
Some coyote parents have pups in the same area year after year. Some move for a year — about a mile away, while still maintaining their home-base territory — and then return the next season. Some move far away to an entirely different territory for good — 5 miles away from their original long-term territory and remain here until a territorial battle drives them away. These are some of the situations I’ve documented. Every coyote family is as different as is every human family.
And I’ve seen numerous instances where pups are moved at about two months of age within an urban territory to about 1/4th mile away. That’s what this posting is about.
Two pups in a den under a house on a construction site
Denning locations in the city are chosen mostly for their inaccessibility to dogs. Dogs are intruders that coyotes detest the most. I’ve seen dens built right along the freeway, beyond a fence keeping dogs and pedestrians out. The noise is incredible — the whooshing by of car wheels on the freeway and force of the wind against those vehicles, in addition to all the motor noise, is deafening. But coyotes prefer this over dogs.
Construction site
Human activity, no matter how noisy, as long as it isn’t intrusive, is also preferred over dogs. Multiple enormous tractors with huge clanky digger-arms and noisy motors, along with a lot of activity and movement of this equipment have not stopped coyotes from denning at construction sites. And it is here, in the middle of such a site, under a tiny cement building, Mom had her pups this year. Mom and her mate along with a yearling could be glimpsed coming and going among the hubbub, and it was obvious that Mom was in a lactating state. And then one day, a tiny head popped out into the open from under the building. For several days we thought there was only one pup, but then a second one appeared. When pups are first born, they stay put, but after 6-8 weeks, they need to start moving — and a construction site was not ideal for them at this stage. Mom knew she had to move them.
It’s not uncommon for mothers to move their pups at this stage — six to eight weeks of age. If you are aware of it, maybe that’s all you see. But by focusing in, I could see all the intelligence involved: planning, forethought, knowledge and work.
Mom must have been planning this for some time. Weeks before moving, every night, she would slither under the fence to the new area and work on digging places where her pups could duck into and hide if they needed to. She worked at this in the thick foliage among a tangles of branches which would be difficult for dogs to penetrate. Remember that a coyote is only 30 pounds and with the bendability of a cat, allowing them to slither under and over things. Not so for dogs. I didn’t capture the digging, just the coming and going each night at that new location.
The time had to be right, and that time would be when the pups began following her around — the same as little ducklings follow their mothers. I caught what I thought of as them “practicing” their following skills, or, possibly Mom “testing” to see how well pups would follow. They did!
Practicing following
On the day of the move, Mom led them to the construction site’s fence line. However, she knew they might not follow in the street where there were too many new distractions. For the street part of the journey, she signaled one of the pups to remain quiet and stay put: it’s a signal all pups know. Meanwhile she picked up one of the pups by it’s back, and carried it out the gate and along the sidewalk, crossing a number of streets, and finally slithering under the hole of the fence to the new area. Within ten minutes of depositing that youngster, she headed back to get the other one, and returned with that one within 25 minutes.
Interesting is the time of day she did this. One might have expected her to make the move at night when no one was around. But she did not do that. One of the reasons may be that the fenced construction site could only be exited from the gates. She herself could slither under the gate, but only barely — the tiny opening under the gate probably was not high enough for her carrying a pup. I had actually seen her walk out that gate at around noon a number of times, probably practicing and assessing what the situation was at that time of day. Shortly before noon every day, even I was able to see that almost all dogs had already been walked, so few would be out to go after her, and traffic was at a low at that time of day. So, when Moving Day came, this is the time she chose: 11:45 for one pup and then 12:20 for the other.
One person saw her walk down the street carrying a pup, and a friend relayed this to me — thank you, Beth — I myself missed it, though I knew it was coming. But I had cameras set up at the hole under the fence at the new location, and that is what I have to show you, below.
Interestingly, this mother followed the exact same pattern two years ago, moving her pups on June 1st of 2021. This year it was on May 26th. Also of interest, only Mom moved the youngsters. She was not helped by Dad or her yearling daughter.
So, just imagine the planning and foresight involved: planning for contingencies on the street, planning her route, planning the time of day this would happen, making sure the pups were ready, planning that it would happen at all, preparing the new denning spot. I think you have to be pretty impressed with the capabilities of coyotes generally, but especially with the capabilities of coyote mothers!
Mom brings first pup in under the fence. Ten minutes later you see her patrolling the fence line before heading off to pick up the second pup and returning twenty minutes later with him.
I wanted to share with you a student’s observations and leanings. Which lead to more questions.
Kinky Tail continues to raise her very active litter. There are 7 now..so either there was a miscount originally or 2 have disappeared. They think 2 pups have disappeared because there is a local golden eagle who for years has been seen with coyote pups, fox kits and feral cats. It seasonally comes to this area during lambing and calving times. It has been seen daily flying over den areas.
That well may have encouraged Kinky to move pups as well as..ticks. Locally we’ve seen plague level numbers of ticks. And Kinkys grooming times with pups seemed very long last week. Her last den area was absolutely infested with 3 species of ticks. Ugh.
Now however, Kinky moved pups to a rendezvous of log piles, poison oak bushes, and grazing cattle.
The student says she doesn’t believe the location was randomly picked.
The abundance of poison oak keeps people out except rarely riders of horse or quads passing thru. Ranch folk.
The grazed range grass is short and doesn’t hold high tick densities compared with long grasses or brush areas.
And finally, having an entire cow to scavenge 2 miles away after move means less animals near pups (scavengers galore) and Kinky doesn’t have to hunt the longer grass fields for voles. Which mean tick pick up. She has the cow or many dozens of caches. Also discovered was she visits an orchard and gleans old fallen Apple’s from last Fall.
This Student feels Kinky’s choice of den was premeditated and thought carefully out. It has minimal tick numbers. Humans rarely come and pass quickly. It’s open with vast vistas and hillsides yet has hiding places for pups. The Longhorns don’t encourage canine visitors. It’s close to dead cow but far enough pups don’t meet scavengers.
She also is study wild turkey brood site selections and says the studies lend to each other. Wild Turkey Hens need to sit on eggs around 28 days. The picked site is obviously paramount. A poorly picked site is disastrous. There are hens that pick poorly or lose patience or dedication and leave eggs too long as well. Then there are hens that cover eggs while minimally foraging for bugs and food and rush back fast. How a Hen Broods means Everything. And not all hens are good moms.
She says it’s same for Coyote. Some mothers are functional but rather minimal. Or make bad choices. Some..seem to be absolutely dedicated mothers. She feels most coyote are very dedicated Moms.
So how much is choice and thought when picking a site to hide and raise your kids? She feels Kinky Tail is neighborhood cognizant.
In her words “No wolf gang signs. No noisy dog parties. No bad nosy people. Riding thru people that she’s known since pup and plenty of longhorns and poison oak seem the latest mood and pic”
Kinky is doing well. She has 7 very active very fat pups. She’s busy busy busy. By day she stays at den. At night it’s cow scavenging, cow caches and long long drinks. And some nights old apples. She grooms her pups even as she comes home bedraggled. Growls briefly but playfully at Mate as he leaves for day shift.
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.
Forward: Almost ten years ago, in 2012, in Atlanta, several people noticed coyotes in and around Candler Park (450 acres or 2/3rds of a square mile) where they had not been spotted before. City authorities were brought in to assess the population in the park and discovered 6 coyote dens. They concluded that coyotes were multiplying wildly and taking over, and they would have to get rid of them. I was contacted to help fight this proposal and educate the public about the reality of coyotes. Because of our efforts, the neighborhood association in charge decided not to cull/kill the coyotes. Unfortunately, I was told later on, that a couple of homeowners wouldn’t accept this studied decision, so as individuals they hired a trapper who eliminated them. :( Other coyotes soon filled the vacated niches — shooting coyotes doesn’t get rid of them for very long.
By the way, if you are interested, “fear of another species taking over” is a common human fear, and has been written about in this recent article: https://milliontrees.me/2022/06/08/starlings-vagrants-and-dead-birds/. Targets include coyotes, plants, birds, and other people who in various ways can be labeled differently from ourselves.
Coyote facts: On any one territory, with rare exceptions, there is just one coyote family consisting of an alpha male and female, their pups born within the year and in some cases one or two of the pups born the previous year — the older youngsters stick around long enough to help with the new litter before dispersing. All other coyotes are kept out of the family-owned territory, thus limiting the population to that one family. Territories run between 2 and 4 square miles each, so population is not all that dense. All youngsters inevitably and eventually disperse, leaving the two alphas as the static owners of the territory over a longer period of time.
As for the number of dens on each territory, each coyote family always digs multiple sets of dens — over 20 have been found in one of our territories here in San Francisco, all dug by the same coyote parent pair — to have ready to move into if needed, though most are never used. More dens on one territory do not mean multiple families — it’s simply a safety measure.
This video shows two denning areas of the same family.First you see Dad digging and then youngsters exiting and entering where he dug. The video then shifts to a small opening in a tangle of blackberry bramblesas coyotes enter and exit.These dens with the same family are 300 feet apart and used synchronously.
Last week I wandered through a small 100 square feet area of another of our coyote territories here in San Francisco and randomly spotted six such dens. The majority of them were not in use, but two that I found — maybe there are more — were being used synchronously, with pups apparently moving between them at their own will, as I was able to detect over the next few days. Five of these dens are dug into sandy soil. The other den being used simultaneously by this particular family is hidden in a tangle of blackberries, about 300 feet away. [Addendum: on June 13th I discovered another such active den, 600 feet away — that’s about a tenth of a mile between active dens belonging to the same family!]
Sand-dune den to the left; the one in the middle appears not to be used; and to the right, a den hidden within a tangle of overgrowth (with a pup snoozing in front of the opening).
Having multiple dens allows families to readily move to escape any dangers if needed. The photos below show a youngster with bug-pocked marks on his side, and a dad scratching himself vigorously to dislodge fleas: flea infestations in the dens is one reason they move to another den. Pups are also moved if parents sense potential dangers near their dens, mostly from dogs and insensitive people.
Pup and an adult showing signs of flea issues.
Examples of other dens throughout the city where I’ve spotted pups can be seen above: to the upper left is a den nestled under a carpet of ivy (yes, that’s a coyote pup visible through the tangle); in the middle is a hollow under a log; to the right behind a cyclone fence is a den in the no-man’s trashed area running along a freeway; and below, yes, they sometimes den right under our back porches!
Coyotes either dig their dens from scratch, as you saw in the sand-dune den, or they take over existing burrows of other animals and expand these. Caverns under rocks or openings under fallen tree trunks, or even non-dugout hidden areas with piles of leaves which are protected with brambles are used as dens. Fenced-in areas such as PUC Water Reservoirs or the fenced-off shoulders of freeways are also used: these areas are free from dogs and therefore very attractive to new coyote parents. And I’ve seen several dens under people’s porches! Unfortunately, there was a case several years ago where humans didn’t want coyotes around, so they boarded up the area under their porch to keep them out — but in this case, the pups already had been born and so the parents were blocked from their infants on the outside and unable to get in and nurse them. When it was all figured out, it was too late, and the pups perished. :(
A youngster has been given a squirrel by a parent.
Most coyote dens I’ve seen are meticulously hidden from access to people and dogs, at least 100 feet away from pedestrian traffic — off the beaten track. Coyote parents want to keep their pups secret in order to protect them. But some are not hidden very well at all and I really can’t imagine what went wrong with such a den placement. These dens might be placed just 15 feet from a walkway in a park with plenty of foot traffic and plenty of dogs. Even in these less-than-hidden dens, interestingly, the pups are left to themselves most of the daylight hours and much of the evening. The parents come to nurse and feed them: the above video shows a little pup running off excitedly with a prey squirrel brought by a parent — youngsters at this time of the year are still too young to hunt for themselves.
The immediate dugout den/crevice/bramble den itself is a temporary structure and used only for birthing, nursing, and as a hideaway for several months. The dugouts have an opening of about 10″ at their entrances and are a little wider within: they are a little like a long tunnel and I’ve measured some abandoned ones to be around 6′ deep. After several months — the same as with birds’ nests or our own bassinets — these are outgrown and abandoned until the next season. An full-size coyote could enter and hide there, but the whole family as it grows would not be able to.
Beyond the den structure itself, the greater denning area is larger than the size of a football-field. Parents defend this football-field size area and more than 1/4 mile beyond it from dogs. Dogs routinely pursue coyotes and threaten them: coyotes have learned that dogs are their chief enemies in the city. The entire area should be referred to as a denning site, and this whole area should be a no-dogs or leashed-dogs-only area.
To the left, a Mom is keeping an eye on active dogs several hundred feet away. In the middle, a Dad in another territory, snoozing and guarding not far from (but neither close to) his densite. To the right: a dad may approach a dog he feels is threatening with a snarly face and arched back: you’ll need to tighten your leash and do as he asks: move away from the area.
A dad will walk around the denning area, and by the den itself on his patrolling rounds several times a day during daylight hours. Sometimes he’ll snooze nearby, within visual range of the den, but seldom (as far as I have seen) immediately beside the den — he doesn’t want to give the location away. I seldom see Moms in the area, though I know she comes by to nurse the pups — she is able to slither in and out, evading detection, and she comes at night when no people are around. I have seen a mom standing or sitting sentry on a lookout, maybe 100 feet away from her den when a groups of dogs was around. If the dogs were to chase her, she would lead them away from this den site. In contrast to this kind of sentry duty, I saw a mother a few days ago, off alone in a distant and totally different hidden part of her park away from people, dogs, and her own pups, relaxing and seemingly enjoying her solitude — this was about 1/4th mile from her densite, in a fenced-in area. I had to wonder why that fenced-off place was not chosen as a denning area. But it wasn’t.
I tried to think of why the parents spend so much time away from their pups. Of course they need to hunt and patrol the area. But also what comes to mind is what I’ve read about baby deer: they apparently have no, or very little, odor, the better not to attract predators. A parent, of course, would have strong odors. So for example, dogs will pick up on the scent of the adult coyotes and pursue them. Might this be one of the reasons the parents don’t spend a great deal of time with their new pups? I’m just trying to think it through. Having said this, I need to point out that parents do spend plenty of time playing with and cuddling their pups — family time is an important part of their lives.
A furious Papa coyote runs after his pups to push them to safety.
Some coyote parents are more laissez-faire than others in their pup guarding. I just wrote about “running away from home” where the parents are seldom around, and some of the youngsters are wandering between dens during daylight hours. At the other extreme, here’s a short video clip showing a much stricter father who obviously is furious that his youngsters wandered out of the safety limits he imposed on them! This family’s den, BTW, is in a super well hidden location, and hidden under a tangled carpet of ivy in a backyard.
Litters may be moved at any time. Over the last two years, in June, I’ve seen two such moves of two-month-old litters. Youngsters are strong walkers by this stage of their development which may be a contributing factor. They may be moved because of bugs, or because their parents have become aware that their den is no longer secret — it’s been discovered by people or dogs who have become more omnipresent, or in one case, within a PUC Water Reservoir where construction was beginning AND many of the under-the-fence escape routes which the coyotes had been using were plugged up. The coyotes must have felt a need to get out before all entry/exits were boarded up.
Gathering her youngsters for a move
The new locations have been between 500 and 1500 feet (1/10th to 1/4th of a mile) from the original den. This video shows a mother gathering her youngsters together for such a move which took place at 9:00 am: You can see that the youngsters are very excited about this event — not so different from our own families before a trip! Their new den must not be far since a pup has been spotted recently back in this area.
What coyote predators might invade a densite here in San Francisco? Of course, the pups as pups have to be differentiated from the adults who have very few predators except cars in urban areas, though larger dogs chasing them cause a lot of leg injuries. Domestic dogs would be the primary threat to coyote pups — this is why dogs are *messaged* by parent coyotes within a fourth of a mile from their dens. The coyote communication of necessity must be intense if the dog is going to get the message: it involves an arched back, snarly face, tongue sticking out and wagging, and may include a number of darts and retreats and even a nip to the haunches or rear end of the dog — cattle-dog fashion — to get the dog to leave the area if the dog didn’t respond to the original message. Small dogs are as much of a threat as larger dogs — any carnivore is a threat that has the potential to grab a small pup.
In addition to dogs, there are raccoons in most denning areas. It seems a coyote pup might be as vulnerable to raccoons as are domestic kittens, which raccoons are known to capture as prey. And then there are the owls which have been hovering right above some of the dens I’m keeping track of. Very young pups the size of kittens are a perfect size for an owl to snatch up, yet pups are allowed by their parents to roam free during the hours when owls are most likely to capture one. I’ve never seen it happen, I’m just listing it as a potential possibility.
Threats to small pups include dogs running loose, raccoons, owls.
The greatest other intruders to denning areas, besides dogs and their walkers, are photographers with absolutely no sensitivity for the animals, including iPhone photographers who feel no compunction about walking right up to a resting coyote, as close as they can to snap a shot — most coyotes will flee, but some have become inured to this human behavior which erodes their innate wariness. It still produces stress. Fortunately, I’m hearing more and more walkers telling these folks to please leave the coyotes alone.
A week ago, my eyes popped wide open when I saw a photographer stationed and hovering right at a densite, waiting for them to appear, and I saw him there again, and again. Several large signs indicated this was a den area, yet the photographer seemed oblivious to the stress he was imposing by statically stationing himself where he was. And then when Dad coyote came around on his regular rounds, I saw him kicking dirt in anger when pursued by this same photographer — the coyote was obviously distressed about the situation in his denning area, and the photographer was totally indifferent to it and denied the coyote was reacting angrily to him.
One’s photos shouldn’t take precedence over the well-being of the coyotes, especially during denning season. Please everyone, give the coyotes space and walk away from them! If you have to be a paparazzi, do so at a distance where they won’t feel a need to react in any way to you — you’ve intruded if you cause them to alter their behavior in any way at all, including fleeing from you!!
I put this collage together to reflect the thought
Well, “running away from home” isn’t exactly what happened (which is why I have the title in quotes), but watching a tiny kitten-size pup the other morning trekking decidedly away from his home inspired the idea. For a fun twist, I put together the above collage, and have written this posting sprinkled with that thought.
The morning began with a coyote dad bringing in a mouthful of animal-prey to his denning area. It was too far off and I wasn’t quick enough to see what they prey was, but it was the size of a large duck. He disappeared into the brush, and I hoped I would see him again. Within a very short time, I heard a coyote calling to another — I wasn’t given enough lead time to record it, it was not a sound I hear often: a short, warbled sound.
a pup follows his parents, but is told *no*
I looked up to where the sound came from and saw him standing and apparently waiting close to where I had seen him disappear earlier. He had been calling to his mate, because within a minute, she joined him. As they headed off, one and then two of their pups attempted tagging along. They either were told *no* or knew they wouldn’t be able to keep up because they immediately turned back. Youngsters desperately want to be with their parents, but no means no, and they were left in the safety of their den area. That was all I saw of the parents that morning.
One pup of this litter is a runt. I’ve observed runts before. They often don’t play with litter mates because their size makes it not fun for them: who likes to be beat up all the time? So they frequently play by themselves. And they go off by themselves. I’ve also seen runts given special attention by their parents: the extra nurturing probably helps their survival. Mom was there today most likely to nurse them, and I saw Dad bring in solid food as I stated above. I wondered if the runt might have been unable to get his share of milk or of what was brought in by Dad? I thought of these things immediately after what I saw next.
Leaving the den took several tries, each ending with his return to the den. On the fourth try, he made it across 100 yards of ‘treacherous terrain’, including flower beds, trees, lawn, and paved paths.
Within the next ten minutes, I saw the runt heading off and away from his denning area. My eyes popped out of my head when I saw him because it was broad daylight and he was so tiny — so much smaller than other pups at this stage of their development — he was alone and completely vulnerable out in the open in a high foot-traffic and dog area, and in the daylight. I seldom see pups, much less traveling alone over vast expanses of open areas where they are totally visible. Of course, I kept my eye on him to see what he was up to. He moved with purpose, the same way you see the adults do: they always seem to know where they are going and what they are doing. Thrice he turned back after about 100 feet, as though he were trying to make up his mind whether to proceed. But the fourth time he reached the point where he had turned around before, and he made a sudden dash forward, across a network of paved paths and a large open lawn. I was able to watch him for about 100 yards before I lost track of him in the ivy. Ivy is a wonderful coverup for them. If a dog had been there, that might have been his end, and I prepared myself to grab any unleashed exploring dogs, but none happened by at the time.
My next post will be about dens, but here I need to state that immediate denning areas are larger than the size of football fields — they don’t simply encompass the temporary dugout birthing den — they are much larger areas than that. Parents will defend this football field size area and more than 1/4 mile beyond it. This youngster was well within his football field area, but because of his direct trajectory, the idea of his running away from home popped into my mind and made me smile. I wondered about the issues faced by a runt: his likely inability to compete for a fair share of the milk or food brought in. I wondered if there might be more going on than simply being a runt: such as illness? He was wobbly in his steps and rickety in his appearance, with bug bites over his back and watery eyes. That’s all I saw of him in the morning and those were my thoughts. No parent was present to lead him back or protect him had he needed it.
Dad waits outside den area for mom to finish nursing and then tires of waiting and leaves.
In the evening his parents returned and everything looked normal. It is customary for parents to leave their pups all day long. They tend to stop by very sporadically, including at dusk for nursing or feeding before heading out again. They are not at the densite often, though Dad in particular, will hang out within several hundred feet, snoozing away the daylight hours and performing his sentry duty. This evening when she came, Mom disappeared into the brush and Dad waited for her on the periphery. He waited and waited, and finally trotted on by himself because Mom was not appearing. I saw her later playing with two of her pups. I could see that Runt was not among them. I despaired for him.
very kitten-looking
The next morning I was there to observe any changes, and to docent, asking folks to please keep their dogs leashed. I saw Dad looking around, but he didn’t seem particularly concerned. Another thought popped into my head: Being the runt, this one looks somewhat like a kitten with its exceptionally short baby snout. What if some human were to *save* him by either adopting him or taking him into the SPCA or ACC. It is illegal to keep wildlife as pets here. In addition, separating a youngster from its family drastically diminishes the youngster’s chances of survival. Few animals taken to wildlife rehab centers survive in the long-run: they simply have not been given the skills to survive: only parents can do this. Please leave all found pups alone — you can only hurt their situation.
Runt is back and safe
I was back in the evening and heaved a sigh of relief when I glimpsed Runt. He’s there! For him, it was just another day, as if nothing special had happened over the last 24 hours — and it hadn’t — but for me, I wrote a whole post about him running away from home and ruminating about a runt’s welfare. But these little guys are hardy and resilient and much smarter than we think. However, it’s important to remember that pup survival rate can be as low as 20 to 30%.
Runt back home
PS: Although I distinguish coyotes by their faces, I have real trouble distinguishing pups. However, Runt stands apart and is very identifiable by his underdeveloped size and ragged/rickety appearance. He’ll probably emerge as King of the Forest some day!! :)
Spring is coming in hard and fast. And for local coyote … particularly pregnant females…the most important choice of year is here.
Where to den.
It means your children may live or die .. by your choice. Like all matters … there’s variety. Some coyote seem to raise pups wherever they seem to be. But most seem to pick very carefully, best they can.
Kinky the yearling coyote and survivor of wolf decimating raid on her pack, is pregnant. She is very bossy of her mate. And been seen checking out many areas it seems.
She is often where she was born, a series of cliffs. Hot and waterless in summer, they offer a fortress of invulnerable protection.
We think and hope she chooses wisely. Her possible mother or older sister Janet also is pregnant 4 miles away. New mate. But … facing same situation as last year. A wolf pack periodically patrols through. They will dig up any coyote dens found. As well as certain Livestock Guard Dogs.
Janet has a food rich den poor territory. Kinky has great denning options but they are seasonally poor for food.
Choices. Choices. Choices.
Most people never dream of the choices parenthood bring animals in spring. An ill placed den or nest will likely mean failure.
We know both Kinky and Janet are incredible survivors and will do their best as moms in coming spring and summer.
And I wish them good choices.
Also affecting den choice …
Hundreds of miles of forests and territory have been lost to fires. As wolves and coyote need cover for dens … and wolves need space for quality lands to hunt, they absolutely will converge upon coyote territory. Where to den and when will be especially hard this year in this area.
But coyote will handle this.
Lou🐾
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About My Site and Me: This website reflects my 16 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.
Coyote Yipps 
