This little girl yearling is having a hard time waiting for the dusk reunion. Only in the last of the three clips is her yearling companion’s presence detectable by its ears moving. Those ears are near the ground at the right edge of the bush near which the one is standing.
Dad and Pup, by Charles Wood
31 Aug 2012 2 Comments
in communication, coyote behavior, family interactions, father/pup learning, video
Here in LA county my dad coyote showed up alone. He sat for twelve minutes at the rendezvous area. Then this year’s puppy found Dad. The video shows their reunion.
I had to wonder. Why did the puppy also show up alone? Clearly it is too young to be alone. If it had been with a different pack member, that pack member would also have greeted Dad. I suspect Dad had been with the puppy and that Dad wandered off and left it. It took the puppy about twelve minutes to figure out that Dad had wandered off and to then find Dad. Dad could well have wandered off to teach the puppy to keep a better eye on him.
The puppy had another lesson to learn, that it had better pay attention to what Dad is paying attention to. Dad gave the puppy some little bites to calm it down. Dad was keeping an eye on my two dogs and me. The puppy didn’t figure that out until one of my dogs barked at a pedestrian. The last two segments of the video, taken after my dog barked, show the puppy’s ears at low camera left close to the edge of the frame. By now the puppy knew to be cautious.
Play and Wait, by Charles Wood
29 Aug 2012 4 Comments
in coyote behavior, family interactions, reunion, video
Mom, resting and waiting, wasn’t in the mood to play with her two yearlings. She went so far as to show them some teeth! Once again, they were waiting for their dusk rendezvous and Mom looked spent. This event marked the first time I’ve seen the two 2011 yearlings together, confirming my suspicion that Mom and Dad had two puppies last year. It took about a year for me to see just one of them.
Yearling With Stick, by Charles Wood
26 Aug 2012 3 Comments
in coyote behavior, group activity, video, waiting
My coyotes rendezvous daily around dusk in the same place and have been doing so for the four years I’ve been watching them. They don’t all arrive there at the same time. I’ve often seen one or two family members waiting for others to show up. Once all are together and joyful greetings exchanged, the pack trots away together. I’ve seen some wait for two hours and more, sitting or ambling around. While waiting for each other, I’ve never seen them hunt. The time they spend waiting looks pretty boring for them.
The yearling in the video is passing time by walking around with a stick in its mouth. In the distance to camera right, humans jog and bicycle until it’s time for them to meet up with friends and family for the evening. For humans and coyotes, social contexts are essential.
Individually, coyotes eat small prey and consequently could exist as solitary hunters. Yet coyote food security comes from holding territory and a solitary coyote can’t hold territory. A coyote couple can; and a coyote couple can only raise a family by holding territory. Within that territory, coyote family members don’t depend on group hunts to get food. However coyote families do depend on family members to hold territory. Without family there is no territory and without territory there is no food security for coyotes. Family is food security for coyotes and territory is family.
Within the bond of a coyote couple rests their food security. It is no wonder that a Chicago coyote study researcher has noted no cases of coyote divorce. My Mom and Dad coyotes fundamentally know that eating has been really good since they met, just as good as when they lived back in the homes of their respective parents. In essence, they are each other’s promised land, they are an abundance to each other that only death can put asunder.
Still in its own parents promised land, the yearling was at a comfortable distance from me. It didn’t feel its territory was being compromised and didn’t need to defend it. Its backward glance at me confirmed that I was staying put and that it could keep walking around with its stick.
A Brief Show, by Charles Wood
22 Aug 2012 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, coyote howling, family interactions, group activity, video
Mom and her puppy were waiting around when a siren sounded in the distance. The puppy got hidden pack members to join it for some vocalizing. Mom, on watch, did not join in. I didn’t have time to properly set my tripod and the noise from passing cars almost entirely drowned out the coyotes. A minute later the puppy had hidden itself and the show was over.
Seems to Want to Howl, but only One Short Bark Comes Out
20 Aug 2012 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, video
Sirens sound in the far distance. This coyote hurries to the edge of a cliff and looks ready to howl, but for some reason never gets going with it. He throws his head back several times and engages in small nodding, but all we get out of it is one very short bark in the middle of the video.
There is another coyote nearby involved in hunting, within view of this one — possibly that one is hot on the trail of some prey which it doesn’t want to lose, and therefore doesn’t want to be interrupted? Might this coyote have been waiting for a go-ahead cue from the other, the alpha — a cue which was not forthcoming?
Emma Marris, The Rambunctious Garden
20 Aug 2012 Leave a comment
in native plant program, video
Everyone should know about the large number of tree removals and massive defoliation happening in some of our major San Francisco parks, including McLaren Park, Mount Davidson, Glen Canyon among others. Do we want this massive intervention, intended to return these parks to dune grasses and scrubland, or do we want a different intervention based on a resiliency paradigm which preserves the wildlife habitat that has evolved over the last 150 years and supports most of our wildlife. Ecologists have discovered that the “go back to dates” chosen by “restorationists” are really only moments between two human altered landscapes. They are entirely arbitrary.
“Learn to love the inevitable changes, is really how I feel”, says Emma Marris. “If the choice is to fight for a [pristine past environment] and lose, or to work with nature as it changes and adapts to what we humans have done to planet Earth, respecting its dynamism and resilience as it shifts to new states, I vote for the latter.” And so do most park visitors in San Francisco.
In addition, Emma states that when anything is too biodiverse — one of everything — it is more like a zoo than nature. We need to leave areas alone and let them sort themselves out. Practitioners (those doing “restorations”) really need to read her book: The Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World.”
Hunting Togetherness
15 Aug 2012 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, dog reactions to coyotes, foraging, hunting, video
These two seem to be in each others’ faces. If they were to catch a vole or gopher, I wonder if they would share it? Towards the end of the video here, one coyote runs off because dogs are approaching. The other coyote didn’t seem to want to give up the possibility of a catch! However, it, too, bolted, the minute the dog actually saw it and began to chase — right after I cut off the video.
Baying
05 Aug 2012 1 Comment
in coyote behavior, video
Coyotes make a variety of sounds: yips, barks, grunts, squeals, etc. Here you have baying: a soulful, mournful, wailing sound. And, if you listen carefully, you will hear two more coyotes responding from two different distant locations. The baying was set off by the sound of sirens.
This coyote had been sleeping, curled up in a ball. At the sound of the sirens she lifted her head and listened, and then she sat up — she did not begin the baying immediately. She began her own baying in response to one of the other coyotes. When the session was over, she went over to the same spot where she had been before, and again curled up into a little ball and closed her eyes.
Tick’ed Off
01 Aug 2012 2 Comments
in coyote behavior, family interactions, grooming, urban coyote ailments, video
This video is a long one, four and a half minutes. One coyote is removing ticks from the other, and the other is enjoying the exquisite attention and massage, closing its eyes to relish this personal grooming session. The behavior not only serves the purpose of removing unhealthy ticks, it serves to strengthen the social bond between these two. The affection between these two is tremendous.
Coyotes Jump on Bushes?
20 Jul 2012 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, hunting, video
There was something in that bush that the coyote was after, though I never saw it. The bush has a springy quality to it — trampoline like! It looks like fun — maybe that is why the coyote tries it over and over again. The companion coyote thinks the whole endeavor is kind of silly: there might be some teasing going on! I have observed coyotes in trees before, but this is the first true bushjumping I’ve seen! I did post some similar jumping in stills, but it wasn’t this dramatic. The name of this bush is “coyote bush” — coincidentally!
Coyote Confronts Mountain Lion, by Charles Wood
17 Jul 2012 7 Comments
in coyote behavior, harassment by other animals, territoriality, video
A friend sent me a video link of a coyote and a mountain lion interacting this month at Whiting Ranch, Orange Country California. In the video, a mature male coyote vocalizes at a mountain lion. The mountain lion was probably passing through the coyote’s territory. The coyote barred the mountain lion from going down a road. My guess is that the coyote’s territory is along and down the road.
The coyote made a stand. It told the mountain lion that it had better not go farther down that road. The coyote told the mountain lion that he was tough, persistent, and that he would continue to make noise if the mountain lion stayed around. Stealthy mountain lions don’t like noisy coyotes broadcasting their movements to all the other animals in the area.
In the very last part of the video, after the mountain lion went into the brush, the coyote’s ears were full forward. It had a lock on the mountain lion and wanted to be sure it was still moving away. The coyote didn’t pursue the mountain lion because the mountain lion did what the coyote wanted. The mountain lion gave the coyote its space.
Stopping To Observe, Then Trekking On
15 Jul 2012 2 Comments
in coyote behavior, coyote reactions to dogs, curiosity, video
This video is self-explanatory. The little coyote was out, mostly hunting for food, when it stopped to observe a few sparse dog walkers in the distance. I only caught the last minute on video, but the coyote sat there for about 10 minutes total time. When it was through watching, it continued it’s trek in search of a gopher or a vole.
Coyotes enjoy observing dogs from the distance — they hope, while doing so, that they won’t become detected. If a dog detects them, it will often end up chasing the coyote. Most coyotes will flee if they are chased by a dog, but a dominant coyote may well chase back, and even nip. After all, this is their territory and they would do the same to any interloper coyotes. On occasion, especially during pupping season, a coyote might charge a dog it feels is threatening its space. For this reason, it is best to keep pets leashed in a coyote area — it’s the smart thing to do. Coyotes are much less likely to engage in this behavior towards dogs that are kept close to their owners.
Coyotes have no interest in human encounters — they just want to be left alone and will maintain their critical distances from all humans unless they are prompted/trained to do otherwise through human intervention. The worst intervention involves feeding, which, in fact, is illegal. Please, never feed a coyote: you are hurting the coyote’s health and it’s independence and wildness.
The Wag
05 Jul 2012 2 Comments
in coyote behavior, hunting, video
It was impossible to focus through the tall grasses. The camera’s automatic focus kept choosing the grass instead of the tail. Oh, well. You get the idea. This fellow was hunting. Most of the time when coyotes hunt, their tails are not this active. The coyote did catch a meal — maybe the fast tail helped?!
