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.
Scouting Around A Log
15 Nov 2011 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, curiosity, foraging, hunting, Uncategorized, video Tags: coyote, coyote hunting, coyotes, urban coyotes
A coyote stops at a log to scout for a possible meal. The scrutiny was intense and thorough, but yielded nothing! I didn’t start the video until most of the exploring was already over, but you can see from the stills I took before the video that the coyote was all over the log. I didn’t see any digging, just poking and sniffing, so I assume it was scent and not sound that drew the coyote to the log.
There Is Something Exciting In There
11 Nov 2011 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, coyotes and dogs, hunting
This bush is actually called Coyote Brush! The coyote stopped when he got there, sniffed it, then got up on its two hind legs to reach higher. But that did not help accomplish anything. So finally the coyote leaped up to get even higher, and repeated this several times, falling to the ground rather clumsily after each leap! There must have been something pretty exciting in that bush. However, the coyote’s efforts ended there because a dog from a distant path spotted the coyote and came bounding up in pursuit. The coyote fled the scene. The dog, too, then became interested in the bush and sniffed it intensely for a minute, but the dog was not as resourceful as the coyote had been in his attempts to reach whatever was there. When the dog’s owner called, the dog returned to the path. I later returned to the bush to try to figure out what had been there — whatever it was, it was long gone, so it will always be a mystery.
Coyotes Like To Check Things Out Thoroughly
04 Nov 2011 Leave a comment
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.
Kickin’ High
26 Oct 2011 2 Comments
in coyote behavior, hunting, video Tags: coyote, coyote behavior, coyotes, urban coyotes
This coyote is totally absorbed in the job at hand, totally focused. The high-strung tension is palpable as he hesitates and wavers. He holds back, preparing for his big move. He finally lets go like a wound-up coil when he thinks the time is right. Watch those legs fly! In spite of the effort, the vole evaded capture.
Tip Toe!
22 Oct 2011 1 Comment
in coyote behavior, foraging, hunting, video Tags: coyote, coyote behavior, coyote hunting, coyotes
I asked a very good friend if he thought this video might be too long for viewers. This is what he said:
“It is wonderful, & beautiful — particularly the sound, and the length, which both are perfect — nature is slow… those digitalkids & iphonephreaks who believe they live in a soundbyte world, don’t — there are entire worlds out there, surrounding them and containing them and of which they are a tiny miniscule and unimportant part, which move far more slowly — Nature is one of those, Geology moves far more slowly even than that — Astral events, the stars, move both far more slowly and sometimes a whole lot faster, than they do — let the slowness here, decorated so wonderfully by that chirping-birds & airplane soundtrack, remind them of their own relativity in all of that”.
This video is long, at 5:51 minutes. The most interesting parts are the tiptoeing at 1:10, the series of pounces where she caves in the underground tunnels of her prey at 1:44, and then the furious digging and moving of ground cover at 2:17. She exposes her prey by this digging and grabs it at 3:28 and then eats it. A young female shows how adept she is at her hunting routine:
Here is a breakdown of what is occurring:
- To begin with, patiently, she stands there, super alert, watching and listening, triangulating her ears from side to side, and nodding her head back and forth to exactly and precisely locate her prey by sound.
- At 1:10 she tiptoes, ever so carefully so that her prey may not hear her — a little bit closer
- Soon thereafter, at 1:44 she tenses, getting ready to leap, backs up a little bit and then springs up and down into several pounces, landing hard on her forepaws with a series of “punches” meant to knock in her prey’s intricate tunneling system underground. This prevents the gopher from escaping through that tunnel network. This lasts until 2:05.
- At 2:17 she begins furiously digging and digging, both deep into the ground to break through into the tunnels, and on the surface to move the ground-cover out of the way, all the while continually keeping a wary eye on her surroundings, including me and folks walking in back of me.
- At 3:28 she catches her prey, disables it, and tosses it to the ground. Then, by looking around, she assesses how safe it is to eat right it then and there. She decides it’s not so safe, so she runs off with it.
- At 3:36 until the end of the video, she eats her prey, tearing into several more manageable eating portions and chewing these down to swallowable sizes — it takes a while, and then she calmly walks off. Note that there is no waste — she eats every bit of her prey: entrails, muscles, fur and bones.
Nose Punch
26 Sep 2011 1 Comment
in coyote behavior, coyotes, hunting, video Tags: coyote, coyote behavior, coyotes, urban coyotes
A hard and fast “punch” is delivered at the entryway to the burrow of a little critter that will become the coyote’s prey. It’s part of the cycle of life. Coyotes sometimes use their two front paws which they stiffen for this purpose. In this case, the nose is used to deliver the hefty punch. From what I have seen, this punch disables or weakens the critter. Most of the time, as here, it is followed by probing and digging before the prey is actually captured. The coyote regularly looks around to check out the safety of his surroundings.
A Feast For One At A Time
09 Sep 2011 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, coyotes, group activity, hunting Tags: coyotes, urban coyote behavior, urban coyotes
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- looking away while the other feasts
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- Peeking at the eater
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- onlooker diverts face to avoid gaze when faced directly by the one feasting
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- onlooker keeps eyes off of eater
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- eater gives a warning to onlooker
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- onlooker gets severe warning
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- onlooker growls back defensively
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- onlooker moves away
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- feasting coyote gets to finish undisturbed
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.
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- departed coyote moves off 50 feet and looks back
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- departed coyote waits patiently looking the other way
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- feasting coyote departs
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- departed coyote returns quickly
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- the second coyote now eats
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- second coyote drags the carcass off
Triangulation, A Dive, And “Darn that Log!”
31 Aug 2011 2 Comments
in coyote behavior, hunting, video Tags: coyote behavior, coyotes, urban coyotes
To note, especially, is the way the coyote cocks its entire head back and forth, triangulating, in order to precisely locate through sound where its prey is. The dive ends with a powerful “punch” delivered by the forepaws aimed right at the prey. Also note the coyote’s extreme patience and concentration. The video originally was about six minutes long. I’ve spliced out four minutes so that you won’t need a coyote’s patience to watch it!
A Foot Is Put Down
25 Aug 2011 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, hunting Tags: coyote behavior, coyotes, urban coyotes
holding a foot down
The vole was caught, but it tried to get away, of course. As it reached the other side of the path the coyote extended a foot and put it down on top of the prey, pinning it down, trapping it and sealing its fate. The coyote stood up and kept its weight on its prey for a full ten seconds — an incredibly long period of time when life and death are concerned — standing absolutely still and looking off into the distance. I actually could not tell that this is what was happening until the coyote finally bent down to pick up in his mouth what was under his foot and run off with it before eating it.
In most instances that I have seen, a coyote will scramble quickly to get a firm hold of its prey in its mouth to prevent it from slipping away. But this time there was a calmness as the coyote stood there with his weight on the vole. Had he been squeezing it to death — preventing respiration –on purpose, the same as the hawks do? I have seen hawks hold onto and squeeze a rodent over what felt like a long time, but in fact was only about ten seconds, while looking calmly off into the distance, exactly as the coyote had done. It points to a behavior and a use of the legs which I have not seen before.
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- vole gets away
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- trapping vole with paw
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- standing calmly with weight on vole
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- continuing to put weight on vole
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- picking up the lifeless vole
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- running off to enjoy a meal
Excellent Hearing and A Poison Oak Bush
22 Aug 2011 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, hunting Tags: coyote behavior, coyotes, urban coyotes
This young fellow knew exactly where what he wanted was — right in the middle of a poison oak bush!! He leapt in and forcefully pushed branches aside with his neck and forepaws, thrusting his nose to the exact right spot on the ground which he obviously could not see. Immediately the coyote came up with a vole. He munched it down right then and there rather than back out of the bush. Notice that he’s keeping an eye on a bird flying overhead — coyotes tend to keep an eye on everything that is happening around themselves. The vole was found totally by sound, without any visual help at all.
Listening
01 Aug 2011 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, hunting Tags: coyote behavior, coyotes, urban coyotes
I decided to listen as I walked along on a still and quiet morning with no people or pets in sight. Yes, there were lots of birds singing and there were the usual traffic noises. But also, there were constant “scritch-scratching” sounds, and constant rustling sounds. I stopped and stood totally still to see if I could tell exactly where these sounds were coming from. Sure enough, when I slowed down, I could pinpoint where they were coming from with ease, and I could actually see little rodents at work within little two-inch areas: digging, pulling foliage into their burrows, or running through the thick grass areas.
These small critters usually tunnel underground over vast areas and only come to the surface at their burrow openings — this is where I was hearing and seeing them. I can imagine how much easier it would be for a coyote, with his extra sensitive hearing, smelling and eyesight, to sense and then to catch what it needs to survive.
Here is an observation which I found amusing. I watched this coyote stop dead still on a path as it had been sauntering along. It was a hard path which had no vole or gopher holes on it. Yet the coyote with his keen hearing could hear the activity below the path. The coyote spent a full minute and a half locating precisely where the sound came from, and then — instinctively — did his “n-curved” dive, fortunately landing on his feet instead of his nose! He then pawed at the ground in a last attempt to reach his prey before moving on — he knew he was missing something which he could not get to.
The coyote HAD to dive because the situation called for it in a certain way — the same way my dog HAD to shake himself out when he saw the rain, even though my dog was standing inside looking out at the rain.
Ups and Downs of Hunting
28 Jul 2011 Leave a comment
Hunting has its ups and downs. This coyote slowly and carefully approached her target — a gopher hole — gingerly extending an arm in the hole’s direction. Ahhhh, the timing looked right — she obviously heard or smelled what she wanted in the hole. So up she jumped in a beautifully executed n-curved dive, which landed exactly on target: nose into the ground and feet flying high!
But I can’t tell if the coyote hurt her nose or if the gopher bit her — notice her expression after the dive in the center photo. She then attempted to reach for the gopher, but after she stuck her nose in the hole this time, she suddenly trotted off a short distance where she stood just looking at the gopher hole. Did the gopher bite her again? She did not leave with a gopher, and she did not approach this gopher hole again. Hmmm.
Dealings With A Mole
01 Jul 2011 5 Comments
in coyote behavior, hunting, perfume bath, playing, wallowing
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- Plucking up prey effortlessly & running off with it
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- toying with it as if it were still alive — waiting for a response
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- rubbing its smell on himself
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- examining it again
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- urinating on it — marking it
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- walking off
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- I checked it out — it was a mole
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- checking to see what I might have done
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- finally leaving for good
I watched as a small prey was quickly and effortlessly plucked from the ground — I mean, after a single nose-poke into the ground, the coyote ran off with the small prey dangling from its mouth. I marveled at how adept some coyotes were at hunting. I’ve seen moles and gophers hunted down, and it always takes some doing. The coyote nosed its prey and watched it intently, picking it up a few times and watching it intently again. The coyote was looking for a response, for any sign of movement. I’ve seen coyotes do this with most of their prey before consuming it. The coyote was treating it as if it were not quite dead.
Once absolutely sure the mole was not moving, the coyote lowered the front part of its body onto the dead animal and began rubbing its neck on the critter. This was repeated several times. When done, the coyote examined the critter again and then urinated on it rather than eating it. This clued me in that it was probably a mole: they don’t seem to eat moles, but they do like rubbing themselves on them because of their smell.
After the coyote walked off, I took the opportunity to go see what the animal was. It was a mole. Not only that, it became obvious to me that it was a mole which had been dead for some time — it was hard and cold. Hmmmm. I wondered why the coyote had treated it as if it had been alive, waiting for it to move, toying with it and watching for it to react. Maybe he was hoping; maybe it was just a game. I feel that the coyote knew it was already dead when he found it. I had concentrated on the toying behavior of the coyote instead of the speed with which the critter was plucked from the ground as the main clue to what was going on.
As I finished photographing the dead mole, I looked up to see the coyote — still there — watching me. I thought that the coyote had moved on — I had no idea that I was being watched. I immediately and quickly walked away — I had no intention of giving the impression that I was actually interested in “stealing” it.
As I walked off, the coyote, again, approached “his” mole and examined it for any changes I might have made — such as that I might have declared ownership by urinating on it? He smelled it intently, as before. This time he was assessing me through any markings I might have made. Satisfied that I had not marked it as mine, he wandered off, this time for good. This is the first time a coyote I’ve been observing has actually checked me out and thought I was “involved”. My personal method is never to be “involved” in whatever a coyote is doing: if I’m reacted to in any way, I know I’ve overstepped the bounds I like to maintain for myself. It happened this time.
Meal In The Meadow
27 Feb 2011 1 Comment
Excitement, enthusiasm, fun, energy, entertainment and nourishment — all wrapped up in a meal in the meadow.
