A Puddle

21 Nov 2017 4 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, curiosity, exploring, investigating, playing

This scene brought to mind the opening line in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ “One Hundred Years of Solitude”,  where the author remembers going “to discover ice”.  Here, the discovery is water. Of course, the coyote knows water — he drinks it all the time, but here he seems to discover something about it beyond its thirst-quenching capabilities or its wetness. For one, the large puddle suddenly appeared where there hadn’t been one only the day before: THAT was something to investigate.

The youngster, a six-month old, curiously tests and discovers its qualities as an object and a phenomenon.  He touches its surface several times: it sends out waves when he does so, he can step through it even though it looks solid, he can see reflections (might he see himself?), it splashes, he can lift a little on his paw before it falls apart and off his paw, he can feel it and it “responds” but doesn’t hurt him, and of course he can drink it, and it’s wet and cold. The natural world is endlessly fascinating, isn’t it!

I was able to capture some still shots when this occurred, which you see above. The video, which I switched to at the very end, captures only the last few seconds of the coyote’s charming investigation.

Suspicious of Novel Items in A Known Environment? (Revised and Updated)

01 Oct 2015 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, curiosity, exploring, nosiness, wariness

A new pile of debris, consisting of cardboard pieces in a pile, caught the attention of this 3-year-old female coyote as she headed to her favorite hideout retreat for the day. She approached the pile, as though she were hunting — slowly and carefully, almost tip-toeing in. Then, she turned her head from side to side as she listened for what kind of sounds the new “object” might make. The pile remained silent, so she decided to investigate closer.  She snuck up, ever so carefully and hesitatingly, and attempted grabbing a section of the cardboard in her mouth. This caused another piece of cardboard to shift and move where she had not expected movement. She immediately flinched back, backed up, and then stood behind a planter, keeping an eye on the pile of cardboard. Nothing happened, but, for the time being, it wasn’t worth the risk to explore further. Her suspiciousness ruled supreme, and she skedaddled lickety-split away from the cardboard, around some bushes, and out of sight.

Coyotes are very aware, wary, and suspicious of any changes in their known environment. In this case, someone had dumped some cardboard outside their home. Even though the new material made her uneasy, the coyote was curious and checked it out: she was actually drawn to it. The unexplained movement in the cardboard served to further raise her suspicions, but only temporarily: she moved away but then came back to finish her investigation. Now, I see her there constantly, totally ignoring the piece of cardboard. Each coyote is different, and in what I’ve seen, innate curiosity seems to trump fear — at least little fears!

 

When the Cats Are Away….

06 Mar 2012 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, exploring, interloper, territoriality

In each of the parks I frequent, I always see the same coyotes. These coyotes claim their territories, keeping other coyotes, for the most part, out. But the coyotes also engage in excursions to other areas, and I’m not sure what their claim is to these other areas — are they just interlopers?  When they make these excursions — and who knows what they go checking out or why — they are not at home to oversee their own territory. Hmmm….

So, today, the resident coyotes in one of the parks were gone. And…. the “intruder” took it upon herself to roam and explore their home territory in their absence. This is the most I’ve ever seen of her. She did a lot of sniffing and roaming, and she fled quickly from a couple of walkers who saw her. But, interestingly, although I found one small piece of scat on a trail before I became aware of her — and I have no idea if it was hers, I did not see this intruder coyote “mark” at all as she explored. Was she avoiding leaving her scent? Exploring coyote behavior is a voyage of discovery for me, too, and very fascinating!

Leaps n’ Bounds

20 Nov 2011 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, exploring, hunting, video

I guess something exciting caught this fellow’s eye as I followed his movements from across a street. Whatever it was, it got away! The coyote ambled on, as he had been doing before the leaping began. Better luck next time.

Coyotes Like To Check Things Out Thoroughly

04 Nov 2011 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, curiosity, exploring, hunting

Here a coyote is stretching up high to check out a tree stump — coyotes are very curious and inquisitive, and they can be very purposeful. They normally trek along, sniffing at ground level or at eye level, but I also have seen coyotes climb the lower branches of trees when they’ve seen a squirrel there, and I’ve seen them jump high onto an unlikely rock ledge to check out a sound, smell or something they saw. Here, the coyote headed for the tree as if it knew what might be there, and scrutinized it intensely — he seemed to know exactly what he was looking for at that particular spot. He spent over a minute engaged in this activity. However, he left as empty-mouthed as when he arrived. I later checked out the tree stump for myself. There were two large hollows where the coyote had been exploring. One was about a foot deep and the other was about two feet deep. Each was about 8 inches across. Nothing was in those hollows — and they were too close to the ground to serve as wise critter nests.

My thought is that the coyote had found something very interesting there before, or maybe another critter had recently visited this spot leaving its scent there? Seeing this coyote check out the tree reminded me of how keen the memory is for canines. My own dog remembered the exact tree, way off the beaten path, in a heavily wooded area that we had visited only once a year or two earlier. At that time, a raccoon had run to that tree for protection. My dog had followed and watched the fellow watch him from the crook of the tree. Memory of the raccoon incident, and its exact remote location in the middle of nowhere, from a single incident long ago, astonished me because I had totally forgotten about it until my dog ran up to that tree again.

What To Do With A Long Strip Of Tree Bark?

15 Jan 2011 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, curiosity, exploring, playing Tags:

If something like this were to appear in your path, you might be inclined to look at it, grab it, move it and then, after some thought, abandon it as not being too interesting after all. A good long bored yawn might cap off the “encounter.”

Into The ‘Hood

01 Jan 2011 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, coyote living areas, exploring Tags:

Sometimes coyotes venture out of the parks and into surrounding neighborhoods. They don’t stay long. If you see them, they seem to know exactly what they are doing and where they are going — there is purpose in their movements. Interestingly, most humans don’t even see them. This one returned quickly to the unpaved park area.

Previous Older Entries