Sirens set this coyote off, with long drawn-out howls and barking, and pauses in-between. I’ve only included part of the recording here. During one of the last pauses you will hear, unusually, a dog’s response, which surprises the coyote who stops to carefully listen. “What the. . . . . who does he think he is?” Anyway, the interruption seems to tick off the coyote who throws herself into the next howl with a spirited leap, howls some more, and then hurries off to a place where she might get a view of her competitor. I don’t think she saw anyone. The coyote continued to howl, but the dog did not, and the siren had long since ceased, so things quieted down fairly quickly.
Coyote Interrupted
14 Jan 2012 4 Comments
in coyote behavior, coyote reactions to dogs, dog reactions to coyotes, oneupmanship, video Tags: coyote, coyote behavior, coyotes, dogs and coyotes, urban coyotes
A “Tie” in Coyotes
09 Jan 2012 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, coyote mating behavior, video
Coyotes literally become “tied” together during mating. As you can see from this video which I found on youtube, it puts them in a very vulnerable position and could be dangerous for them if there were larger predators around.
Two Coyotes Squeal Exuberantly After Hearing A Siren
03 Jan 2012 6 Comments
in coyote behavior, squealing, video Tags: coyote behavior, coyote squealing, coyotes, urban coyotes
You can imagine my disappointment when this video came out blurry — even when I refocused it stayed blurry. However, the sound is clear: two coyotes yip after hearing a siren. The other coyote initiated the yipping — that one was about 150 feet away from this one, and this one joined in. It was a very short yipping session which lasted just over what I was able to capture in the video. The same high-pitched sounds that were used here for responding to sirens, are also used as happy greeting vocalizations.
Some individuals mistakenly have thought that these high pitched squeals were the sounds of puppies and spread rumors that there were coyote puppies around, when in fact, it was just adults squealing their adult squeals. As you can see from the video, these are adult vocalizations. And, again, there were only two coyotes involved, though one might easily think that the sounds were coming from many coyotes.
Need More Sleep
18 Dec 2011 1 Comment
in coyote behavior, rest and sleep, video Tags: coyote, coyote sleeping, coyotes, urban coyotes
I arrived at one of my parks earlier than I had anticipated. It was before dawn, but I didn’t want to wait in the car, so I headed into the park. A coyote was sleeping out in an open field — a mound of fur on the ground. She was really well camouflaged — I don’t think anyone else would have detected her there. I took out my camera to videotape the stillness — the video function works wonderfully in bad lighting. The coyote casually lifted her head and looked around, and then looked at me. She hadn’t had her fill of sleep: “Need more sleep.” Okay! She put her head back down, and I went on.
Ravens
08 Dec 2011 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, harassment by other animals, video
Two ravens followed this coyote, squawking angrily, and one swooped down right overhead — sky-bomb fashion — not touching the coyote, but coming very close. I missed getting a shot of that. Then the ravens settled in a nearby tree, but they continued to taunt the coyote. Ravens do not like coyotes to hang around their territories. Actually the harassment was pretty mild and didn’t last too long. People walked by on a path that was not at all far off, but no humans noticed Mr. Coyote here — no one except the angry Ravens.
Rainy Day Stretch and Shakeout
28 Nov 2011 1 Comment
in coyote behavior, resting, video
Coyotes are not put out by the rain at all. This one stayed out in the rain for over two hours before slowly and casually walking on.
Leaps n’ Bounds
20 Nov 2011 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, exploring, hunting, video
I guess something exciting caught this fellow’s eye as I followed his movements from across a street. Whatever it was, it got away! The coyote ambled on, as he had been doing before the leaping began. Better luck next time.
Scouting Around A Log
15 Nov 2011 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, curiosity, foraging, hunting, Uncategorized, video Tags: coyote, coyote hunting, coyotes, urban coyotes
A coyote stops at a log to scout for a possible meal. The scrutiny was intense and thorough, but yielded nothing! I didn’t start the video until most of the exploring was already over, but you can see from the stills I took before the video that the coyote was all over the log. I didn’t see any digging, just poking and sniffing, so I assume it was scent and not sound that drew the coyote to the log.
Squirrel Yawns & Stretches While Hanging From His Toenails
12 Nov 2011 2 Comments
in Uncategorized, video
Occasionally I’ll add a post about another animal, to add some variety to the blog. I was too late to catch two squirrels chasing each other around the tree trunk. It was a noisy and active chase, which is why I noticed them. By the time my camera was up, one squirrel had leaped to another tree — you can briefly glimpse him in the lower left-hand corner of the video. Meanwhile, this center-stage guy took a break from the play with a yawn and a stretch while hanging from his toenails — and he does it again a second time!
Dominance Display
01 Nov 2011 Leave a comment
in communication, coyote behavior, dominant vs. submissive, hierarchy, video
This is a rare observation. We’ve all heard of the term “dominance”, but how many of us have seen it in operation? Here is a blatant show of dominance by one coyote. There is literal truth to the phrase “top dog”. These coyotes get along really well, but it is obvious that the existing hierarchy needs reconfirmation now and then. The underdog did not like being bumped by the dominant coyote and reacts. But the dominant one does not allow him to get away with his reaction, and literally puts him in his place.
The underdog struggles a little, but the dominant one is much more adept. The physical hold is finally let go when the underdog calms down. But not until the underdog reveals that he accepts his place does the top dog actually let go of the psychological hold over the underdog. When the less dominant coyote bows, keeping his head low, and stays that way for a few seconds, he has shown his submissiveness and the little display is over. The ending includes a little playful skip on the part of the dominant coyote. Both then continue grooming themselves and hunting, best friends as ever before.
By the way, I captured this clip in very bad lighting — on the dark side of twilight — I’m learning that my camera video capability is amazing!
Kickin’ High
26 Oct 2011 2 Comments
in coyote behavior, hunting, video Tags: coyote, coyote behavior, coyotes, urban coyotes
This coyote is totally absorbed in the job at hand, totally focused. The high-strung tension is palpable as he hesitates and wavers. He holds back, preparing for his big move. He finally lets go like a wound-up coil when he thinks the time is right. Watch those legs fly! In spite of the effort, the vole evaded capture.
Tip Toe!
22 Oct 2011 1 Comment
in coyote behavior, foraging, hunting, video Tags: coyote, coyote behavior, coyote hunting, coyotes
I asked a very good friend if he thought this video might be too long for viewers. This is what he said:
“It is wonderful, & beautiful — particularly the sound, and the length, which both are perfect — nature is slow… those digitalkids & iphonephreaks who believe they live in a soundbyte world, don’t — there are entire worlds out there, surrounding them and containing them and of which they are a tiny miniscule and unimportant part, which move far more slowly — Nature is one of those, Geology moves far more slowly even than that — Astral events, the stars, move both far more slowly and sometimes a whole lot faster, than they do — let the slowness here, decorated so wonderfully by that chirping-birds & airplane soundtrack, remind them of their own relativity in all of that”.
This video is long, at 5:51 minutes. The most interesting parts are the tiptoeing at 1:10, the series of pounces where she caves in the underground tunnels of her prey at 1:44, and then the furious digging and moving of ground cover at 2:17. She exposes her prey by this digging and grabs it at 3:28 and then eats it. A young female shows how adept she is at her hunting routine:
Here is a breakdown of what is occurring:
- To begin with, patiently, she stands there, super alert, watching and listening, triangulating her ears from side to side, and nodding her head back and forth to exactly and precisely locate her prey by sound.
- At 1:10 she tiptoes, ever so carefully so that her prey may not hear her — a little bit closer
- Soon thereafter, at 1:44 she tenses, getting ready to leap, backs up a little bit and then springs up and down into several pounces, landing hard on her forepaws with a series of “punches” meant to knock in her prey’s intricate tunneling system underground. This prevents the gopher from escaping through that tunnel network. This lasts until 2:05.
- At 2:17 she begins furiously digging and digging, both deep into the ground to break through into the tunnels, and on the surface to move the ground-cover out of the way, all the while continually keeping a wary eye on her surroundings, including me and folks walking in back of me.
- At 3:28 she catches her prey, disables it, and tosses it to the ground. Then, by looking around, she assesses how safe it is to eat right it then and there. She decides it’s not so safe, so she runs off with it.
- At 3:36 until the end of the video, she eats her prey, tearing into several more manageable eating portions and chewing these down to swallowable sizes — it takes a while, and then she calmly walks off. Note that there is no waste — she eats every bit of her prey: entrails, muscles, fur and bones.
The Huffing Continued
07 Oct 2011 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, coyote reactions to dogs, huffing, video Tags: coyote, coyote behavior, coyote huffing, coyotes, coyotes and dogs, huffing
This is actually a continuation of the last posting on “Coyote Huffing”. I should have included it in that posting. By the time I took this second video, the coyote had sat down. But you can still see the movements of her throat, huffing and puffing, during the first 13 seconds of the clip. The activity is very quiet, barely audible, if at all in the clip, but nonetheless audible in real life. In this case, after the huffing stopped, at 13 seconds into the clip, the coyote calmed down and the matter was forgotten for the time being. The coyote soon got up and continued her slow trek towards one of her snoozing spots.
Nose Punch
26 Sep 2011 1 Comment
in coyote behavior, coyotes, hunting, video Tags: coyote, coyote behavior, coyotes, urban coyotes
A hard and fast “punch” is delivered at the entryway to the burrow of a little critter that will become the coyote’s prey. It’s part of the cycle of life. Coyotes sometimes use their two front paws which they stiffen for this purpose. In this case, the nose is used to deliver the hefty punch. From what I have seen, this punch disables or weakens the critter. Most of the time, as here, it is followed by probing and digging before the prey is actually captured. The coyote regularly looks around to check out the safety of his surroundings.
Wrong Tree?
23 Sep 2011 1 Comment
in coyote behavior, coyotes, video Tags: coyotes, urban coyote behavior, urban coyotes
I, too, heard the loud rustling sounds of a squirrel which caused me to look over and see it. The coyote’s attention became more and more intent the more he watched the loud activity. Finally, the coyote stood up, then dashed over to the tree. But no squirrel was in sight. “Could I have mistaken the tree?” Just in case he got it wrong, the coyote inspected the next tree over, but the squirrel was not there either, apparently. So Coyote settled for a green grassy salad close by before trotting off.
