Coyote Yipps

I came upon these two as they rushed off suddenly and excitedly. Something was up. They had been sauntering along when there was a sudden change in their energy. I watched them as they watched and went after a squirrel: backing up into the street to get a better view, and then rushing into the bushes, repeatedly. There was little chance of capturing the squirrel, even though it was two to one, but they gave it their all. After ten minutes, one of the coyotes stood up tall, looked around, and then hurried off very purposefully. The chase was over — patience only lasts for so long.

After all of the failures at attempting to catch a squirrel, this coyote finally met with success. The squirrel was killed quickly, the bones were crushed, and then the entire animal was downed whole — every bit of it except the two-inch end of the tail. Coyotes are not wasteful.

This coyote was set on capturing his prey. The digging session took over four minutes of intense concentrated effort and a string of maneuvers. The flurry of exertion was worth it, with the captured vole being finished off in a flash. For good measure, the coyote marked the spot before leaving.

This “standoff” lasted about three minutes. When the coyote decided to end it, it was immediate and quick.

The coyote approached ever so quietly, raising one foot at a time, one after the other, ever so slowly, and then executed a fabulous and carefully planned pounce pounce which involved a slight backing up to add power to the leap! But the object of desire was not meant to be his this time. Most hunting I have seen involves a coyote standing right over a vole or gopher hole. This coyote here had its eye on prey that was further in the distance.

Sometimes a little critter will fight back. I’ve only seen one actually get away.

Find, pounce, poke, retrieve, crunch, gulp, shake, lick chops. That’s how it goes. Sometimes any of these steps can take lots of time, and sometimes it’s over quickly. This sequence here was very quick.

I watched this coyote work here for fifteen full minutes. It was digging and eating something — somethings. They were small and didn’t require much chewing. After the coyote left I checked it out, but could only find some small bugs and white larvae. Coyotes do eat bugs and grubs.

I’m wondering if this also might have been a squirrel’s cache of winter food? It is only a thought — I could not confirm it. I didn’t see a squirrel, but the coyote did look up frequently.  I found out what squirrels eat and cache. This includes seeds, nuts, fruits, lichens, buds, roots, pine cones, leaves, twigs and bark. They have been known to also eat bird eggs, snakes and insects, snails, baby birds and even rats. Coyotes also eat all of these things.

Whatever the coyote had been working on, it was not a gopher or a vole. It was probably bugs and grubs — maybe a colony of them?