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!
Journalist Paul Krantz — he’s interested in environmental issues and in speaking for those who can’t speak for themselves, i.e., the animals — asked if he could write a “profile” about me for SFGate. I had no idea what a profile was, but I agreed, as long as it would promote the coyotes, help with understanding them, and delineate guidelines for coexistence. Then I balked when he wanted to send out a photographer — I suggested that we could use an old photograph? He tried, but that photographer was off in a remote area and could not access the contracting papers that are necessary. So I reluctantly agreed to a photographer. And look what I got! A fantastic writeup by Paul and fantastic photos taken by Doug Zimmerman! And hopefully my message will reach more people. Thank you both!
Janet Kessler has been watching San Francisco’s wild coyotes for 16 years.
She knows individual coyotes by their faces, has assisted with genealogical studies, and spends time observing them almost every day. The 73-year-old self-taught naturalist is known to some as San Francisco’s “Coyote Lady” because of her efforts to document and advocate for what some would say are the city’s least appreciated residents. To read on, click here.
I was so interested in your answer here (“Do Coyotes Kill Each Other“). A month or so ago, I found what appeared to be a newly killed/largely eaten coyote just off trail in a regional park. My first thought was it was a mountain lion attack. In that event, I reported it to park rangers. They checked it out, but didn’t close the trail or post warning signs, so I figured maybe they saw something I didn’t. A fellow iNaturalist user suggested it may have been a territorial dispute between two male coyotes. I was skeptical, but there did not appear to be a good explanation. Your post offers clarity, but now I’m back to the larger predator theory…
(I’m a huge coyote fan and your blog is wonderful.)
Hi Patti — All we can go by is what we’ve seen. What I wrote was what I’ve seen; and Lou — based on his own observations for many year — confirmed this. If you happen to see something different, by all means, it needs to be added to our information. So far, your evidence isn’t conclusive. Dogs also may have maul and killed the coyote, and then another predator could have scavenged the body. OR, even a car could have killed the coyote and it could have been dragged to where you found it. In that case, I would think the predator might have been a mountain lion. If you find out anything new, please keep me/us posted here. Thank you for your input! Janet
Hi, Janet, thank you so much for the response. The only other piece of information that was interesting was this death coincided with the injury of a regular coyote I’d been “following” for the past several months. The day I found the cadaver, the coyote I’d been following had blood on his back leg and what appeared to be a small spot of blood on his head. The next day, he was limping. After that, he disappeared (approximately two months ago). The site of the cadaver showed quite a bit of trampled vegetation and tufts of fur. (I have photos, but I won’t forward them unless you’re interested.) Ultimately, you’re right–I don’t have anything conclusive, and, to my great frustration, this will likely remain one of nature’s mysteries.
Hi Patti — Very interesting! It’s like a puzzle, isn’t it? Yes, I’d be very interested in the photos. Would you please send them to Janet@coyoteyipps.com? Raccoons can also kill coyotes, especially if the coyote is compromised in some way. Thank you! Janet
Good morning, Janet,
Here are the photos. For background, I took them in conjunction with an app I’ve been using the past few months, iNaturalist. During my hikes, I take photos of anything interesting and add them to my iNaturalist page. I’ve found coyotes are among my favorite subjects—all of the circumstances of their lives and deaths, hence the photos. I’m going to share all of the details of what I saw/know about the incident at hand, so you have the full picture, and you can choose as much or as little of the information as is helpful.
I found the cadaver in a Regional Park, Orange/Orange County, California on 14 February 2023 around 11am. It was just off a Nature Trail, a 700-ish-foot long “interpretive” trail that loops around. The relatively small area is enclosed by a tall chain-link fence. The trail is narrow and the vegetation is a little thicker than other trails in the park. Theoretically, dogs aren’t allowed. There are two openings to the fenced area—from the back, there is a chain-link door that can be locked. The main entry is from a controlled access road (no cars allowed). I’ve never regarded it as a widely-used trail, but people do stumble across it.
The cadaver was just off the trail. In addition to the body, the vegetation was trampled and there were pieces of what appeared to be fur all around. The exposed meat was pink and there was no smell of death. Photo 1 is the scene as I first encountered it from one side of the trail. Photo 2 is from the other side of the trail. You can’t see it well, but there was a trail of trampled grass leading to the scene (the clearing where the cadaver was shows just at the top/middle of the second photo). [NOTE: These first two photo I’ve not included in the post since they really don’t show much].
Here was the cadaver itself. It had rained lightly that morning and the area was damp, but it was also fairly protected overhead by tree canopies, so not much sun. It appeared to me the body had saliva on parts of the fur, but it may have come from the rain. I got as many photos as I could, but I was really uncomfortable on the trail. It’s relatively isolated and the kill looked fresh. I was convinced the predator was still in the vicinity.
When I finished my hike, I reported the find to the park rangers because my first impression was it was a mountain lion attack. They said they were interested and intended to check it out. The next day, I went back and found they had not closed the trail or posted warning signs, so I thought I may have been jumping to conclusions about a potential mountain lion in the area. After I posted the photos to iNaturalist, a fellow coyote enthusiast suggested the possibility of a fight between two coyotes. This death was in the general territory of the solo male I’d been following for a while (see below), and I thought the trampled ground and fur could just as easily have indicated a territorial fight. One further piece of information: I saw a bobcat very nearby the next day. I’m not sure he contributed to the death (or maybe he did), but he may have helped consume the body.
As I mentioned, I found the cadaver around 11am. This second circumstance coincided with that find.
Earlier that day, around 8am, I encountered one of two coyotes I’d been “following” for a few months. This one had been traveling solo since his partner disappeared a few weeks earlier. He was moving a little slowly. Eventually, he wandered through a brushy area off trail and then laid down (photo 3). It began raining hard enough that I took cover beneath a nearby tree. He continued laying down throughout the rain. I never saw him get back up or leave the area. Later, when I got home, I looked at my photos and saw he appeared to have blood on his back, left leg (photos 1 and 2), and a possible smear across his forehead (photo 1).
I saw him one more time, 15 February 2023. He was favoring the same back, left leg. I haven’t seen him since. (For context, up to that time, I had been seeing him solo and/or traveling with his mate, at least once a week for several months.)
I’ve been so curious about what might have happened that I began two e-mails to you, but discarded them both. When I saw your piece about whether coyotes might kill each other, I finally took the opportunity to reach out.
I hope I’ve given you enough information. In the event that you need more detail/clarifications, let me know. Otherwise, I wish you continued luck with your important work. Thank you for being there for these wonderful creatures.
Patti
Hi Patti —
Wow! Thank you so much for sending. You are as detailed in your documentation as I am — don’t know many people like us! Most people report a sighting, and that’s it. It’s very interesting. And, of course, the bobcat could easily have been involved — though felines apparently don’t scavenge. If the coyote were already compromised, I’m wondering if a bobcat could have won a fight. However, I tend to think it was a dog: that would help explain why the other coyote also had injuries. :( May I forward this on to a friend who knows coyotes well and may have some insights?
Janet
Hi, Janet,
You’re welcome to forward any/all info.
I’m glad you, too, are detail-oriented. I’m one of those people who believes having too much information never hurts, but having too little can!
Patti
Hi Lou — Hope you and your canine family are enjoying the rain! Wow, what a change from the fires caused by the drought. We’re really swinging back and forth with the weather!
Someone wrote me, trying to figure out how a coyote might have been killed — if indeed he was killed. She found my post on “Do coyotes kill each other” and thought I would be interested in this. Someone had suggested to her that there might have been a territorial fight between two coyotes, which is why she contacted me. Initially, she thought it might have been killed by a mountain lion, so she reported it to the rangers. But since the rangers didn’t close the trail or put up signs, she decided that the rangers didn’t think it was a mountain lion. Of course, at this point we’ll probably never KNOW, but I think we can paint possible scenarios. I suggested that it could have been a dog who killed the coyote. In your last comment to me it seemed as though this was a possibility. I didn’t think another coyote would have engaged in a territorial fight to the death. As for a bobcat, my thought is that if the coyote were at all compromised in any way, a bobcat could (maybe?) take down a coyote, but I’ve read that felines don’t scavenge.
Might you have any thoughts about it — about this situation she describes here?
At least I thought you might be interested. She said she could provide clearer photos if that might help analyze the situation.
Warmly! Janet
Hi Janet,
Interesting stuff. It’s hard to really develop a clear picture via pics because the land often will tell you alot as well.
I would say either it’s a cougar kill OR someone shot it or it died naturally and turkey vultures scavenged it.
Turkey Vultures definetly trample grass and leave tuft of fur all over. Ironically so do cougar. If there were chewed bones bingo. Cougar. If bones were intact vultures. It looks very well picked. Very hungry cat or..vultures.
Bobcat I would rule out except in case of pups. Dogs are always suspect. I know in some areas here, coyote, ranch dogs and wolves all will feed on each other. But that’s here.
I’ve never heard of or experienced coyote killing each other. I’ve seen them in heated battle and seen some with terrible scars. But with each other they seem to have that switch and scuttling off is always an option. Unlike their enemies of dogs and wolves.
I just was examining an eaten skunk. Somebody was really hungry.
Take care stay safe,
Lou
Hi Patti —
Well, here you go (above): more input. If you examine your larger-file photos really closely, might you be able to tell if the bones have been chewed? Do you have vultures in your area? We don’t regularly have them here in San Francisco, neither do we have cougars, but they do come by on occasion. At any rate, it does not sound like it was a coyote/coyote thing. Janet
Janet, That was wonderful insight, simply put and helpful: bones intact-turkey vulture; bones chewed: mountain lion.
If your source wants a closer examination of the area for his own edification, I’m just going to forward this one shot and hope it’s not too big. It’s easier to see what’s going on. There are two bones that appear chewed: one is next to his tail; the other is the foreleg that is draping over his skull (or what is left of it). The latter looks a little shattered. So much is gone–I just don’t see a lot of bone structure left behind at all. This appears to indicate mountain lion.
But yes, we definitely have turkey vultures and I have seen them pick a body clean. I didn’t see any in the area around this time, or the next couple of days, but that’s not to say they didn’t show up at a time I wasn’t there.
Regardless, it looks like consensus is being reached on the original question, which is whether another coyote was responsible. The lingering question is what happened to the other park coyote, but it could have been a completely unrelated injury that ultimately turned deadly. I was so devastated to lose him. I hope new ones show up soon. Patti
Hi Patti — Yes! It looks like that: a mountain lion, which, interestingly, is what you originally thought — at least involved in eating some of the remains (we can’t know how he died)! As for the other coyote, you know, if this one was its mate, that one may have moved on in order to avoid the same fate. Coyotes have more strength when they are in pairs, less so when alone. That one will now have to look for another mate. And that coyote may have been involved in the brawl and been injured, and gotten away. Just speculating, but this sounds reasonable, don’t you think? Thank you for this photo and your further assessment.
Would it be okay with you if I posted the whole thread — I’m just thinking about it? I would take out the exact location, and use your name only if you wanted me to. Let me know. It was really interesting!
Janet
Janet — Of course you can use whatever material you’d like of our interaction (masking the location at your discretion; using my name is fine). It’s the least I can do for all of the help you’ve given me! Again, many thanks for your attention to this. The overall incident upset me, although, ultimately, it was a good lesson in the “nature of nature.” But dealing with you has been such a pleasure! Patti
A new philosophy is being established for how our country’s wildlife is being managed. Hunters and the NRA have always had a monopoly on decision making in this arena. But this is now changing, as explained in this article below. More environmentalists and non-hunters are entering the controversial conversation, and they want to rely on nature, in all of its glory, to balance itself more naturally, rather than massively killing predators. Please add your voice and support to the numerous organizations listed which are opposed to “managing” wildlife mostly for the benefit of hunters. I’m posting this as a follow-up to Walkaboutlou’s article on slaughter hunting. Press the long link below the photo to read the article which was published in Outdoorlife.
My friend CJ just sent this to me. I had never heard it, but I wanted to share it here, for the beautiful coyote high pitched howl imitations and for its sentiment. Enjoy!
Addendum: Here are another two favorite coyotes songs, sent by James Mense, in his comment to this post, which I now want to add to the posting (though you can see/hear them in the comments). Thank you, James!!
People keep asking me, WHAT do coyotes eat here in San Francisco? Is there enough food for them?
My reply is always that there’s plenty of food for coyotes in cities. They are known as “opportunistic” eaters — meaning they can eat almost anything.
My observations tell me that their preferred foods are small rodents, such as gophers which run from one to two pounds and voles. Rats and mice are part of their diet.There are plenty of these and coyotes catch them often.
Squirrels are harder to catch for them, as are the more scarce brush bunnies and jackrabbits here in San Francisco, but they do catch these as well. I’ve seen coyotes climb the lower branches of trees in pursuit of squirrels. Rabbits, however, often are just not worth the effort for the coyote, so they often just ignore them.
Even less frequently, I’ve seen them catch and eat insects such as crickets, and snails. I’ve seen them catch snakes and lizards, but only seldom have I seen them actually consume these — or maybe they were just chewing on them and not consuming them.
I’ve seen coyotes gorge on fruit when that becomes ripe in the summer and fall, including apples, pears, loquats, blackberries. You can see when this becomes a larger portion of their diet because their scat becomes very different: goopy and full of seeds and peels.
Mature raccoons are ferocious and can fight off a coyote, but not so juveniles. I’ve seen coyotes feeding on raccoon and on opossums here in San Francisco, but I’ve also seen a coyote almost interacting with a raccoon family socially!
And yes, they catch birds as in the video above: I’ve seen coyotes catch ravens, bluejays (see photo below), and pigeons: they are impressively fast at plucking their prey clean by grabbing a huge mouthful of the feathers and yanking them out quickly and forcefully, and immediately going in for a second mouthful. The lactating mother in the video above is skilled at catching ravens and catches them regularly. But not all coyotes have the same skills and therefore not the same diets: often food preferences seem to run in families, making some of their preferences a “cultural” or “learned” thing which are specific to specific families: these predilections are often “taught”. And I’ve seen coyotes pick up owls who have been sickened by rat-poison which slows down the owl’s reaction times. This is very sad because that rat-poison is hurting many animals. I once found a dead coyote and had it analyzed to determine how it died: its body was riddled with rat-poison.
Coyote catches a bluejay, an opossum, a mouse, a lizard
And coyotes eat roadkill, or carrion — these are already dead animals killed by cars — which helps clean up the environment.
Garbage is usually just a small part of their diet, as seen in scat analysis. They prefer natural foods. However, human food which is left out is picked up by coyotes. Sadly, coyotes get used to this human food and start hanging around for it: the salts and fats are as addictive to them as they are to us — and it’s much easier to sit and wait for food than search and hunt for it: we all tend towards the easiest route. Please don’t leave out your leftovers. Worse, of course, is when people toss food to coyotes on purpose, and even from their cars: I’ve known a couple of coyotes who actually chase cars down the street regularly in pursuit of the food that might be tossed to them. Feeding them directly will cause them to start approaching people as they beg.
There are parking lots at park entryways where coyotes actually hang out waiting for food from humans. Food is used as a reward to train many animals: we are simply training these animals to hang around people and our roadways which is endangering them on roadways, and we are altering their natural and usually wary habits. Please spread the word that feeding coyotes is damaging them, not helping them: there’s plenty of natural foods for them in the city as I’ve shown above.
And . . . hey, don’t allow your cat to roam free! Coyotes DO nab roaming cats, though I know a number of coyotes who actually run in fear from cats! Unless a dog is extremely small, coyotes interest in them tends to be more of a territorial issue: coyotes want to exclude dogs from their areas to keep them from hunting there, the same as they do to other coyotes. You can avoid trouble with your dog by simply keeping away and walking away with your dog leashed the minute you see a coyote.
Coyote skillfully hunting by leaping high over his prey and then stunning it with his nose or his paws.
Preamble by Janet:Although my primary work and the heart of my investigations are in San Francisco, this posting here carries us out of San Francisco and to Florida. Whereas the coyotes I document are all wild and free — and we want to keep them that way, the one in this posting is in a very different situation and dependent on humans for care and social interactions. The posting is about a small melanistic (black) coyote named Angel. We don’t have black coyotes out here in the West, it’s an Eastern Coyote phenomenon, and even rare there.
Black coyotes are not common at all and rarely seen in Florida— although hunters occasionally post their photos of melanistic coyotes they have killed, photos of live black coyotes are extremely rare: These two were photographed on a Wildlife Management Area in Florida see: http://wildflorida.com/articles/Black_Coyotes_in_Florida.php
A Stanford University team has studied the genetics of melanism (black color morph) in wolves, coyotes and dogs. This study reveals that the genetic mutation for melanism first arose in dogs some 50,000 years ago and was afterwards passed on to wolves and coyotes.
There must be some positive adaptive purpose—but no one knows exactly what the positive purpose is. We know that the protein beta-defensin 3, which regulates melanism in canids is involved in providing immunity to viral and bacterial skin infections.
A little background on me, Kathy: I have no formal education or training when it comes to animals – strictly a love for them. I am a volunteer at a reserve for exotics that no one wants anymore. I fell in love with Angel when she arrived and have been pretty much her sole caretaker. I got involved with this volunteer work after going on a tour of this rescue facility. It’s less than 5 miles from my house & I was retired. Wasn’t sure they would want me because of my age, but lo and behold they said yes. (I was 67 when I started there – now 73!!!)
The coyotes weren’t there when I started. I found myself being drawn to the animals that other volunteers weren’t spending a lot of time with. (Everyone wants to spend time with big cats & wolves). Consequently, my first 2 special kids were the two female hyenas. There is no one there who loves them more than I do! We have a fantastic bond.
Then I decided Osiris, the African Serval, who was someone’s pet for 14 years, needed some human time. African Servals are crazy and very moody. I still love him though. When Angel came along, I waited awhile, but no one stepped up to the plate. Therefore, she’s my baby and everyone knows it. I’m so happy to work with her even though she has become my biggest challenge.
Angel’s backstory: She was hit by a car in Florida when she was 3 months old. A woman picked her up thinking she was a puppy and took her to her vet. She had a broken leg & a broken pelvis. The vet identified her as a melanistic coyote and did not give her back to the woman who found her. She then went to a rehab facility for 3 months. In fixing her pelvis, the birth canal was narrowed so she couldn’t be released back into the wild – pregnancy would have killed her, consequently she came to us.
Angel’s behaviors: I have been working with her for almost 5 years now. In the beginning she was terrified of everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING. With [wildlife animal behaviorist] Debbie’s help, I have been trying to get her to trust me more and have been somewhat successful.
When she first came there she would hide during the tours. She still won’t come out when the group is in front of her enclosure; however, she will come out when they wind back around and are several feet from her home. So the group does get to see her now & hear her story. Recently she has decided it’s perfectly okay to come out when very small groups are by her cage. She will come out when volunteers are near now. This is a big improvement from when she first arrived at our facility.
When I first started working with her and needed to give her flea meds I was never sure if she had ingested them or not. She didn’t want me watching her eat. After several long months, she now will take her treat & eat it, looking at me while I stand about 20 feet from her cage. She still doesn’t want me to watch her eat anything else. She has a log with holes drilled in it so I can put treats in there. Have never seen her take anything out, but it’s always empty by the end of the day.
We got hit by Hurricane Irma in 2017 and that was traumatic for her. Not only because of the storm, but because of the cleanup afterwards. For quite some time we had tree specialists coming in and cutting down our larger trees so they don’t fall on cages during a heavy storm. Shortly after the storm and when the trees guys were there a few days a week, she would eat & then vomit all of it up. She was so scared. When she didn’t stop this, I started feeding her whole rabbits or chickens & late in the afternoon when everyone was gone. After a few months, I put her back on her regular diet & feeding in the morning. Thought she was cured. However, the other day we had 3 brand new volunteers working two enclosures down & I found her food regurgitated when I went in to clean. I have to pay particular attention to what is happening in her vicinity and change her feeding schedule accordingly.
She will now let me sit in her enclosure with her, but not too close. She comes down from her elevated den box & will run laps while I sit there. She is getting better about that & now will sometimes walk instead of run. Sometimes she will come down to see what I am doing when I am outside her enclosure filing her water pail and splash tub. She lets me know when she’s had enough of me by going up to her den box & lying down.
She loves her stuffed animals & protects them like babies. Takes them in when it rains so they don’t get wet. So cute!
For quite some time we weren’t sure if Angel would join in with the wolves & coyotes when they did a group howl. If has been confirmed by some volunteers who have seen and heard her that she is joining in. That’s good news. She feels comfortable to join them, but not when we humans are within sight!
I can now approach her when she is on her platform without her freaking out. She lets me get to the edge of the platform before she backs into the den box. Whenever she is fearful, she will pull her ears back & flatten them. Of course, I stop whatever I am doing at that point.
I could probably go on and on, but this will give you some idea of how she acts.
By the way, we have 6 other coyotes, who exhibit similar skittishness, but not to the extent that Angel displays. As for these other coyotes, I share the responsibility with a couple of people. There are 3 pairs and they don’t get along – hence we have plywood between the cages blocking their access to each other. I prepare the diets 3 days/week & clean their cages 3 days/week. One of the other volunteers had calmed Sundance down to the point where she will allow a couple of us to pet her, mostly from the outside of the cage. She has now become very used to me and will let me pet her while I am in her enclosure. The other day she actually rolled over and let me pet her belly. What a trusting gesture that was!!Only one of them is aggressive – Cheyenne, a female, who has bitten (lightly) two volunteers on the butt. Hasn’t tried it with me yet!
Reindeer Cyclones are a real thing… a swirling mass of threatened reindeer stampeding in a circle making it impossible to target an individual.. here the fawns are in the middle
Every once in awhile I post something unrelated to coyotes. This is super-fascinating, so I had to post it. I had not seen or heard about this before. Enjoy! :))
I hope you are well at this time. I thought I would share a nice outcome we are seeing take shape in regards a coyote solution.
A local rancher has been diversifying his lands in regards stock and crops. However, one new venture was experiencing a lot of coyote conflict. The past few years a maturing vineyard has lost almost all it’s grapes…to coyote. It started with cameras catching several coyote raiding grapes. His answer was trapping 4 of them. This was futile, however, because that summer, 4 coyote turned into at least 14. I explained to him likely the scenario was he trapped the territorial pair/pack, and at the height of dry season (and pup season),he suddenly opened a very rich food resource (grapes and rodents) and all peripheral coyote pairs flowed in…and with growing pups in tow. The result was a summer long feast and big loss of grapes. And more coyote than ever.
So we talked, and he implemented some changes. 2 years in, the results are showing.
He planted a long, peripheral vineyard along some woods at the distant end of his agricultural land. He then allowed native grasses to grow among the grapes. This created a rodent rich grassland within a season. In addition, he obtained a permit to collect road killed deer and elk on his road. He takes the road kill and disposes of it in woods adjacent to the peripheral vineyard. The result is in the last year, a pair of coyote has taken over this area. The scavenging from occasional roadkill in woods, and the hunting of rodents in created grasslands, curtails their roaming. They jealously repelled all other coyote as they claimed this rich area. They don’t even range or forage in the older, mature vineyards. Also, the neighbors sheep herds and free range chickens have not had any coyote predation. By changing the landscape and locations of resources, and by utilizing a natural weekly/monthly bonus (roadkill deer are natural…not trying to encourage feeding human foods to coyote) he has allowed a territorial pair to develop and become landlords. They aggressively chase out all other coyote in region. By the pics he’s shown, they are very large, prime sized and powerful. If they want grapes…the peripheral vineyard provides the sacrifice. But literally stuffed with grassland rodents and deer/elk leftovers, they leave most grapes and all livestock alone.
Not everyone can do this. I balk a bit about the roadkill, but he felt he took a situation, and created coyote contentment into better future behaviors. Nothing wasted, and I admit-this strategy created some home loving coyote that are very settled, yet still totally wild.
As spring turns to hit summer, the pups will grow in need. But these coyote parents will enter a grassland/vineyard, and hunt rodents by the thousands. The pups will start foraging here as well. And yes, likely feed on some sacrificial grapes. But between the rodents, the roadkill deep in woods, and some grapes, lambs and chickens are literally ignored. Apparently an abundance of rodents, a side dish of leftover deer/elk, with a dessert of grapes turns coyote into predictable, and full, good neighbors who keep riff raff out as well.
🐾🐾🌾🐀🍇
Take care,
Lou
I’ve again been invited to give this presentation, this time at the China Camp State Park. For more information, press the above image or press the link here. Again, this will encompass the same information presented at PHS/SPCA on October 18th.
One of the most famous descriptions of a coyote — which was also known as a “prairie dog” by Lewis and Clark — was written by Mark Twain in his 1872 book, Roughing it. For those who have not read it yet, here it is. Twain goes to the extreme to wake up the reader, using over-the-top satire for effect, to depict a standard negative view of coyotes held by Americans at the time. The brilliant irony is exquisite: Clemens sullies and defiles a coyote’s “sorry looking aspect”, but in the end he shows his admiration for the coyote who gets the last laugh when put up against any dog, and wishes him the best. The so called “miserable looking creature” is actually an intelligent, brilliant survivor.
Along about an hour after breakfast we saw the first prairie dog villages, the first antelope, and the first wolf. If I remember rightly, this latter was the regular coyote (pronounced ky-o-te) of the farther deserts. And if it was, he was not a pretty creature or respectable either, for I got well acquanited with his race afterward, and can speak with confidence.
The coyote is a long, slim, sick and sorry-looking skeleton, with a gray wolfskin stretched over it, a tolerably bushy tail that forever sags down with a despairing expression of forsakenness and misery, a furtive and evil eye, and a long, sharp face, with slightly lifted lip and exposed teeth. He has a general slinking expression all over. The coyote is a living, breathing allegory of Want. He is always hungry. He is always poor, out of luck, and friendless. The meanest creatures despise him, and even the fleas would desert him for a velocipede. He is so spirtless and cowardly that even while his exposed teeth are pretending a threat, the rest of his face is apologizing for it. And he is so homely! -so scrawny, and ribby, and coarse-haired, and pitiful.
When he sees you he lifts his lip and lets a flash of his teeth out, and then turns a little out of the course he was pursuing, depresses his head a bit, and strikes a long, soft- footed trot through the sagebrush, glancing over his shoulder at you, from time to time, till he is about out of easy pistol range, and then he stops and takes a deliberate survey of you; he will trot fifty yards and stop again- another fifty and stop again; and finally the gray of his gliding body blends with the gray of the sagebrush, and he disappears. All this is when you make no demonstration against him; but if you do, he develops a livelier interest in his journey, and instantly electrifies his heels and puts such a deal of real estate between himself and your weapon that by the time you have raised the hammer you see that you need a Minie rifle, and by the time you have got him in line you need a rifled cannon, and by the time you have “drawn a bead” on him you see well enough that nothing but an unusually long-winded streak of lightning could reach him where he is now.
But if you start a swift-footed dog after him, you will enjoy it ever so much- especially if it is a dog that has a good opinion of himself, and has been brought up to think he knows something about speed. The coyote will go swinging gently off on that deceitful trot of his, and every little while he will smile a fraudful smile over his shoulder that will fill that dog entirely full of encouragement and worldly ambition, and make him lay his head still lower to the ground, and stretch his neck further to the front, and pant more fiercely, and stick his tail out straighter behind, and move his furious legs with a yet wilder frenzy, and leave a broader and broader, and higher and denser cloud of desert sand smoking behind him, and marking his long wake across the level plain!
And all this time the dog is only a short twenty feet behind the coyote, and to save the soul of him he cannot understand why it is that he cannot get perceptibly closer; and he begins to get aggravated, and it makes him madder and madder to see how gently the coyote glides along and never pants or sweats or ceases to smile; and he grows still more and more incensed to see how shamefully he has been taken in by an entire stranger, and what an ignoble swindle that long, calm, soft-footed trot is; and next he notices that he is getting fagged, and that the coyote actually has to slacken speed a little to keep from running away from him- and then that town dog is mad in earnest, and he begins to strain and weep and swear, and paw the sand higher than ever, and reach for the coyote with concentrated and desperate energy. This “spurt” finds him six feet behind the gliding enemy, and two miles from his friends. And then, in the instant that a wild new hope is lighting up his face, the coyote turns and smiles blandly upon him once more, and with a something about it which seems to say: “Well, I shall have to tear myself away from you, bub- business is business, and it will not do for me to be fooling along this way all day”- and forthwith there is a rushing sound, and the sudden splitting of a long crack through the atmosphere, and behold that dog is solitary and alone in the midst of a vast solitude!
It makes his head swim. He stops, and looks all around; climbs the nearest sand mound, and gazes into the distance; shakes his head reflectively, and then, without a word, he turns and jogs along back to his train, and takes up a humble position under the hindmost wagon, and feels unspeakably mean, and looks ashamed, and hangs his tail at half-mast for a week. And for as much as a year after that, whenever there is a great hue and cry after a coyote, that dog will merely glance in that direction without emotion, and apparently observe to himself, “I believe I do not wish any of that pie.”
The coyote lives chiefly in the most desolate and forbidding deserts, along with the lizard, the jackass rabbit, and the raven, and gets an uncertain and precarious living, and earns it. He seems to subsist almost wholly on the carcasses of oxen, mules, and horses that have dropped out of emigrant trains and died, and upon windfalls of carrion, and occasional legacies of offal bequeathed to him by white men who have been opulent enough to have something better to butcher than condemned Army bacon…. He does not mind going a hundred miles to breakfast, and a hundred and fifty to dinner, because he is sure to have three or four days between meals, and he can just as well be traveling and looking at the scenery as lying around doing nothing and adding to the burdens of his parents.
We soon learned to recognize the sharp, vicious bark of the coyote as it came across the murky plain at night to disturb our dreams among the mail sacks; and remembering his forlorn aspect and his hard fortune, made shift to wish him the blessed novelty of a long day’s good luck and a limitless larder the morrow.
This coyote warmly and enthusiastically welcomed a newcomer into her territory a while back: the territory would now be “theirs”, and not hers alone. Since that new inclusion, she and he could be seen teasing and bantering with each other constantly, including where food was involved, such as with a mouse. Who ultimately won the mouse was less important than the good-willed bantering over it — the interaction. They became best friends and, although they would go off in their own directions to hunt, they would “check-in” with each other at regular and frequent intervals, with joyous shows of affection, playfulness, and camaraderie.
SO, it was a bit of a surprise to discover that she had found a dead raccoon and kept it all to herself as far as I have ever saw. Although coyotes are able to take down juvenile raccoons, more than likely she found it as road-kill. I say this because this coyote actually flees from cats which are about the size of raccoons and much less ferocious.
It was when her new companion was way across the park that I found her in this spot, alone, eating her fill from the carcass. I went back to check on the other coyote: he was still hunting on the other side of the park. By the time I returned half-an hour later, this crafty trickster was hiding/burying her carcass by covering it up so no one would find it. I only saw her return there when he’s not with her, and I never saw him there.
Burying the carcass by covering it with leaves, using her snout, and looking around to make sure no one sees her [photos above, video below].
When I have observed other coyotes share the meat of a raccoon, they usually do it sequentially, with the dominant coyote driving off the other until that coyote has had its fill, while the second coyote respectfully sits and waits some non-intrusive distance away, pretending disinterest, until the first coyote departs. After the second coyote has his fill, the remains of the carcass are often dragged into a better hiding place by the second coyote (the first coyote having departed).
It is common for coyotes to find what another coyote has buried, unearth it, and drag it to a new hiding place where only they can find it. Of course, this could then again, happen in reverse.
When parents travel with their youngsters, you would think they might make sure the youngsters get their fair share of any found food. Nope. I’ve seen parent coyotes glutinously and selfishly devour an entire cache of food — too bad for the youngster who sat back and watched.
Hi, Janet. Today I saw my first coyote in daylight !!! It was in Pacifica.
At first I thought it was a dog. Or a wolf. I even looked at your website’s pictures just to make sure it really was a coyote.
You note on your website that, “Everyone I know is as thrilled as I am to have them here, even if they’ve never seen one!” And I know that’s true of me! I want them to keep sharing the habitat we still have. I am a defender of the coyotes. Seeing the coyote today was an enormous thrill for me.
I also took pictures of a huge flock of quail in Pacifica today and recently I photographed my 37th California butterfly and that was in Pacifica too. It was a Satyr Anglewing.
I really enjoy your coyote pictures.
Best wishes,
Jim Musselman
Another yoga position — and he held it for a long time!
For variety, occasionally I write about other animals than just coyotes — and this post is about one of these non-coyote animals.
I found the Red Tailed Hawk fledgling I wrote about several weeks ago playing or practice-hunting with a rock. I had never seen anything like this before and wonder how ordinary, or quirky, or super-intelligent (or the opposite) this behavior is to be able to play like this? Then again, maybe it’s an indication of character, individuality and special interests as in anyone else — why not? She was persistent in her play and really fun to watch — almost as fun as watching the coyotes! A few days later, I saw her playing this same way with a pine cone, and before that I saw her attacking a gnarled twig on the ground as though it might be a something edible.
Addendum: I spoke to our local bird specialist, Dom Mosur, who told me that this is normal behavior, that hawks indeed do play with rocks!!
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.
Along about an hour after breakfast we saw the first prairie dog villages, the first antelope, and the first wolf. If I remember rightly, this latter was the regular coyote (pronounced ky-o-te) of the farther deserts. And if it was, he was not a pretty creature or respectable either, for I got well acquanited with his race afterward, and can speak with confidence.
Coyote Yipps 
