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!
The most interesting thing about this video is the vocalizations which appear at 1:45 as the family heads out. They are in a hurry and have purpose: I’m certain they are after the Intruder, based on all the rest of their behavior in this video. There are also high-pitched squeaky vocalizations at the end of the video clip. Otherwise, the rest of the video is silent.
The cast consists of Dad, Mom and two youngsters, in addition to a mature Intruder. The scene opens with Dad kicking dirt angrily and urinating: he does not like what he finds out which is that an intruder — one he’s known about for the last little while — has been by. At about :28 his mate joins. She enters their fence hole at :32 followed by him after he angrily kicks dirt again.
One of their youngsters is with them: he does not go through the hole in the fence, but follows the fenceline a short distance and then returns and slithers through the hole at :59.
At 1:03 Dad is back scratching at the earth and then slithers through the hole again; Youngster then appears and seems perplexed at what he’s smelling — he seems to stand back and think about it before passing through the fence hole at 1:41 and a second youngster slithers through at 1:53.
At 1:45 are the vocalizations. They have been vocally quiet until now, but at 1:45 either Mom or Dad vocalizes loudly — it sounds like a bugle-like call to action — as all four head out together quickly and purposefully.
At 2:00 a youngster returns and sniffs the area intently again before passing through the hole at 2:34. At 2:40 the same coyote is back sniffing and passes thru the fence hole again at 2:55.
At the 2:58 mark, Mom returns to look around and then passes thru the hole at 3:13. That’s then Dad going thru at the 3:21 mark. Youngster follows at 3:36 and then another youngster at 3:37, followed almost immediately by second Youngster at 3:38.
The reactive actions occurred all during a six and a half hour window of time at night; by the next evening no family members were sniffing for the intruder’s presence.
At 3:44, the Intruder sits in front of the camera in daylight and you can get a very clear picture of who he is. He is not part of the family, but has been hanging around the periphery of the this territory.
At 4:23 there is a fast chase several hundred feet from the previous scenes. The camera was not fast enough to catch the first guy which would have been the intruder, and then the two alpha parents (Mom and Dad) going after him. At 4:49 they return making very high pitched squeaking noises, and then at 4:41 they seem to celebrate their success with body and muzzle rubs and wagging tails as they rejoin a youngster who did not accompany them on the chase..
The alpha-pair of one of the families I follow extended their old territory last year. Not just did they extend it, they moved predominantly to that extension’s edge where their next litter was born (April, 2022) and this is where they spend the bulk of their time now. Yet, they maintain a foothold in their old territorial hub, trekking the mile distance regularly at night, but less often than they did a year ago when they first moved. At that time the treks back and forth were nightly, whereas now they are weekly or less.
When they moved the hub of their location and activity, they took with them just one of the youngsters born in 2021 — at that time, he was not yet a yearling. I don’t know if he or his parents made the choice to have him move with them. Neither do I know why the rest of his siblings remained behind — whether it was the choice of the individual youngsters or of their parents. But several of those pups remained behind. Over the course of the year, dispersal and death has taken all of them except one — the little girl. In November, friends found part of an old coyote skeleton and skin — the animal must have perished several months before that because the bones were clean of flesh, falling apart, and full of dirt. Those bones hold the secret to a story we can’t tell. Most wildlife holds these secrets: I’ve been able to barely scratch the surface with my observations, but there’s a wealth more that none of us will ever know about [Photo: Liz Rumsey].
I should point out that most of the territories I’ve studied — in fact, all except one — have retained fairly stable boundaries, so this situation stands out in my experience (16 years worth) as rather unusual. I’m thinking that this seems to be less of a quintessential “fragmented territory” than two separate territories claimed, for the moment, by the same alpha pair — if that’s possible.
There’s a mile-length of residential neighborhoods — houses on 25 x 100-foot lots — and even a freeway, separating what constituted their previous territorial hub and this present one. The old hub was used exclusively for 6 years and is where these alphas had their first two litters. At that earlier time, there was another entirely separate family occupying what is now our family’s “extended” territory.
That separate family is still around, but further south. The two families don’t appear to cross the “line” that separates them, and there’s even a sort of buffer zone which both respect.The alpha male of THAT family is getting up in years, and his mate is very small and young-looking — I’m wondering if these might have been factors involved in the “takeover”? I was not able to capture the process by which the change occurred: Had there been a fight for it? Or did it involve a gradual and accepted “pushing of the envelope” — i.e., pushing the other family over. Or a withdrawal by one family and simple filling-the-void by our family? OR, might our alpha male be an offspring of that family (I’m waiting for the DNA to confirm this or not) and been allowed to take it over by having it “ceded” to him willingly and amicably? I’ve seen this situation happen before. There are lots of questions which aren’t answered and might never be.
Above: Before dawn, I spotted the alpha pair headed towards their old hub.
A few days ago I was able to observe the alpha female’s activities upon one of her regular returns to her old hub. Initially I spotted her with her mate, the alpha-pair together, as they traversed that old haunt of theirs, but the male, who is much more wary and shy than she is, soon disappeared from view and that was the last I saw of him during this observation. The female remained visible and her trajectory was easy for me to follow. She was there to scrutinize the area: to find out what had been going on.
Sniffing (above 5 images): every inch of this swath of her territory was examined thoroughly for what the smells would reveal.
Visuals of course are important. But most of her “sizing-up” was done through her nose. She must have been figuring out WHO had been there and WHAT they were there for? WHAT were their tell-tale characteristics: such as male, female, age, testosterone level, etc. The “who” refers to coyotes and dogs.
Marking (above 4 images). Note the first oblong photo in this series: she’s both marking AND sniffing at the same time!
These are some of the photos I took. Alpha-mom thoroughly examined an entire swath of the area, keeping her nose to the ground while she was processing all the data she sniffed in. She frequently marked, as if she were “responding” to the information she was absorbing. In the 75 minutes I was able to observe her, she spent most of that time criss-crossing a 100-square-foot swath of field, marking and sizing up whatever had transpired there before she arrived. I don’t know how long back she’s able to whiff information, but I assume several days worth if not longer.
She found the food she had apparently buried here on a previous occasion — I saw her dig it up and wolf it down — no hunting was involved (above 3 images).
At one point she began digging. It was obviously a place where she had buried some prey — cached it away for a rainy day — because she was able to unbury it and eat it up without a hunt. After spending several minutes filling up, she marked the area several times before continuing her zig-zagging investigation. Shortly after that she disappeared around a bend, but I quickly found her again: she had met up with her yearling daughter and I caught them eating a chicken-pot-pie someone must have just left for them, because it was not there earlier: I could see that mom ceded the treasure to the youngster.
I lost alpha mom for a few minutes, only to spot her through the bushes, next to her daughter with a chicken pot pie, which daughter was allowed to have.
Then she explored further afield than the 100 square foot swath which had preoccupied her initially.
Yearling daughter appeared a couple of times during this observation.
As an aside I want to mention that the presence of an alpha-pair and their continual markings keeps intruders out of a family owned territory. Without the continual marking — such as when either of the alpha’s is absent — the potential for intrusion by another coyote becomes likely. I wonder how long this family will be able to hold onto this area since they aren’t there all the time? Interestingly, this morning I saw the alpha male from the next territory over cruising the peripheral edges of this, his neighbor’s now less-used area. Was this just a reconnaissance trek with no other purpose than just that, or might he be harboring incipient plans to expand into the minimally marked area? So, although I’ve seen a lot of stability in most territories, fluidity is opened by absence of either of the territorial alphas. I’ll keep my eye open for this fella’s potential expansion into that area. This fella, below, by the way, is the full brother of the alpha mom I’ve been describing in this post: he never knew her, being born four years after her, but I wonder if they know, through scent, that they are siblings, or at least related on some level.
Full-brother, four years her junior, is the alpha male on the next territory over. I saw him encroach on what was the old hub of the coyote pair that moved. We’ll have to wait and see how this plays out.
I’ve recieved updates on Kinkytail and as well news of Slim Jim’s peaceful death.
The 4 biology students who also are rancher’s kids and grandkids have really kept up especially with Kinkytail’s life. They have goals as not only biologists but to turn several vast ranches into one enormous bison operation. Great kids and very observant.
Slim Jim was observed end of October very slow and wobbly. He slept in open spots not caring it seemed but usually in middle of bison or out on rocks. His daughter Kinky seemed to visit him regularly. He was seen stiffly yet successfully hunting voles though nearly 100% blind. He also..every day..still tossed sticks about briefly in play.
Early on in November Slim seemed to vanish. His vocalizations weren’t heard. And Kinkytail howled for days…one of the observer’s said “that’s stress. Thats loss”.
On Nov 9th Slim Jim was found curled inside a rounded hay bale in fields. He seemed to have passed in sleep. He had a small stick in paws.
He was examined by the students and cremated on his land on ranch. He weighed 38 lbs and seemed in reasonable condition. All of his remaining 7 teeth were worn very low. His neck and upper spine vertebrae were deformed it seemed by traumatic injury…(likely the wolf attack nearly 2 years ago) but he healed and was mobile. If a human..wheelchair and canes would have been needed. Slim carried on. His cataracts were thick. Glimmers of light likely seen and shadows. Age likely 12-14 years. A tooth was removed to age in lab.
The indomitable Kinkytail
Rest well Slim Jim. In his long life we only knew his latter years.His mate and pups were killed by wolves and he was injured badly. His surviving daughter Kinkytail not only survived with him..but grew up ultra advanced. Some call her mean and ruthless type. Kinky got her Mate early in life and pupped as yearling. She then came back to her old place and Slim (again). She fetched her Father when she pupped. He babysat. She seemed to check on Slim often in his little pocket of quiet. Currently..she has banished a daughter pup. She is driving off her Mate it seems. He seemed “lackluster” in helping defend turf or following passing wolves or dogs or seeing off coyote visitors.
Older pic of Many Blows. His swelling is now reduced. He is a very scarred but powerful veteran coyote.
She is being visited often by Many Blows..an older veteran coyote who had swollen jaw months. Many Blows had 2 younger female follower..whom Kinkytail has routinely chased off. They have not been seen recently. And Many Blows keeps chasing the lackluster but confused Mate..and Kinkytail watches in approval.
Kinkytail grew up in enormous litter of two combined litters. Her older sister returned when widowed and bore her litter with her and Kinkys mom. So…
Kinky grew up with huge litter. Which attracted wolves. Her Mom and littermates wiped out, she stuck with injured Dad and grew up fast. Very intense little coyote.
Bad Ears Pack…making incursions but kept at bay.
Kinkytail will spot you and bark miles away. She trails wolves when they pass through and escorts them out. At distance. She accepts the students who watch her..and disappears on other humans.
Same with ranch dogs. She knows the locals. Including my pack. Chases strange dogs off her land.
She has an intensity and toughness surpassing any so far. Especially for one so young. She seems very strategic. All summer she has resisted the incursions and scouting of the Bad Ear Pack. All of them bear her tooth marks. It’s thought with a powerhouse like Many Blows Kinky Tail will do very well in future.
It’s always guessing with the coyote. Wild lives are tenuous and can change in literal heartbeats. But..Kinky Tails aura is no guesswork. And Slim Jim’s life was a great one indeed.
[The first part of this is re-posted from my Instagram account, and then I explore a coyote territorial “takeover” scenario with input from Walkaboutlou].
Vida was a three-year-old first-time mom who suddenly went missing on July 25th, and we’ve not seen her again. She was a tiny and easy-going coyote who minded her own business and stayed away from people and dogs in her park. She was an absolutely ideal neighbor.
She had two four-month old pups whom she would not have just left. No, something happened — but what? There have been no DOA coyotes picked up by Animal Care and Control since then, so she doesn’t appear to have been hit by a car. The one hint as to what might have happened is the incredibly intense distressed coyote vocalizations every night around midnight close to her denning area over the period when she went missing, the kind I’ve been hearing, not after a simple chase by a dog, but after a much more intense and relentless hot pursuit by a powerful dog bent on “getting the coyote”, as I’ve recently posted.
I can’t help but thinkof the possibility that her disappearance might have been due to such foul play. The disturbing vocalizations went on intensely for many nights and pointed to violent upheaval of some type. I know it sounds far fetched — and this would be a worst-case scenario — but I wouldn’t put her disappearance past someone with a hunting dog who hates coyotes — maybe even brought into the city by a seriously disgruntled park-going individual. More than once I’ve heard several individuals say they were going to shoot the coyotes — take the law into their own hands because they didn’t like the law — the law didn’t suit them. The law, BTW, here in San Francisco, is that you can’t harm or harass wildlife.
There are a number of humans who are outraged and outspokenly livid that trails were closed by the Park Department this denning season, having been closed off to keep both dogs and coyotes out of each other’s way and to curtail conflict. In their minds, “whole sections of parks were turned over to the coyotes.” The people who think this way are not many, but they sure are vocal, loud, and self-righteous about it. They are individuals who feel THEY have a handle on how things “should be” and are unable to accept anything different — anything inconvenient to them. I want to point out to them that until the 1920s, Bald Eagles were considered vermin and shot on sight for hunting small animals and as a dire threat to children — they were one of those animals that “shouldn’t be here”.
I have seen large dogs sicced on coyotes by their owners in other SF parks — I was there and stopped it. What I do know is that Vida is gone and there were intensely distressed vocalizations tied into her disappearance, and then another female suddenly appeared and filled her niche. Fortunately, last I saw, Dad was still regurgitating food for the pups, picked up by a field-camera, so they are continuing to be taken care of. Vida has never reappeared.
As I said, I don’t have absolute proof that dogs were involved, I’m just speculating, as a possible scenario, based on my observations of the overall situation and all the input I’ve received. On the face of it, that’s the most likely scenario of what happened. But I want to interject another script or storyline possibility, no matter how unlikely, to show the breadth and depth of coyote behavior more than anything else.
A full month after Vida disappeared, my field camera in the area captured a pummeling fight between two female coyotes. The aggressive victor of the fight turned out to be none other than Libe, the new alpha female in the territory — the one who replaced Vida. I had no trouble identifying her. As I watched the video clip a thought passed through my head: What IF the smaller coyote had been Vida? This potentiality came to mind because the smaller, losing coyote had a similar size and body configuration as Vida. In spite of that, in Vida’s case, there appear to be too many negating factors: Vida has always been easy for me to identify, but I was unable to in the clip; the fight happened a full month after Vida stopped appearing, whereas if she had been forcefully driven away she would have tried repeatedly to reclaim her territory and family, but she didn’t — coyotes are intensely tied to their families; and she would have been more the aggressor rather than simply putting up a defense as might a dispersing coyote, as seen in the video — in the video it’s Libe who is doing all the pummeling.
So, more as a point of interest, I want it to be known that “takeover” situations — i.e. “stealing” — though exceptionally rare when there are pups, appear to be remotely possible.
Duking it out
I asked my friend, Walkaboutlou, who has revealed his deep understanding of coyotes from years of first-hand interest and observations, if he had ever heard of, or thought it possible, that an outsider single female could come in and fight and oust a mother with four-month-old pups from her territory? Could this happen? Do coyotes “steal” each other’s families? Ever? Commonly? I’ve never seen it. I myself had seen single coyotes ousted from territories, but in those cases, there were no pups and there was no mate, and I’ve seen the territories of older coyotes who have lost their mates taken over forcefully by a more robust and younger coyote pair.
Hi Janet,
I’m not a canine behaviorist professional in domestic or wild canids. However I always say …
Almost anything is possible.
I’ve seen seemingly stable and generational coyote packs that all have degree of relatedness and various affiliations too. Most areas are extremely fluid because coyote typically on average live rather fast lives. If you only have a few years to live, hold a place and have some pups hopefully … you live intense.
The ranching family I know who has known their coyote packs decades has mentioned take overs or changes. Sometimes a male or female is “driven” out. And their mate leaves with them.
Other times … it seems some mates are determined to stay in territory, and join the victor. Much like cats. The territory holds them more than the bond.
I think any outcome or dynamic is possible. The contact calls and stress vocalizations would happen with dog aggression, or coyote take over. Its upheaval.
I also know some coyote depart like ghost never to be seen again if they lose territory. And others are very stubborn to relinquish old stomping grounds.
However … the intensity of take over merits … usually … short term stuff. It’s usually just so stressful to both hunt and survive the usual … AND wage battles for turf it’s usually too much to maintain any length of time.
That being said … a Mother of pups and with mate is rarely usurped so early. It would be very interesting to know the history of challenger and her relationship with the current male. Some coyote …(like some people) don’t care about property rights, laws … or bonds. They see a place. A territory. A pack. And say…MINE. Take it or leave it. I’m coming in. You are leaving or submitting. Its mine.
It seems harsh. But many coyote feel impelled to take actions asap especially in areas where territory isnt easy to find.
I think there are outsider females and males that absolutely will take over everything. They may drive out the whole family. Or just the same sex target. (Mother, Daughters)
Fascinating stuff. Lou
BTW, the new female, Libe, two years old I would say, had been living in an adjacent territory as a loner for at least a year. That adjacent territory was not ideal in that it was entirely on the urban residential grid, composed of 25×100 foot lots with houses and apartments, and little open space in addition to small backyards, whereas Vida’s territory had it all: neighborhoods to trek through, a vast wild open space, a mate, pups. Libe trekked through her urban territory daily, usually at night, dawn or dusk, and kept away from people and dogs but allowed herself to be seen without any fear. I had seen her trekking right up to the periphery of Vida’s territory within a month of Vida’s disappearance, and may have been entering and assessing the situation. The only real interactive “behavior” of hers that I’ve ever seen is that fight in the field camera where she showed her mettle: she was pretty darn spunky and in control there. But recently she also has shown a spunky defiance towards dogs, challengingly occupying their play-space for short spells.
So, what I’m saying here is that Vida was most likely brutally eliminated/killed by a dog. BUT, almost anything is possible in the coyote world, as stated by Lou, including for an outsider coyote to come in and steal — lock, stock and barrel — what belonged to another coyote. Another circumstance diminishing that latter possibility here is that Vida and her mate were extremely supportive, playful, and affectionate with each other. It seems he would have defended her. But maybe not?
On the surface, this photo might look like fun and games to everyone, and it is: two coyotes charmingly playing with an old torn up ball. Coyotes love finding novel items. Playing with the items is a way of finding out all about the items and working together, even if competitively. However, as usual, there’s much more going on here than meets the eye at first glimpse.
This coyote parent-pair, whose den is close by, purposefully scared a dog and owner out of the dog playpen and then claimed the area as their own for about half an hour before trotting off. I heard the dog-owner scream her surprise, and looked over as she grabbed her dog while two coyotes who had hopped the fence were facing her with arched backs and wrinkled noses, no more that 15 feet away from the dog. It would have been a frightening situation for anyone, not only because of the menacing-looking coyotes who had come so close, but because it was so unexpected: the dog-owner was startled and unprepared. Within seconds, the dog and owner, and both coyotes, went in opposite directions, clearing out of the pen. The coyotes had as little interest in actually “engaging” as the dog and owner: their purpose had been to “message” the dog to leave, and they succeeded.
Playing in the dog enclosure
However, the coyotes soon returned, hopping back in over the fence where there now were no dogs or people, and where they now appeared to celebrate their victory by hanging around and playing ball, no different from the way dogs do: they chased each other, had a tug of war, tossed the ball and even tore it apart. There was an aspect of defiance to the dogs’ perpetual claim to the area. They kept an eye on a couple of us onlookers as we watched behind the fence until they hopped back over the fence and out.
The quandary is that this particular dog run is adjacent to a denning area and there is no buffer zone: i.e., dogs and coyotes who notoriously don’t get along are literally forced to be in close proximity to each other. As Robert Frost said, “Good fences make good neighbors”, but the fence here is useless.
The fenced-in dog run has been there for years, but the fence itself is only 2.5′ feet high in places. The area adjacent to it has also been there for years: it’s a steep, rocky drop-off with dense thicket growth including poison oak and thick impenetrable tangles of blackberry brambles: people and dogs can’t and don’t go there, which is why it was chosen as a denning area by the coyotes at least 8 years and possibly longer ago.
Back eight years ago, the coyotes in the city were still much more secretive. Issues were few and far-between. But several years ago, several dogs became very aware of the coyotes and started looking for them. At the same time, feeding and even worse — hand-feeding — began bigtime in this park. Coyote fleeing-distances shortened, and the timeframe for doing so lengthened, as coyote youngsters learned increased proximity tolerance from their parents. How to deal with other species, be it dogs or humans — with all the inherent subtleties and with the variety within each species — is passed on to the youngsters by parental example as well as by experience. Dislike of dogs is a constant — how could it not with the continual chasing, barking at, lunging from dogs. The coyotes look for openings in this perpetual boundary dispute with dogs — it’s part of their opportunism and self-defense. By entering and remaining in the dog run which is at their doorstep, they were claiming the spot, even if not for very long. It happened to me once.
Coming up with a solution for the dog park vs. denning area is difficult. BOTH dogs and coyotes have jumped over the low fence, into and out of the dog enclosure area — not that frequently, but it happens: dogs jump out to chase coyotes who keep an eye on them from a nearby hilltop; coyotes sometimes, as today, have jumped INTO the enclosure when there are only one or two dogs and owners in there.
I hope I’m not making it sound like a war zone or even a battlefield. It isn’t. Rather, there are occasional “skirmishes” as described by Walkaboutlou, instigated at times by the dogs and at times by the coyotes, which let their true feelings be known. A functional fence would help — the current fence which is just 2′ high in places does not work.
Fence hopping that occurred during a half-hour play session
Please understand that designated off-leash dog areas, whether fenced in or not, ARE NOT designated coyote-free zones, and you should always remain vigilant for a coyote’s unexpected appearance in these areas. Even when and if a full high fence is in place, we’ll still need to stay vigilant to see if this kind of solution will work. Not until we find out if it totally keeps coyotes out should you let down your guard.
But also, please realize there frequently are altercations between dogs and dogs in these enclosures, so vigilance HAS to continue for this reason. I myself was viciously barked at and then charged by a dog who grabbed my ankle in her mouth and bit me within that enclosure. My heavy jeans prevented the skin from breaking. The point is, we have to stay vigilant and be prepared to quickly extract our dog(s) and ourselves from all sorts of situations.
I just posted about the 7-year-old alpha male coyote father who was heartbreakingly killed by our City’s dog catcher (ACC). That occurrence left a gaping vacancy in his territory. What has been the aftermath in the family so far?
I have the perfect opportunity to observe this situation right here and now in San Francisco — so I am doing just that. A previous case I documented, where the alpha father died of natural causes, resulted in a period of chaos before things settled down to a new normal and a new dynamic — and THAT story actually dovetails into this one, which I’ll get to towards the end of this posting. But there has been no chaos here, fascinatingly.
For a couple of days after the alpha male was killed, things went on as normal: the male didn’t seem to be terribly missed by his mate, afterall, coyotes may wander off for a short day or two when they aren’t missed by their families. After several days, however, I noticed his “widowed” mate, the alpha female, wandering around more and marking more and leaving her own scent — more so than had been her normal routine. Was she putting out beacons to signal him to return? Was she looking for him? She would not know that he had been killed by humans, but she would know that he was missing, and so was his scent.
At first marking (left) and then intense sniffing (right) [these are cropped and enhanced trail camera images]. I put out field cameras along what I had seen as their well-travelled routes, hoping to get a glimpse of the activity.
Over only a couple of days, I was surprised to see that she didn’t become more frantic as might be expected, but rather she calmed down, it seems, into a kind of acceptance mode. Her sniffing seemed to segue from searching for something lost into intense inquisitiveness about something new and unfamiliar: her perfunctory quick glancing sniffs changed to intense and lingering poking.
Her family consisted of herself (alpha mom), her mate (now gone), and a four-year-old “nanny” who seems to be helping out with the unusually large litter of seven pups. The “nanny” continued her habitual behavior of simply passing by now and then — I didn’t notice a change in her behavior. Maybe there has been a change in pup behavior in the aftermath of dad’s disappearance: they don’t appear to be exploring as widely as before the killing: is this a safety precaution due to their dad’s disappearance?
Then, within just four days after that shooting, a newcomer male appeared in the area. And he has remained for the last 6 days. Yikes, that was fast! “Vacant niches” in coyote families are notoriously soon filled, we’ve heard. A male outsider would not have been allowed here if alpha dad were still around. But he’s not around, so he’s not marking and leaving his scent, nor is he physically present to drive an outsider away. It’s incredible how quickly “word spread” about his absence: these animals are obviously quick to read scents and other markers that we humans aren’t even aware of, and to appraise situations.
And alpha mom seems to be more than welcoming him! Maybe she had no choice; maybe survival of her family depends on having an amenable “guy” there. My trail camera caught her hopping all over him and putting her paws on his back — she’s asking him to stay. She didn’t spend much time mourning the loss of her just-lost mate. Coyotes are survivors. They don’t feel sorry for themselves or dwell on the past — coyote life seems to be about business as usual and keeping the show on the road. A territory needs a male to better keep things in order and defendable. Will he take on helping to raise the youngsters, or will he shun them? There’s a lot to find out.
SHE is welcoming him by hopping all over him, and then you can see them trekking together in tandem — all within less than a week of her mate’s having been killed.
Interestingly, I know the new male, an older guy, who came from a not so distant territory within the city where he himself already has a family. Hmmm.
And this is the most interesting and juicy part: that new male is one and the same individual who just at the beginning of this pupping season joined an existing family, filling a vacancy in THAT family caused by the loss of its alpha male to natural causes: old age. Let’s call this new fella Rookie. Apparently Rookie went to town when he joined that family because both the alpha female there AND her two-year-old daughter produced pups this year. I called this “den-sharing”, and think of it as kind of “Rookie’s harem”. So it appears that he already has two mates. And now a third? Does this make him into a sort of super alpha male, or will he be giving up that previous family where he has pups from two females? Or maybe he’s just checking out the new vacancy here and won’t stay?
Background information: We all know that coyotes are famously monogamous and mate for life — this is all I had ever seen in 14 years here in San Francisco with two rare and recent exceptions: the den sharing which involved this particular new male, and a divorce which, strangely, involved a previous life of the killed alpha male. It’s a small world.
AND — to further confuse the issue and expand the exception to “mate for life” and “monogamous”, within a distant fragment of that “den sharing” territory, I had seen yet another lactating female WITH this same male, Rookie. Hmmmm. What’s that about? Is Rookie just a rare exception? We’ll have to wait and see how all of this pans out over time. It’s nothing less than a soap-opera, with cliffhangers and all!
Sparks is alive and well in the Presidio where he has resided for several months now. I have followed him since his birth in 2019 where I watched him grow up with four siblings, and then through his dispersal journey much of which I’ve written about here on my blog (put “Sparks” into the search box). During his dispersal to date — a dispersal which began in March of 2020 — he stopped for weeks-on-end at various locations where he either remained temporarily with his sister (she returned to her birthplace), or in other locations he remained alone, and he even was accepted temporarily into an established alpha family (alpha mom, alpha dad, two of three remaining pups) where he interacted, played with, hunted with, and cuddled with the family he stayed with. He seems to get along well with new coyotes he meets. He always moved on. I have seen dispersing youngsters repulsed from established territories, so his situation has been very interesting for me.
And now he is at the Presidio where every evening he meets up with a little female coyote: they rendezvous and howl and yip before running off together for the evening’s activities. I have not identified his special friend yet. I’m wondering if this is his final home, or just another stopping place? He has been here for months, and in fact he had come through the area at the end of the summer and then left before returning and remaining. Maybe he left because of a broken arm he acquired at that time: I could not detect a limp when I last saw him.
The established alphas in the Presidio have been there over a year: Wired and Puff. They had three pups this year. I’ve written about both of these coyotes before. I’m now trying to figure out Sparks’ current relationship with (position in) Wired’s family. Wired and Puff could easily have driven him out, but they didn’t, as hadn’t the previous family Sparks stayed with. Rather, he formed a warm friendship and bond with them. I wonder if he’s been “adopted” into Wired’s family (as he had been temporarily into Cai2’s family), or if he’s forming a family of his own. It seems that it might be beneficial for Wired and Puff to have an amicable neighbor such as Sparks who they get along with and like, rather than a hostile one. So maybe it’s being allowed on purpose. According to the territories I’ve worked out in San Francisco — they average about 1.5 square miles — the Presidio is actually big enough for more than one family.
Sparks’ story continues to unfold. In the middle of January, 2021, he was seen being driven away from the Presidio at dawn by the Presidio’s breeding alpha male — the two fled down Lyon Street which borders the Presidio, one chasing and the other fleeing. I have not seen this fellow since then. I will update as I can. :((
Coyotes usually yip, howl and bark, making all of these sounds altogether. But this time, all I heard was a single coyote barking. If you’ve read my Coyote Voicings posting, you’ll know that this “raspy” type of vocalization is one of anger, distress or upset, and it is used as a warning to other coyotes or dogs. It went on for some moments before I started recording and videoing it. I wondered what was going on.
At close to the two-minute marker in the video, the yearling female starts looking around. Then she crouches low and hugs the ground as she hurries towards one of her brothers who had been alerted by her distressed distressed barks. You can tell she’s angry, not just by the tone of her barking, but also by her defiant stance and almost ‘kicking dirt’.
She greets that sibling and then they both look up to see a third sibling male appear. These three yearling siblings are best buddies, and are there for each other. At 19 months they still play incredibly well together and would come to each others aid, as I believe happened here, and as I’ve seen before. The three of them all run towards each other in a sort of ritual huddle of solidarity, and then run off together. The female was reacting to something, but I had no clue as to what this could be. I wonder if she was able to communicate what it was to her brothers. Even if the communication hadn’t been precise, it did communicate her distress and anger, and they definitely picked up on that.
The very next day, though, I had my answer. I saw two coyotes in the same bushes: one was following at the heels of another and biting its hind legs, while that other was walking away in a crouched down, self-protective and submissive posture. I could only see their backs, so I couldn’t tell right off WHO these two were. The crouching coyote was clearly being driven away by the coyote in back of her.
And then I saw their faces. The male coyote doing the nipping is one of the remaining resident yearlings — a mere 19 months old. And the coyote he was attempting to drive out was a female I hadn’t seen before. I wonder where she’s from. The resident coyotes were successful, which makes sense because there were three of them against one. Also it’s their home turf. I haven’t seen the intruder female again.
This is the never-seen-before young intruder: she was not welcome! Notice her scared eyes. She’s just looking for a place to live after dispersal. Life is tough on these youngsters.
Biting intruders heels
Biting intruder’s heels
Intruder bares her teeth to defend herself
Flinching back from the intruder’s teeth
Going in for another nip
Aggressor takes a break to look around as the intruder crouches with her head down behind him
Intruder has fled through the bushes
The 19-month old male has accomplished what he wanted: he’s defended his territory
Introduction: That “coyotes are known to mate for life” is something most of us have heard. In fact, I think it’s the only reality I’d ever seen in 13 years. However, as events in one of my families unfolded in early February of this year, I had to question this. My own perception of the turn of events came in bits and pieces and in fits and starts as revealed through a field camera which was out only at night, and not always then. My own desire for this pair-bond to be everlasting caused me to latch onto any details to support my belief, and herein lies a sort of soap opera aspect to the story which I weave into the ending. My ‘hopeful speculations’, along with background history have grown this posting into an unusually long one — a mini-tome! Yikes!
Please know that every single one of these photos, as all the photos on this blog, were taken as photo-documentation at the time these events occurred. I don’t substitute a photo from another time or place that might simply “do”. What you see, and what you read, are authentic and concurring.
Background. The years immediately leading up to this story serve as an important point of reference for what comes later, so I’ll sum those up here.
For 13 years I’ve been documenting coyotes and their families in the city. Last year, the life of one of those coyotes — a loner female — bounced into one of charmed companionship with the arrival of a friendly young newcomer male, and then, within just a few months of that, it spun downhill into chaos when her territory was invaded and taken over by an older female. This older female happened to be associated with her new male companion, and it’s this association that may have drawn the older female to the area in the first place. After these life-changing incidents, I continued to follow the lives, behaviors, new relationships and movements through the city of these particular coyotes, most of whom I have been following since their births. This current poster is a summary update — the present point in time — of where things stand now with each of those players.
The coyotes involved had come together from distant parts of the city and interacted during just a brief period of time towards the end of 2018 and through the first half of 2019. In the end, after all the intense up-and-down drama (see Coyote Territorial Movements: Scout’s Story), they went their separate ways and to diametrically opposite corners of the city. Each matured in his/her own way, claimed a territory and found a family situation of their own making. An interesting twist to the story is that a brother of the young male companion ended up becoming the mate of the intruding female. OMG! The displaced female — the main character of the story — found her way back to and re-claimed her original territory where she has bonded and formed a family with a completely new male. [More, press HERE].
My observations of these movements, along with all behaviors and relationships, are made without invasive “gadgets” such as radio-collars and identification tags. DNA from scat will confirm what I’ve detected from my own naked-eye observations — this is my concession to the “scientific” method which focuses on stats and hard data. But look at how much scientists are missing beyond the “stats” and number-crunching: a whole world of interactions, activities, relationships, and personalities! Each individual is different and can’t be summarized as a statistic and neither can their individual histories!
“You are doing the work”, one of my sons tells me. It needs to be put out there. No one else is doing what you are doing — this first-hand research. The word “expert”, another son tells me, comes from the word “experience”: i.e., doing the footwork. Spouting a “degree” as a “credential” evades the question of what a person really knows about coyotes or our coyotes here in San Francisco. I work alone, not as a team, I don’t have an organization or their funds behind me, and this is not a paid job. It might be time to toot my own horn a little!
This Dad is meticulously assessing and re-evaluating the safety of his denning area’s periphery. It’s something he does on a continuing and regular basis, and now even more so during pupping season. You’ll see him slowly walking and looking around, sniffing for WHO might have been here, and he listens to the voices close by: he can tell he is off people’s radar and so is unconcerned about them.
This hidden tunnelway sees skunks, raccoons, squirrels, red tail hawks, sharp shins, stellar jays, rats and mice . . . and an occasional unleashed dog who’s gotten whiff of a coyote and decided to pursue it. He is able to “see” all of this through his nose.
You might wonder what exactly is going through this father’s mind as he carries out his job: your guess is as good as mine, but you can be sure he, as a father, has the same concerns and worries that a human father might have: I think it’s important to see these commonalities.
Afterwards, he takes a drink of water from a watering hole to the left and then “marks” the area before moving on. He spent seven full minutes reflecting and thinking as he looked around this one spot. This is his seventh year as a dad: he knows the ropes and what he has to do to keep his family safe.
We don’t have a photo of Peg Leg, but I imagine he might look something like this. [ConradTan]
Hi Janet,
Hope you are well. I wanted to update you on “Peg Leg”[press to read the previous posting about him]. He was the old coyote who lost a territory some months ago with his mate. Last seen, he seemed nomadic but still thriving.
He’s been discovered with his mate, relocated about 16 miles from his old territory. He is on the furthest isolated area of the bison ranch. Ironically, his voice gave him away. Peg Leg’s voice is hoarse and odd sounding. A bit like a Pekingese Werewolf. His unmistakable vocalizations were part of some jokes and conversation and then we realized who it might be. Brief sightings confirmed.
It’s amazing he found and chose this area. But perhaps in his long life he knew it, and the last few years as it’s shifted to bison it’s really become a great area. It’s away from sheep and cattle and LGD patrols. No hunting is allowed. There are the bison, as well as elk, 3 species of deer, and all sorts of small game. Best of all, it abounds in gopher, voles, mice and Jackrabbits. The river that flows by has runs of salmon and trout and there are huge flocks of wild turkey. In summer wild plums and vast fields of grasshopper round off the menu. Peg Leg has made it here, and I’m glad for him. He got driven out by other coyote, only to find this place. I’m so glad he beat the odds. In every way.
Peg Leg is a survivor. Any coyote living in ranchlands is often a target 24 hours a day…for life. They are hunted with staghounds, decoy dogs, traps, snares, long distance rifles and any other means. Even if they come from a “safe” area, one foray outside of it can mean the end.
Most live very fast paced lives. To find a coyote, white faced and stiff with age, is very rare. The fact that he found sanctuary again at the end of his life among bison makes it more poignant.
Its likely his mate is pregnant. Perhaps he has one last season left in him to raise pups to independence.
Peg Leg has made himself a new home with his mate. Among the umbrella of bison, all the wildlife relaxes a bit.
🐾🐾
Lou
Hi Lou — This story made me beam from ear to ear, and I’m sure it will make others do the same. There is so much that’s familiar about Peg Leg from two situations I’ve been following, but in different coyotes: one of “my” alpha male coyotes is getting old — not white faced yet, but sometimes stiff in his gait, and I wonder how long he’ll be able to hold on to his territory. And another male is being displaced right now by other coyotes — not so old, but meeker of constitution — he, too, has a “werewolf” low, mournful howl, so I know he still sometimes passes through the area, but I fear it won’t be for long. So, in a certain way, I feel like I know Peg Leg. :)) Janet
A stiff oldster still clings to his long-term territory, but I wonder for how long he’ll be able to do so.
This one was just displaced from his territory. I heard his signature howl two days ago, so he’s still around.
Hi Janet, I thought you likely could relate to Peg Leg with other coyote. Their lives really are full of dynamics. I only saw him briefly, but he seemed very content. His body language wasn’t nomadic mode or unsure. Peg Leg is home. (again)
You might be surprised to learn that coyotes indeed have very intense personal emotions, and they even hold profound grudges against other coyotes or dogs who have mistreated them or who are seen as a threat.
The coyote in this video displays grudges towards just two individuals who might be considered her arch-enemies: another coyote and a dog. The female coyote rival moved on, so that is no longer an issue.
But the dog is someone who the coyote has not yet come to terms with. In addition to the subtle negative communication between the two most of which is below our human radar, the dog, who walks in her park daily, has slipped her collar several times to chase and even “mark” the coyote’s favorite lookout points in a display of one-upmanship: there’s always a reason for a coyote’s feelings. In the past the coyote would follow and howl at that one female dog, and no other dog, letting the dog know how she felt about the dog’s being there. Sometimes the coyote just followed without howling: this is sort of an “escorting” behavior, insuring herself that the dog is headed out of her area. The dog’s owner is amazingly tolerant and respectful of the coyote and always walks away from her when their paths come within seeing distance.
More recently, the howling and following have calmed down. But that doesn’t mean the anger and antipathy have subsided, as you can see in this video, which shows this same coyote huffing and grunting her discontent for an extended period of time upon seeing the dog. If you listen carefully, you can hear the grunts, and of course you can actually see her huffing. But she did not howl or follow this time, she just watched dog and owner move away and out of sight..
In the morning a few days ago I watched an intruder — a 2½ year old male — wander through another coyote family’s long-time established territory without apparent incident. In the past, whenever I’ve seen an intruder in an established territory, the intruder has been confronted and driven out, almost always immediately, but more rarely within two weeks. Coyotes are territorial for a reason: resident coyotes drive outsider coyotes out to protect the limited resources on that territory just for themselves, and to maintain a safe-haven for raising vulnerable pups. This limit of one family per territory also then limits the population in any given area to that one family. And this was the case in the territory where this “visitor” found himself. A mated pair of coyotes has lived there for a dozen years and this year they had a litter of valuable pups.
I was astonished to actually recognize the intruder — he was a fellow I’ve known since birth: Hey, it’s a small world out there! I have been able to keep track of this fellow through several areas within the city, where he has remained 2, 4, and 8 months respectively, after leaving his birthplace at 1½ years of age due to having been driven out by his siblings. He has even had a female companion — not a mate — in a couple of those places. Was he now actually moving again, or was this a short investigative/scouting expedition from which he’d return to his last claimed area? I don’t yet know the circumstances of his sudden appearance at this new place. In fact, upon seeing him I began harboring the hope that he might be on his way to reconnect with a coyote he befriended 8 months earlier. He was only a year-and-a-half of age at that time and maybe not ready for her yet, and she was going through territorial turmoil of her own. When she left the place where their friendship bloomed, he also left, but in the opposite direction. In San Francisco, the age I’ve seen male coyotes settle down to family life is four years of age — that seems to be when they are ready, though I suppose it’s not a hard-and-fast rule.
Anyway, as I entered the park, all I initially saw was a walker carrying her dog and walking away, so I knew one of the coyotes was out prompting this walker’s behavior. Then, when I walked around some bushes, I saw who it was. My eyes popped a little when I saw him, as I thought to myself, “Is that really you?” Yes, it was. “What are you doing here?” I actually said out loud.
The dog walker disappeared down the path, and the coyote went about fixedly sniffing with his nose glued close to the ground as he zigzagged through the area with intent and direction to his movements. He spent time where the resident youngsters liked hanging out. It occurred to me that, with his amazing olfactory ability — coyotes can smell pheromones, which are body chemicals, and more, telling them all sorts of things that we aren’t even aware of — he would be able to tell everything about the health and age and possibly social position of each of the coyotes living there. He was absorbing the entire situation through his nose. None of the resident coyotes was out and about when the intruder was there.
For the previous several days I had noticed much less activity from this family. Whenever coyote behavior or activity changes, you can be sure SOMETHING is going on, even though you might not be able to figure out exactly what that something is. Might this have been the SOMETHING that was going on: the intruder? I don’t really know, it’s only a guess at this point. Intruders can be dangerous for families, so youngsters would have been taken to a more protected/hidden location. A lone interloper coyote could be on the lookout for weakness within the family — that’s how things operate — which might allow him/her to take over a prime territorial situation: one of the “weaknesses” I could think of was that the parents were getting along in years. Then again, his showing up there may just have been a benign and quick passing through, and the lack of family activity there may have been due to something else. I was surprised that not one of the resident coyotes was on his case, but a quick pass-through would have explained this — before the family got whiff of him. They would, of course, eventually find out that he had been there through scent.
After about ½ hour of observing him, I saw him walk across and then out of that park territory, always briskly moving along — and that was the end of that. I haven’t seen him again — just that one time, within that territory claimed by others, far, far away from his own most recent claimed area. Only time will answer my questions, if at all. Why was he there? Why did he leave his previous home — and has he done so permanently? (I’ll be able to check on this). Will he be back, or was this just a stopover on his way elsewhere? Note that if he came back, there could be a territorial battle. The resident Dad has been through several of these over the years, defending his family’s turf, which have left him limping and torn apart at each incident for weeks at a time. Or maybe, as I am hoping, the intruder is on a mission to find his old girlfriend. If that’s not a romantic fantasy, nothing is! What made me think of this is that from his last home, the park where he showed up is on the way to hers, and not so far away. So let’s see what happens!
Addendum 11/9: This coyote has not been seen at his last “home” for at least six weeks. And two to three weeks ago a pair of adult coyotes was seen playing nearby that old home: might these two be new claimants of that territory?
Come to think of it, I don’t hear loner coyotes howl very often, even on their own claimed territories. Is this because they don’t want to “proclaim” to the world their ownership of a territory they might not be able to defend alone? And neither do I hear coyotes howling for any reason when they are passing through territories other than their own.
The female in this video, when she was a loner on her claimed territory, never used to respond to sirens during daylight hours (though she did so sporadically at night), though she would howl in distress after being chased by dogs or in response to seeing one particular dog whom she did not like.
However, in this video, with a new male companion, she obviously felt secure about belting out her response to the sirens for the whole world to hear, and seemed to be super-happy about it! Coyote families respond to sirens all the time, possibly to express their family unity and their territorial separateness from their neighboring coyotes.
That male companion situation, however, was short lived: it lasted only four months. The male/female relationship was disrupted by another female before the bond was solidified (yes, this happens even to coyotes) and the male companion moved on, so the female now again is a loner who again does not respond to sirens as she did when she had her male companion. She does, however, continue to bark in distress when chased by dogs, or when her one dog nemesis appears on the scene.
This video shows clearly how lips are used for modulations by coyotes.
Although I mounted this video on Youtube eight months ago, it’s only now that I’m getting around to posting it on my blog, after it has garnered almost 1M views.
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.
Introduction:
Coyote Yipps 
