Intruder!!

18 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, coyote living areas, group activity, hunting, territoriality

These photos above show the wary interloper coyote carefully and quickly passing through.

Coyotes are territorial, and they guard and protect these territories. Seldom have I seen intruders — the coyotes I repeatedly see in different parks are resident coyotes who are very at home in their territories. Today I saw an intruder — but I wasn’t able to figure this out until I had gone home afterwards to blow up my photos — coyotes look quite different from each other once you get to know them, but when the lighting is bad and the distance is great, sometimes this isn’t immediately apparent. At the time I wondered why one of the coyotes was so on edge and tense, keeping a huge distance, tail down and wary, looking around and fixating into the distance, and finally hurrying off as if to avoid something. There were no dogs around, but the coyote was uneasy anyway. I followed it over the crest of a hill.

Here I caught up with the coyote, or so I thought, but its energy had changed drastically. Rather than being wary and skittish, the coyote was energized and exuberant, excited and enthusiastic, rushing this way and that, sniffing all over the place and obviously onto a scent. Within minutes I saw a buddy of this coyote’s in this same mode — these two are friends who spend most of their time together. These coyotes were absorbed and focused in a frantic sort of way.  They were following the scent of something and often losing, jumping and running about, and then picking it up again. They covered quite a distance which baffled me, because any rodent or raccoon or even a domestic cat would not have been able to cover the distances that these coyotes were sniffing out and rushing through. It was not until I got home and examined my photos that I realized that the first coyote was an intruder, an outsider, and the other two coyotes were intent on finding it and flushing it out.

Once before I had seen a stranger coyote pass quickly through an established territory. When one of the resident coyotes appeared in the vicinity some time afterwards, it caught the scent and followed in this same manner. I’m wondering what might have happened if the resident coyotes had caught up with the interloper? As it was, I don’t think they ever did.

These photos below show  two coyotes excited and enthusiastic, on the trail of the first.

A Feast For One At A Time

09 Sep 2011 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, coyotes, group activity, hunting Tags: , ,

This posting shows two coyotes feasting on a larger prey than normal. It is a skunk which, when I came upon the scene, was already dead. The above sequence of photos shows only the first coyote eating. The other one hung around, avoided looking at the one feasting, succumbed to looking, tried moving closer. The feasting coyote then warned off this onlooker. She was going to have her fill before allowing the other one to come in and she became nasty about it to make him understand, showing her teeth and pulling back her lips. This part of the sequence I’ve posted in the above gallery.

The gallery below shows the second coyote who decided to move about 50 feet away from the feasting coyote. At this distance of removal, he briefly, and jealously, glanced back at the one feasting before settling down. He then kept his gaze away from the feasting coyote, appearing disinterested, but in truth, patiently waiting his turn to eat. When the first coyote had finished and walked off, this second guy immediately hurried to feast on the second pickings. He ate a bit and then dragged the carcass off before eating some more.

Feeding and Sharing!

06 Sep 2011 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, group activity

feeding from the other's mouth

Both of these coyotes were together, chewing on some found food on a patch of dried grasses.  As I watched, I was amazed to see one of them approach the other, insert it’s muzzle into the corner of the other’s mouth, raising that upper lip, and retrieve some of the partly chewed food!  The coyote with the food allowed it!

They both continued to chew their respective shares, and then the same coyote went back for more, but the feast was finished — there was no more to be taken! Puppies get regurgitated food in this manner from their parents. The behavior seems to continue past the puppy stage.  Is it a ritual or communication? Is the behavior a confirmation of unity? Affection? Dominance/submissiveness??

I have read that there are tolerated mouth-to-mouth food transfers in marmosets, and that this behavior occurs irrespective of the animal’s sex or dominant/subordinate status.

Mom Rushes In, by Charles Wood

30 Aug 2011 1 Comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, coyote reactions to dogs, group activity, video Tags: , ,

Monday my Los Angeles area coyotes were less congenial than on Sunday.  Mister showed up first and started barking.  Then Mom and Dad arrived.  I didn’t see any others.  Perhaps they acted differently for the three having time on their hands while waiting for the others

In the video, Mister first solicits play from Mom.  She refuses and Mister turns to Dad who also refuses.  Mister comes toward my dog Holtz and me.  Note that Holtz, sixty pounds, stood to my immediate left wearing his harness attached to a fully retracted and locked leash.  Mom joins Mister who steels himself with a stretch and a yawn and then comes closer while Mom and Dad watch from behind.

Holtz had been sitting quietly, paying more attention to his itches than to the coyotes.  A little late seeing that Mister was now close by, Holtz rises to bark.  Mister flinches.  On Holtz’s first bark, Mom set her left rear foot.  Mom might have ignored one bark.  To one bark, Mister might have replied with dirt scrapes and yips.  As it was, Holtz barked more.  Mom’s exaggerated run towards us was intended to give Holtz pause until she arrived in position.  Holtz’s excessive ruckus decided Mom’s course.

Mister’s course was decided after his parents refused him play.  Holtz didn’t notice.  Mister had reinforcements, yet Holtz’s position was superior to the three because Holtz had me.  Holtz didn’t notice.  Holtz was reactive.  In contrast, the coyotes were acting out a plan, a plan that allowed for the contingency of Mister needing help.  The coyotes wouldn’t have acted out a plan had I left when Mister began to bark or left when later they started to warn me with stares.  They see Holtz as a serial intruder into their home range and don’t want him around because they perceive Holtz as a potential competitor.  To a coyote, showing one’s self to a lingerer is supposed to be enough to cause an intruder to leave.  In fact, Holtz had wanted to leave well before Mister showed himself, having planted his feet and refusing to go with me towards the brush out of which Mister later emerged.

After Mom joins Mister her eyes follow Holtz.  Mister moves right, perhaps too soon.  Mom waits and continues to study before deciding to approach on our left.  She made an assessment and a decision based on how we were physically positioned towards her.  I didn’t notice what tipped her to our left.

Mister draws in behind Mom and they rush in.  Holtz barks and then whines in frustration at my restraining him.  Mom and Mister stop short and withdraw.  They meet up with Dad who comes to them from within the bushes.

Still King?

In the past, Dad has been the one to message Holtz and me in the way Mom and Mister did today.  I don’t know if Dad’s health doesn’t allow it or if the parents think it good experience for Mister.  If Dad is losing it, Mom is stepping in to fill his shoes.  It isn’t my experience of Dad that he hold back or prefer greetings, scratching and play to messaging Holtz and me.  My goal is to find him alone in order to better assess his temperament and health, to see if he still is the king I’ve known him to be.

Posting written by Charles Wood. Visit Charles Wood’s website for more coyote photos: Charles Wood. His work is copyrighted and may only be used with his explicit permission.

Low Key Rendezvous, by Charles Wood

29 Aug 2011 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, family interactions, greetings, group activity, video Tags: , ,

Sunday I videoed my Los Angeles area coyotes as they met up for the evening.  In the video, Dad and Mom stand in the back while Tom wanders and Mister sits.  About a minute into the video Mister appears to ask Mom for a kiss.  I believe there was a fifth coyote hidden in the brush.  It may be the one that ran to catch up with the other four.

It was nice to see Dad and the others practically indifferent to Holtz and me.  Their stares were low key and they were relaxed enough to instead be attentive to each other.  Mister didn’t feel he had to prove something to everybody, even stopped staring.  Only Mom felt strongly enough about us to mark.  Their tails said to me they were ready to explode in joy except for the man and dog.  Sunday the five arrived at approximately the same time, greeted and then moved along to where they go most evenings.  They had a place to be off to and each knew it as they met.

Mom Sentry

At times one or two show up ahead of the others.  Mom did a few days ago while teenage boys were spray painting under the bridge.  She sat on higher ground and watched the boys while watching for her pack to gather.  When I arrived there I pointed her out to their amazement.  You just never know who is watching you tag.

Posting written by Charles Wood. Visit Charles Wood’s website for more coyote photos: Charles Wood. His work is copyrighted and may only be used with his explicit permission.

Pairs

26 Jul 2011 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in bonds, coyote behavior, group activity

Coyotes may live all alone, they may live as strongly bonded pairs, or they may live in larger groups — the groups are families which consist of a mother and a father, this years pups and some of last years and/or the previous year’s pups. I have heard that lone young males may hang out together until they find mates — but this is more of a temporary situation and I have not actually seen it.

Pairs don’t always necessarily follow the pattern of pairing up as male/female breeding couples. I have followed a mother and son for two years — they remain a seemingly bonded pair. There are also mother and daughter pairs that remain together over an extended period of time if something has happened to Dad. I’m trying to figure out where these two coyotes — Belle and Goggles —  fit in.

I have not figured out their situation totally. There is an older coyote named Goggles — named so because of the lighter colored areas around its eyes; and there is a young female, Belle, so named for her doe-like beauty. The older coyote has been in the area at least four years — the younger one was probably born here. They work as a pair, often leaving together and then splitting up to seek their luck separately as they hunt in the evening  — coming together off and on during their evening outings.

On this particular day, the younger Belle remained close to her protected area when Goggles appeared in the distance, trouping in from afar, coming in the younger one’s direction, but stopping at an obvious gopher hole to inspect and maybe catch an obvious and quick snack — gopher mounds stand out in a mowed area. The meal did not materialize, so the coyote continued in Belle’s direction and disappeared behind some brush. Belle, who had taken refuge in the bushes until this point,  then came out and began to forage on her own, remaining close to her protected area instead of venturing out to where Goggles had gone. She was still eyeing the same vole hole when I departed.

Rendezvous, by Charles Wood

24 Jul 2011 6 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, family interactions, group activity, pupping, video

Saturday at dusk Mom sat watching me when Mister, her yearling son, came towards her down their hill.  His dad approached Mom, coming from the east.  Mister burst towards them and the three had a rendezvous.  Near the end of the video, Dad works to settle Mister down.  A little after that Mom shows Mister some teeth and he drops onto his side:  almost as if Mom shot him dead!

These three, after the rendezvous, tried to cross under the bridge into the nature preserve.  However they wouldn’t go under the bridge with me standing there.  While waiting to pass, they began to yip, the upset kind.  I left so they could continue on their way.

Significantly, Mom and Dad were together without their new puppies.  Are there new puppies this year?  If so, were they at dusk Saturday unattended or being cared for by one or both of the other yearlings, Bold and Shy?  If either alone or being cared for, where?

I don’t know.  Last year Mom and Dad raised their puppies without help.  Last year when I saw puppies, Dad was with them.  At times I saw Dad alone without either Mom or puppies.  Seeing solitary Dad meant to me that Mom must have been with the puppies.  This year there are too many full grown coyotes around to allow such guesswork.  Yearlings may make life easier for Mom and Dad, but they make my life, though richer with coyotes, harder.

Posting written by Charles Wood. Visit Charles Wood’s website for more coyote photos: Charles Wood. His work is copyrighted and may only be used with his explicit permission.

Dad In Charge, by Charles Wood

06 Jul 2011 1 Comment

by yipps:janetkessler in care for the young, coyote behavior, coyote reactions to dogs, group activity, pupping

Dad stops

Tuesday I saw Dad at the east end of their east west dirt road, as was Mom Saturday.  Both Mom and Dad, Saturday and Tuesday, respectively, appeared east and headed west.  Last Thursday, Bold instead moved from west to east on that road to arrive at the eastern spot where I had seen Mom (and Dad Tuesday) start out.  Mister frequently heads from west to east on that road, as did Bold last Thursday.  Dad and Mister recently headed together from west to east, which I read as Mom having the puppies somewhere else.  (All this activity usually takes place in the hour before and then during dusk.)  Last Friday, Mom and the three yearlings were together a bit west of that area.  They appeared to be waiting for Dad to come west to them.  I reasoned that he must have had the new puppies with him, though I couldn’t confirm it because he didn’t show up while I was there.

Nor could I confirm on Tuesday that Dad had the new puppies in tow.  Interestingly, once he spotted me, he turned around and trotted back to the cement ditch, exasperatingly out of my view, from which he had just come.  Then he trotted out again to stare and to sit.  He had a view of both me and the ditch.  My thinking is that he had run back to another adult coyote and messaged it to not bring the puppies out.  I guessed there was another adult coyote there because last year, Dad was not by himself able to stop an avalanche of marauding puppies in tow.  The puppies were always slow to recognize his danger messages, mostly glares and grimaces, placed on the puppies once he would spot me.  Last year it would take him time and effort to corral them and move them away from me and into safe brush.  The puppies were slow to glean his meaning, mostly taking an inordinate amount of time to respond appropriately, even at six months of age.  Tuesday, if indeed he had gone back to warn, his orders were followed instantly, something I only conceive of an adult coyote being able to do.  Once he sat, he was in control of both me and his presumed followers.

Dad down

Once I’m spotted, the only activity I generally see are waiting, watching, leaving and/or warning me.  Consequently, Tuesday I moved west to wait for Dad to proceed.  A few minutes later, Dad came along, defecated and then sat staring at me where I was on the bridge.  A rabbit cavorted in front of him just a bit away.  Then Dad bolted to the east, scaring the bejesus out of the rabbit who ran into the brush!  It needn’t have worried at that point.  Things to the east had evidently gotten out of hand and undistractible Dad went back presumably to reassert control of his pack for their own good.  Just after Dad headed back east, another coyote came from the north and went south under the bridge where, once in the field, it headed east to where Dad had bolted.

It is starting to look like a part of my coyote pack takes the new puppies into the nature preserve for at least the afternoons, leaving it for their field around twilight, rendezvous time.  Fortunately for my coyotes, the nature preserve’s boundary road, a major Los Angeles/Orange County east west running street, has two large drainage culverts under it as well as a utility road running under the bridge I stand on.  My coyotes make good use of those safe passages under a heavily trafficked street to go back and forth between the nature preserve and their field.  If I am able to confirm that the puppies are being schooled in the nature preserve in the afternoons, then that is a break with last year’s afternoon use of their field as a puppy school.

Dad ignores rabbit

I hope I am able to convey in the foregoing some of the competence I see displayed by Dad.  The “Dad Stops” photograph reminds me of many of his good qualities.  Among them, total information awareness, his eyes on his present object of interest, his ears perked to assess where he has been and where he is going;  decisiveness in action, where he acts with confidence and competence, Tuesday to make his space safe for himself and his progeny;  he commits entirely to a course of action and doesn’t quit until he has achieved his aims, seeming to know from start to finish what is required of him;  and he digs in and he takes the initiative, sometimes making a stand, sometimes instead taking to the brush.  All of which qualities in the same degree I have also observed in his mate, Mom.  I’m fairly certain that the yearlings are learning some of their final lessons before dispersing, lessons about guarding and secreting puppies, the tactics of how to fully inherit their “ghost species” legacy.

Posting written by Charles Wood. Visit Charles Wood’s website for these and more coyote photos: Charles Wood. His work is copyrighted and may only be used with his explicit permission.

A Deliberate Smoke Screen?

05 Jun 2011 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, coyote reactions to dogs, group activity

Howling, screaming, fretting and fuming after having been approached by a couple of dogs: this is what a coyote’s distressed barking sounds like. It went on for a long time — 20 minutes — and it was loud.

The interesting thing this time is that, although my eyes were fixed on this coyote which was drawing attention to itself, when the noise stopped, someone else noticed another coyote slowly and surreptitiously making its way  away from the area. Had this screaming coyote been drawing attention to itself in order to allow the other one to safely withdraw from the area without being seen? The other one was not a puppy, but it was definitely a juvenile that might have needed protection.

“River Pack Update: Some things change, some stay the same” by Charles Wood

31 Mar 2011 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in avoiding humans, coyote behavior, coyote reactions to dogs, coyote's coat, group activity, identifying individual coyotes, individuality, reactions to a human

My last post was February 22, 2011 when I photographed the mom coyote that lives in a small field that borders one of Los Angeles County’s concrete ‘rivers’.  That post was about 9 weeks after having seen Mom, Dad and their two undispersed female children who by today would be about a year old.  In the past I called one of the children Bold and the other Shy.  I have included their earlier photographs in today’s post.

A couple weeks ago I began to enter their small field a few times to walk along its roads with my leashed dog Holtz.  Coyote tracks and droppings were on the roads, yet my coyotes, if even present during my visits, would not come out.  I remember winter 2009-10 was a time I rarely saw my coyotes.  Winter 2010-11 has been the same.  I wondered if Dad was still paired with Mom and if not, who would be with whom and would there be more pups this year.  I wondered if the two female youngsters had dispersed or worse.  Perhaps they had all moved to other areas.

Today as I walked south on their road, at their nest area, I spotted the first youngster peering from the brush.  She came out to watch us and then left to hide.  In her photograph, note she has distinct blemishes below her left eye.  Regardless, I’m not sure if this first youngster is Bold or Shy.  I seriously doubt it was neither.

I continued my walk and later left the field via the same road.  Dad peered out from the nest area.  I photographed him and he went back into the brush.  I walked on towards the exit and Dad and a youngster came out to the road and watched our progress and assessed whatever odors we had left on the road.  I say ‘a’ youngster because I am not sure which it was.  Eventually Dad and the first youngster pictured began to follow Holtz and I as we continued to leave.  They did so after returning to the brush and coming out to the road several times.  For the fact that they were not in my continuous view, I’m not sure Dad’s companion in approach is the same youngster shown marking on the road.  I am sure Dad’s companion in approach is the first youngster because the final picture of her in this series shows the same blemish pattern below the left eye.  If she is Bold, she is still so.  If she is Shy, she is less so and learned more from Dad today about how to deal with intruder dogs.  What has changed, and what is the same?

Certainly Dad is the same in his distaste for Holtz.  When following us, Dad decided to quickly close the distance between us.  Before so doing, he scraped dirt.  He and the youngster split up, where Dad came east of the rocks and the youngster came towards us to the west of the rocks.  They met up at the rocks, the youngster holding back as Dad charged Holtz.  The Dad And Youngster photograph was taken after Dad’s charge.  He had come to about 20 feet and stopped, backed off some and stood as shown.  He seemed calmer so I took his picture.  I didn’t take pictures during Dad’s charge because I was charging towards Dad to get in front of Holtz.  Here we see one function of long hair on a coyote’s nape and shoulders:  he sure looks bigger!

My exit strategy after such a confrontation is to walk on, stop, turn around and stare, walk on, turn to stare.  Dad’s exit strategy is to pace, yawn, poke his tongue out, find a nearby site to lie down, attend to his grooming needs and stay put as we leave.  The youngster wanders around, visits Dad, wanders some more, going back and forth yet not forward.

I’m happy to know Dad is still holding his field and that at least one of last year’s pups is alive and undispersed.  I suspect that Mom is present and that there may indeed be more pups this year.  I’m interested to know if last year’s pup(s) will remain and have a role in caring for newborns.  The weeds are growing back quickly in the areas cleared in fall and winter.  The coyotes make use of the additional cover as a puppy kindergarten.  Last year I began seeing the pups in late June, observing them from outside of the field.  The information gained today leaves me content to now keep out of the field.

Posting written by Charles Wood. Visit Charles Wood’s website for these and more coyote photos:Charles Wood. His work is copyrighted and may only be used with his explicit permission.

The Push/Pull Of Independence

22 Jan 2011 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, group activity

Here a coyote youngster backed into a thicket area for protection after a dog had tried coming after him. Mom had been close by and ran to the rescue. She positioned herself out front, where she sat vigilantly, just in case another dog tried coming up again. These two coyotes remained like this for over five minutes: the mom out in front on guard, and the youngster curled up in the background, protected, within the edge of the thicket.

When the dogs had moved on, the youngster decided to emerge, at which point Mom began walking away, leading the way as if she expected the youngster to follow. But no. The youngster planted himself close to where his mother had been, and continued watching for another several minutes. When no more dogs appeared, the younger coyote, too, moved on.

Family Interactions & Dynamics

26 Dec 2010 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, family interactions, group activity, hierarchy Tags:

These interactions lasted about nine minutes. It was not light enough to see anything but the outline of one coyote when I arrived at the scene. I sat down to watch. Soon I became aware of two more coyotes — the mother and subservient sibling, resting only a few feet away from the first fella — the dominant sibling. I’ve put captions on the photos rather than explain it here below. This family interaction took place a while back — at the beginning of November. The family consists of a single mom and her two 21-month-old male offspring who have recently established a strong hierarchy between themselves.

The dominant sibling is the one doing all the approaching on this day: he approaches his sibling to dominate him, and he approaches his mom to increase his bond with her at the expense of his brother.  Of special interest here is that after Mom watches Dominant Sibling hover over and dominate his more subservient sibling, she then makes sure to let this dominating fellow know that she is above him. She does this first by taking his snout in hers and then by raising herself above him with her paws on his back. He allows her to do this: he is below her in the hierarchy, but above his brother.

Displays of dominance include a dominant muzzle enclosed over the more subservient muzzle, standing over and higher than the other fellow, holding the tail up high often with hackles up, approaching. Signs of submissiveness I’ve seen include cowering with ears down or back, head held lower and moving in a slinking fashion, displaying vulnerable parts and letting the dominant guy bite your inner thighs, hitting the ground on your back showing the belly, fleeing.

 

Chasing Game — On One’s Own Terms

18 Nov 2010 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, family interactions, group activity, playing

I was watching as three coyotes appeared on the horizon and remained there. The activity was minor. Suddenly, one of them shot down the hill in a frenzy — as if he might have flipped out — there was a swishing sound and suddenly he was down at the bottom of the hill. The others gazed at him seemingly dumbfounded — probably as dumbfounded as I myself felt. What the heck was going on? Then this coyote raced up the hill again with great exuberance and pure gusto. He just wanted to play! His frenzied activity worked. Invitations to play lately have been met with cruel put downs by his sibling. This time, he ran in, but didn’t give the other guy a chance to dominate him. It was almost a dare. This fellow whizzed by his dominating sibling, and the dominating fellow felt compelled to go after him. Ah! The long awaited game finally was happening. Mom got excited and joined in. And less-dominant guy led the whole thing, smiling exuberantly as he did so!! Finally, out of breath, the two followers ascended to the top of the hill, still with their full attention on this guy, and he, the force behind the show, remained below, panting hard but obviously happy. He had had his game! The chase game lasted less than two minutes.

Love & Rigid Social Order

10 Nov 2010 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in affection, coyote behavior, dominant vs. submissive, group activity, hierarchy, mother/pup learning

A coyote social order is maintained by rituals which constantly confirm who fits where in a group. Here, Mom goes through the ritual of enclosing the snouts of both of her offspring, 19 months old, in her snout and the confirmation seems to be appreciated by everyone — they seem to have interjected their snouts into hers for this confirmation. The two siblings often battle — the battles are only a few seconds long, but they definitely are there. Here, sibling #2 begins to dominate, but Mom walks off at one point and shows her teeth in another. Sibling #2 keeps peace by walking under his dominating sibling’s chin. In the end, the two siblings banter amicably.

And Again, Sibling Squabbles

05 Nov 2010 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, dominant vs. submissive, family interactions, group activity

These wranglings are always rather short, ending with the less dominant guy running away from the dominating sibling. A hierarchy is establishing itself between these two sibling coyotes, as it must, and this is the way they work it out.

Previous Older Entries Next Newer Entries