A Little Fun With Some Alarmist Ravens

08 Jun 2019 3 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, oneupmanship

Sauntering down a street, minding his own business, until the ravens focused on him

Ravens serve as general sentinels not only for their own conspiracies, but their cries of alarm are listened to by all wild critters within hearing distance. That sentence might not make sense to a lot of people until they learn that a group of ravens can be referred to as a “conspiracy”, “an unkindness”, “a congress”, or “a constable”. A group of crows, by the way, is often referred to as a “murder” of crows. Ravens croak-up a storm when they see coyotes and often dive-bomb them to harass them out of the area. It’s a territorial thing: both of these creatures scavenge for the same type of foods, so they are competitive in this respect, but also, coyotes have the potential to grab one of the corvids itself and eat it.

So today the ravens were directing a tempest of alarmist croaks at this fella coyote as he sauntered along the sidewalk minding his own business. Most of the time coyotes flee from ravens’ harassment while dodging their sky-diving onslaughts. In this instance, this two-year old coyote decided to play along with them. The two — raven conspiracy and coyote — know each other well from many such previous engagements at this same location: you might call the two “frenemies”.  The ravens had given up their skydiving of this particular coyote long ago, they just emitted loud vocalizations and threatening territorial displays without leaving the comfort of their perches — it was a sort of pro-forma performance. And the coyote’s engagement was simply a diversion: a one-upmanship game: he engaged visually with the ravens, jumping up on his hind legs without any expectation of reaching them — they were way above a six-foot hedge.  Notice the coyote smiling and having a bit of fun. After a full six minutes, coyote walked on and ravens became quiet.

After about six minutes of diversion, he continued on his way.

You can be sure that if the ravens had kept quiet and not focused all that noise and animosity (even if it was faux animosity) on the coyote, the coyote would have walked on and hardly noticed them, but coyotes are keenly aware when they’ve become an “an object of interest” to some other creature. And, by the way, I have seen the same thing happen with some dogs. Dogs that bark at, lunge at, or even blink an evil-eye at a coyote, leashed or not, have communicated their interest — their negative interest — to the coyote. Some coyotes — each coyote behaves differently — might react to this, if not immediately, perhaps on another day, even when the dog is behaving a little more congenially. Coyotes appear to remember previous antagonisms, and one day down the line, the coyote could sneak up from behind to attempt a little retaliatory nip to the haunches of the dog. The nip is a “message”: the coyote isn’t out to “maul” the dog. He/she is simply out to “message” the dog to not mess with him/her, to move on and away. It’s another instance of oneupmanship. The humans around will read this as purely aggressive behavior, but in fact it’s more complicated and is based on previous behaviors.

It’s best to keep the peace by always keeping your distance and by preventing your dog’s barking at a coyote right from the word go: tighten your leash and drag your dog away, making it difficult for him/her to continue barking or looking at the coyote. Walking away sends a clear message to the coyote that you don’t want to engage — that the coyote is not an object of interest to you or your dog. Small dogs should be picked up as you move away from a coyote. Once a coyote gets to within just a few feet of you, you’ll have to add screams and belligerence as you move away: it’s best to move away WAY BEFORE you have to do this.

Coyote Pups: A Tragedy

02 Jun 2019 4 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote "messaging" behavior, habitat issues, human behavior, pups

Nextdoor photo sent to me by a friend. I’ll give credit to the photographer when I find out who that is.

Many “abandoned” coyote pups are “kidnapped” by caring humans who want to “save” them. Of course, coyote parents often leave their pups for a full day or two as they go off hunting, so no pups should ever be removed without monitoring for several days. But situations can be more complicated than this, and this is one of those.

The den was in a residential neighborhood, under someone’s porch. The owner sealed off the area under his porch (hopefully this was done inadvertently). When this was discovered, not for over a week, the area was unsealed and the emaciated and ill-looking, starving pups were removed for treatment, including hydration. They were then put back with warming pads under them. It is after their removal-and-return that monitoring of these pups took place, to see if the parents would return. The parents of course knew they had been taken so they had no reason to return, after all, they hadn’t been able to even get to them for a week. This information comes from our ACC and WildCare who tried to save the pups.

Since the parents did not return, the pups were then transported by an ACC volunteer to a rehabilitation facility where they both soon died. This is a tragedy because a number of people suspected there might be pups. I myself knew there were pups because Mom was lactating, but I had no way of knowing exactly where the den was, or that the porch had been sealed up. No one knowing there were pups would have gone anywhere close to the area: coyotes want their dens kept secret, and I help them keep it that way by staying away and by asking others to do the same.

Were there any signs at all about what was going on? For a month, the male had been acting like a protective father. Then, during the last week, neighbors had been complaining of the male coyote’s following them and gaping threateningly: they said he was acting intensely strange — that maybe he was sick. But he wasn’t. Coyotes are smart. This coyote knew it was humans who had sealed off the pups. He was desperate, and simply “messaging” folks with dogs to stay away so they wouldn’t cause any further damage. Animals sometimes “ask” for help: I don’t know if this happened, but I do know that few people would be able to read such a request.

It’s really important to note that when a coyote’s behavior changes, SOMETHING is going on to cause it. Unfortunately, I did not see the male during that week — only reports by others made me aware of it. This male and female have been in the area a long time, and as far as I know, they’ve always acted appropriately.

PS: I met the German Shepherd which had been followed for four blocks by the coyote: that dog barked at me threateningly. The owners made her sit to keep her from lunging at me.  I was told by her owners that she was a “guard dog”. This is precisely the type of dog, a dog protective of its owners — whether leashed or not — which is most threatening to a coyote. The coyote had a need to let this particular dog know to stay away from him and his den area. I don’t know if there had been a previous incident between the dog and the coyote, but even if there hadn’t, visual communication is acute with coyotes and the coyote could read that dog as a dangerous threat to his family. Know that it’s not the dog’s or the owners’ “fault”. These just happen to be the circumstances which clashed. If you have such a dog, you can help the situation by altering your walking route for several months, or even by altering the time you walk towards the middle of the day. There is always something humans can do to help a situation, if you care enough to help. By the same token, neither is this situation the coyote’s “fault”: he’s doing his job as all coyote fathers do — and as they have to do.

Coyote Territorial Movements: Scout’s Story

28 May 2019 4 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, territoriality, wandering

I’ve been able to keep up with a displaced coyote for the last four months. I decided to summarize what has been going on recently with her, as well as her territorial life previous to the battle which displaced her. I’ve used names here to help you keep the individuals involved sorted out.

The wanderings here were put together based solely on my visual identification of individuals in different families I’ve observed over the years, and with a couple of field cameras. I seldom use field cams because they are intrusive: coyotes know they are there. I define anything as intrusive which changes the behavior of a coyote. Coyotes look right at the cams because of course they can see them and hear them. You’ll notice that many trap-cam photos show the animals looking directly at the camera. Sometimes a coyote can only hear the camera, in which case you will get photos of the coyote (or other animal) looking up and around as he/she tries to figure out exactly what and where the sound is. Some coyotes come over and examine the cameras because they are worried about them. I know one coyote who actually “messages” his dislike to such cameras by defecating in front of them, kicking dirt, or even knocking them down! Yikes! Anyway, since I’m not seeing Scout on her territory, and I wanted to follow through on her story for at least a while, I resorted to using a couple such cameras on routes where coyotes have been seen several times. Friends have allowed me — when these coyotes have been sighted in their areas — to put up a camera very temporarily on or near their properties and I want to thank them for helping out!

These coyotes wander generally and much more than I’ve depicted here. The movements depicted here are simply to show points where they went, and when, which affected Scout’s story.

I did not observe the coyote referred to as “Wired” being captured and radio-collared on January 3rd. My observations of her begin after that. I called up the Presidio to ask about the new radio-collared coyote in Scout’s area. Within San Francisco, no coyotes are radio-collared EXCEPT those within the Presidio, so they would know about her. That’s how I have that date. She was in the general area of Scout’s territory for weeks before the territorial fight. Scout’s sudden change of behavior to constant periphery walks and patrolling hinted at what was to come, but I was unable to identify what was causing this behavior change until after the attack: then it all fell into place.

Coyotes, once you get to know them, can be identified by their faces, their general body shapes/outlines and their movements/behaviors. But in addition, very interestingly, I have found family resemblances within some families — no different from in some human families. Recognizing these family similarities has helped me find where some coyotes had once been after they moved, by going back to my previous photos of that family. Dispersed individuals often, of course, continue to change a little appearance-wise as they fill out to their adult sizes. There is a slight difference between the younger and slightly older coyote which may throw you off when attempting an exact identification — until you compare them to the previous photos you took of them and realize and confirm that indeed, they are one and the same coyote.

Scout was Queen Bee as a loner for two and a half years in her territory. The bliss of friendship and camaraderie followed and lasted five months. She was obviously as thrilled at the new situation as were her long-time observers. But it ended and she fell hard. Defeated in battle by an intruder, she lost everything, and was barely able to hold on to life itself. Even now, to stay alive, she must constantly flee from place to place, continuously looking over her shoulder. Scout’s story emphasizes how strong coyote territoriality is: they fight for and defend their turfs. Her story also speaks strongly for how extremely social coyotes are: they interact all the time — both adversely and harmoniously — and have strong family ties: they sometimes even check on family individuals over distances.

As of this posting, here are my last two sightings of Wired and Scout. Wired is seen on May 24th (three days ago) passing over the path that Scout has been taking for a week: that’s the first part of the video. Then, Scout is seen this morning passing through again: note her continual looking over her shoulder before continuing on the path: she does not want to run into Wired.

© All information and photos in my postings come from my original and first-hand documentation work which is copyrighted and may only be re-used with proper credit.

I Saw Me A Coyote This Morning, by Charles Wood

23 May 2019 5 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in Charles Wood

Charles was a frequent contributor to this blog until his coyote family fell apart, his dogs passed away, and he moved to New Mexico. Use the search box to find postings of his observations along with supporting photos.

I live now in Grant County New Mexico and have lived here about two years. Coyotes adapted to the Southwest long before humans existed even as a gleam in some future primate’s eye. Coyotes lived here for an incomprehensible duration of time. Human occupation of the Southwest is insignificant by comparison. To coyotes, we are the newcomers, are an upstart oddity good for nothing important. We are a nuisance neighbor at best, that even though, as a coyote may see it, we humans are possessed of a mind.

I live on the edge of Silver City proper, known for the Empire Zinc strike documented in the film Salt of the Earth. Goyahkla (Geronimo) was born not far from here, a medicine man turned warrior who was not permitted to die near the Gila. If one is inclined toward flights of imagination, then that he is still here in spirit would seem just a fact. By imagination somehow I try to get a reading upon why things here are different. At times we see a pronghorn or two grazing among the cattle on ranch land that just seems to go on for hours when we drive to El Paso. Mannie, the man who built my residence’s fence, said last week that he modified a fence for a neighbor a bit down the road. The javelina somehow regularly penetrated that neighbor’s fencing, that fencing not able to protect an inner sanctum of fruit trees from their plunder. Mannie field-engineered a solution and was pretty satisfied when telling of it. I wouldn’t have thought there were black bears here. But there are as this story shows. http://www.scdailypress.com/site/2018/11/30/bear-spotted-in-downtown/ A year or so ago it didn’t surprise me to hear that a mountain lion was shot when it came too close to a local elementary school. It did surprise me to learn that said school was not at all far from my new house. On the day I first drove up from Lordsburg off the I-10, coming upon Silver City I saw an elk munching off to the side of the road. It’s common to see mule deer, but you can live here a long time before happening upon an elk.

But coyotes? They are here and they have gobs of undeveloped land. When I first arrived, I may have seen one near my home while taking a walk. But it was gone so fast I couldn’t be sure it wasn’t a local dog. My neighbor a few doors down has two lab mixes. As I walk by them with my dog they fight over who gets to rail at us from behind their four-foot chain link fence. A couple times, coming back from a walk, I saw them coming off the hills and heading for their yard. They get out. It isn’t hard. That neighbor said that once they retrieved them from the pound after being out all night. Mostly they guard their yard with its toddler, not a stretch for wolfish traditions. Those dogs can leave their yard anytime they want, but usually they don’t. Sure there are roads and traffic, but there are deer. People drive according to the posted limits and watch for dogs and deer.

But coyotes? Not much of interest for them in a human settlement, they having plenty of range to themselves. Still, I assume they are out there. When I walk in the hills near my home, I keep my dog leashed, a two-ish red heeler, an Australian cattle dog mix. That breed has some dingo in it, and to me, it shows. Skittish, food is his mantra, but he doesn’t recognize food on the hoof. A rabbit is a curiosity and it doesn’t occur to Hunter to chase it. He’s on his leash any-hoo. He isn’t going to get to chase anything. But scent? Lord. Anything who brushed a particular branch of a shrub, Hunter sniffs it with focused precision. A deer who scratched herself on a sapling, that he studies. Last night, we went out front to the abutting hillside so that he could do his duty. His nose wouldn’t let him bother with such, he was alert and ready to chase down the hill into the darkness. I wouldn’t go. We turned and went to the civilized side of my street, and went inside. I’ve learned to notice things. I try to pay attention.

For instance. One midnight I took him out front and, as I approached my front yard gate, a ferret type creature went from shrub to tree in an instant. Then I heard some awful hollering as two excited raccoons quickly came across the street from the hill. They continued down the dirt street which separates my house from my neighbor’s. I was still inside my front yard’s fence. Then a crow flew over low and slow and let out a low throaty burst. I thought “Something isn’t right here” as I impatiently opened my front gate. A cat then ran from under my car parked beside my fence. Then a lone deer fled from its station down the dirt street a little. I turned around, shut the gate behind me and went back inside. Nobody out there was settled and I took the hint. I didn’t need to know what was out there, none of my business.

So last night when Hunter wanted to rock and roll down that uncivilized incline, I turned around and went back inside. If I don’t see why he alerts, he doesn’t get to go and depending, I go somewhere else. We’re learning caution. I don’t know if a coyote recently rubbed against one of Hunter’s shrubs or not. None of my business and none of his business and that’s that.

But this morning. Down the incline and onto our dirt path, I saw the coyote on a path perpendicular to our line of travel. It was holding still, had seen us first from perhaps 70 yards away. The morning sun blazed it’s straw-brown colors in brilliance. It was a healthy coyote in the prime of life. I stopped immediately and bent toward it with my head protruding out. It saw that and in reply trotted forward about three or four steps. It stopped and watched, waiting for our next move. I looked again and we made eye contact. I turned around. I straightened up. Hunter didn’t see it at all. There are several paths through the low grass, shrubs, juniper saplings, and weeds. I certainly wasn’t going to walk parallel with the coyote, such a move would be aggressive. I turned around and went in the direction from which I came. The coyote knew l was giving it room enough to go anywhere except to follow. It didn’t. I checked. Why would it follow a nuisance newcomer species with a four-legged runner companion trampling around in the weeds? Such a sight is discordant. It was a coyote in its prime and therefore wasn’t about wasting its own time. Hold still, trot thrice when spotted, and look for the nuisance’s next move. It’s a dance well-choreographed by time immemorial. Only the young don’t know the steps.

I could let my dog off leash here. There’s plenty of spaces without people and dogs. A few years ago, living in Long Beach, where with Janet’s help I learned to better understand coyotes, I learned that having a dog off-leash feeds a fantasy of a kind of freedom that doesn’t exist in nature. We are the species that seems not to obey time honored rules. By their minded motions, those other creatures seem to have a good understanding of all that much our modern mind has lost. We can re-learn, we can be rehabilitated.

We must learn. There’s a long-passed medicine man out there in the hills, and there within all life, life-the-minded-ones, her spirit is on the wind, and right beside us too. Nature is a hard comfort made possible only by a love that despite everything binds all ones to another. We collectively need now more than ever to listen and follow such examples. For where there is love, there can exist no anger. Somewhere of Arizona I heard it said that wild donkeys at dawn file into a small town. Each wild donkey takes a corner as its own. Each gets petted and fed carrots and apples during the day, ever happy to greet a stranger and receive a blessing for giving one. And as dusk comes, they all leave their corners to file out of town and traipse back into their hills. Those hills are inside us and speak to us in the dreams we have at night, and speak to us in the silence we often fill with all our parroted and ineffectual chatter. I may make it to that town, and if I do, I hope I remember to not speak one word, to instead let it build inside me until that spirit is palpable, for in that substantiality of spirit, healing is found, a memory of what I was before time began, and what I shall be in eternity.

A Territorial Changeover

16 May 2019 3 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in territorial changes Tags:

Although I know territories which have been in the same coyote families for over 12 years, I also know territories with coyote ownership turnover. One dynasty ends, usually because the tenants can no longer defend their turf in the face of aggressive or continued intruders, be it due to old age, death of a mate, or even dispersal of youngsters who might have helped defend the area: youngsters can be forced out by parents who want room for their next litters, or they move on due to their own inner drives. Or maybe the territory just no longer has the resources necessary to support a coyote family.

Although I’ve seen coyotes move on to greener pastures and thrive after leaving a long-term territorial occupation, here is a case where the move did not bode well for the coyotes who left: within two months, we saw the departed pair wandering around the fringes of a shopping center, looking ragged, thin, angry and snarly. Their health had plummeted and and we feared their lives were coming to an abrupt end. We haven’t seen them again.

What happened to the territory of this departed pair? In this case, a female daughter and her younger brother were left behind — I’ve written about them before. After several months of seeing no one else there, two new males arrived and befriended the almost-3 year old female. It appeared that the female and stronger male might be bonding: both went off together for several months and we thought their life-long partnership was sealed. We saw younger brother a few times while she was gone but then he, too, left.

Female daughter before heading off with her beau

But then the female daughter returned, looking anxious and desperate, with constant darting glances of fear — her behavior was very different from what it had been previously. The two new male coyotes were with her, but it certainly didn’t look anymore like she was part of a “pair”. And then one day after a number of weeks, this female appeared no more.

The two males remain here and so, now, does their shy sister. These three are related — either two younger and one older sibling, or even a father and his two offspring: the two younger ones always move out of the way for the older one who seems to be a bit of a tyrant — from a territory only about half a mile away. I had been struck by the strong family resemblance between them and coyotes I had seen on the next territory over. Yes, family resemblances are amazing in some coyote families and have been the first “link” in leading me to further identify where certain coyotes came from and family connections! Reviewing my photos from that territory, I found these coyotes to be one and the same as those. I haven’t been back to their old territory to find out what’s going on there. These three would have abandoned their territory for the same reasons I listed above.

That they all came over together from one place is interesting. So they are still all “family” members, it’s just that there is no mated pair among them. Let’s see how their story develops over time!

© All information and photos in my postings come from my original and first-hand documentation work which is copyrighted and may only be re-used with proper credit.

 

Inbreeding: An Example in San Francisco

10 May 2019 20 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in inbreeding, inbreeding depression Tags: , ,

I’ve been documenting this family, on the same territory, for over eleven years now.

When this fella turned four, he and his mother (her first mate having been killed by rat poison several years before) produced four pups, three of whom survived to adulthood. By fall of that year, his mother-turned-mate disappeared, possibly killed by a car. So their one daughter then became the fella’s mate the following year: i.e., this mated pair are 1/2 siblings sharing the same mother, and he is her father. Yikes! Of the four litters they have produced over the last four years, only one female has survived to full adulthood. You might want to read about inbreeding depression. The consequences of inbreeding include lower fertility, higher infant mortality, higher susceptibility to diseases and parasites, and generally weakened systems.

Coyotes returned to San Francisco in 2002. There were only a handful of coyotes early on. It is very likely there may have been inbreeding in the population here prior to the time I began documenting this family.

Photos of the evolving inbred family

In 2008 the territorial family consisted of Mom, Dad, and one pup who I simply called “Yearling”. This was the first family unit I ever documented. A year later, this same mated pair had a second litter.

Mom and Dad’s second litter consisted of two males. Within weeks of their birth, Dad was killed by rat poison, leaving Mom single. She and her two male pups, Bruno and Silver, formed a tight-knit family which always did things together, but the male siblings who began as best friends eventually turned into arch-enemies, with the stronger-willed Silver driving his brother out: it appeared they were rivals and jealous for their mother’s attention and affection. If their father had been around, both males would have been driven out, preventing what then happened.

Mom

When Silver turned four years of age in 2013, he and Mom produced four offspring: mother and son had become a mated pair. This was the first inbred litter I documented.

One of their pups died as an infant leaving three. Then one male, Acorn was harshly dispersed at 9 months of age. That left two offspring, Chert [female] and Gumnut [male] who remained with their parents until one day in early November in the year of their birth, Mom suddenly vanished, possibly hit by a car. So now these two youngsters, Chert and Gumnut, began living with only their father Silver, (who was also their 1/2 brother), on the territory.

Siblings Chert and Gumnut became BFF — extreme buddies who played together and groomed each other constantly — from all appearances, they were destined to become a pair.

But Chert was the only female around and her father decided she would be his next mate. For months he tried driving off Gumnut who wouldn’t leave. And Chert was definitely bonded to Gumnut, making Silver’s task extremely difficult.

Silver (right) is Chert’s 1/2 brother and her father. Their reproductive success has been very low.

Silver and Chert (who is Silver’s daughter and 1/2 sister) become a pair. When Chert is two years old, she produces a litter: now the close inbreeding has been doubled. There is only one pup, Scout.

In the summer after Scout was born, Silver finally forces Gumnut (his son and 1/2 brother) to leave. [There actually is a chance that Gumnut could have fathered Scout. Scout adored Gumnut and vice-versa, but Silver’s domination and put downs would have been hard to get around — Silver perpetually physically placed himself between Scout and Gumnut to keep them apart. Scat DNA, which is all we have, is only able to identify the maternal lines.]

Litters have been born every year for four years to Silver and Chert, but no pups ever survived except Scout from their first litter. Scout is the only one.

I hope the genealogy is clear here. If you have questions, please send them in a comment (can be kept private). For a couple of short easy-to-read articles about inbreeding see these two articles: https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/news/101201_panthers and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4231599/

Magic Experience With A Coyote Pup, by James Romano

04 May 2019 16 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in coexisting with coyotes, Coyote encounters, coyote parenting, coyotes and human behavior, Embracing our coyotes, pupping, rehabilitation

Good morning!

I have to relate an experience I had with a coyote pup that was apparently separated from his family.

I am a tanker (fire bomber) pilot. I am currently based in Lancaster, CA on Tanker 107. On Tuesday morning, I was walking across the ramp from my aircraft to the crew shack and I saw a very young coyote pup sitting on the taxiway between me and the shack. I am guessing he was about 4 weeks old, +/-. He was all alone. I walked around him and sat down on the ground about 10 feet away from him. He was very calm, but was looking around – I assumed for his family. He was very weak on his feet, but otherwise looked healthy. He was absolutely adorable – cute and sweet as can be.

I am not a fan of making contact with wild animals because I believe it ultimately leads to their destruction at the hands of humans down the road, but this guy needed help. As I sat there, I invited him to come to me. After a short time, he did just that. He was only mildly cautious as he approached, continuing to stop and look around. I felt he knew he needed help, and seemed to be comfortable with my energy. He would start briefly as I moved my hand slowly, but immediately relaxed as he continued his movement closer to me while looking around.

Finally, he came to me and leaned against my right thigh. He allowed me to pet him immediately, and was calm and gentle as can be. He never opened his mouth or let out a sound. I gently pet him as I removed the fox tails from his coat. It was cold and windy that day, and I think he appreciated the warmth of my body and the protection from the wind. After a short time, I picked him up and placed him in my lap where I continued to caress and groom him. His coat looked good, but he was very thin. Pretty unstable on his feet.

After a time, a woman from the fire station came out to see why I had been sitting in the dirt for the last 20 or so minutes. When I showed her the coyote, she told me there was a vet tech inside that works on the base part time. I handed the pup over to her. He was very content to go with her.

The short story is the tech took him to Fish and Game. The plan is to get him healthy again and then release him in the same area. I am happy he gets another chance. I just hope my experience with him and his experience with the Fish and Game people do not lead him to be less cautious of humans.

It was a blessing to me to have this experience with this beautiful creature. It was a very spiritual moment, for which I am very grateful. The little soul had messages for me, which I believe I received. My hope is that he does not suffer in the future for delivering them.

I have some videos I took on my phone. If you are interested in seeing them, I will forward them.

Blessings,

James

[Post Script: Shockingly, James passed away unexpectedly a week after he sent me this wonderful story]

Recovery and A Transformed Life

02 May 2019 5 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, territoriality

I no longer see our banished coyote in her old territory, but I have been seeing her, if only infrequently, not terribly far away. It’s of course great to see that she’s still alive: she’s a survivor. Her situation a month after receiving her wounds can be seen in the video below: she endured an infection in the torn up part of her neck which then began to drain — the video below depicts this. Today, two months after this video was captured, she is fully recovered from the infection.

Showing the draining infection from a territorial fight as it appeared about a month after the wounds were sustained. She has recovered. (Trap camera in friend’s backyard).

But her life has changed drastically from what it had been before the intruder drove her out from what had been her paradisal three-year home — she has had to change gears. She is now an outsider, a sort of outcast. She has become an interloper without a territory and belongs nowhere, except out of the path of other coyotes. She’s living on the edges and in-between other coyotes’ territories.  This changed situation must be hard enough on her, after having been queen of her very own territory previously. But having no territory is just part of her new hardship.

A field camera has caught the entire situation. I seldom use these cameras because they are intrusive to the animal to the point of changing their behaviors and startling them. More on that in a future posting. It is in the vicinity of a friend’s home that I began regularly spotting the banished and recuperating coyote. Then, the week before last, the radio-collared coyote suddenly appeared on the screen of an automatic camera on my friend’s property. Yikes! That radio-collared coyote appears to be pursuing the banished coyote beyond the territory she fought for and won to drive her even further away. The banished gal has strong ties to her old home, having lived there for so long. She keeps her distance from there, but not a great distance.

As my friend Lou stated in a previous post, canids and canines “can literally be everywhere by scent, sound and sight.” It’s how the radio-collared coyote found the banished coyote’s new retreat, and how the banished coyote became aware of the radio-collared gal’s appearance at that place — though they probably have not actually “seen” each other. This has caused our pursued coyote to pretty much leave that retreat, returning only a couple of times during midday hours over the following two weeks, while the more stealthy radio-collared coyote has been passing through fairly regularly at midnight.

Taken to the streets: I found the banished one trekking across town before dawn this morning, right in the middle of the street. She stood right in front of the car with headlights shining brightly on her. I jumped out of the car and took this photo.

And there’s even another level to the story. The area these two female coyotes have been passing through appears to “belong” to a mated pair of coyotes who I’ve known many years. I didn’t know this until they began appearing sporadically in the trap camera. I apparently have placed the camera in a perfect cross-roads spot — it’s Central Station there! The camera has been catching the pair together, or more recently the male alone, coming by, if infrequently, and sniffing for the last several weeks, as seen in the third section of the video below: I’m sure these territorial owners know exactly what is going on through their noses and what Lou said above: they are very aware of the two coyotes, and may even be aware that one is pursuing the other. . . . in THEIR territory. Hmmm. What’s going to happen? As you can see in the video, the male marks the area as he passes through.

Three different unrelated coyotes at separate times passing through the same location. 

Meanwhile, back at the Okay Corral (disputed homestead), I’ve seen the new radio-collared coyote regularly — her instincts are intact and she tries to keep out of view — in diametrical contrast to the first coyote. And she makes forays into what was our coyote’s new retreat. The displaced coyote is no longer seen in her old territory, and, it appears, she’s being forced away from her new retreat.

The radio-collared coyote keeping a low profile at her won territory.

As I’ve said before, there’s lots going on in the coyote world which is below our radar: this is what coyote lives are like; these are things they have to contend with.

Coyotes Dig a Den, by Susan

27 Apr 2019 3 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in dens

Hi Janet,

I hope you are well, it has been a long time since we corresponded! I wanted to give you an update on the coyote den i found two years ago in my back yard. First, we took your advice and built a catio for our cats. They still get to go outside occasionally, but now it’s less of a desperation on their part, and they accept my suggestion when i point them to the catio when they are not allowed to go outside. This gives us more choices to keep them indoors when needed.

Such an occasion to keep them indoors has come up: the coyote family appears to be back, and renovating their old den! I got one of those fancy wildlife cams, and have attached a few videos taken last night. Mama spent quite a bit of time enlarging the hole to the point where she could go inside. She had been working on it over the past few weeks, digging a little bit here and there. I had thought she would be giving birth to her pups in here again, but she appears to have already given birth to the pups in these videos, because she looks really skinny and appears to have lactating teats. What do you think?

My hypothesis is that she might be looking for an alternate den to relocate her pups to eventually. We’ll see… Dad is also pretty busy helping her and making sure everything is safe. There appears to be a third coyote, i assume some part of the family, who has a hurt front leg, but accompanies the hole-digging activities nonetheless. As you can see from the time stamps, the digging took all night, and mom looks so proud and pleased with her den at 4am! They did the digging in 3 distinct spurts – some at 11:30, then they left and came back an hour later (maybe left to feed the pups?), then came back again in the late 3am hour to finish the job.

I hope you enjoy these videos.

Cheers!
Susan

Six short night-camera video clips: Looks like a lactating mom – Mom digging – Graceful entry – Success!! – Mom & Dad check on the hole – Coyote with a missing paw

 

The Birthing Rock

23 Apr 2019 6 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in birthing Tags:

Every year, soon-to-be-dads wait out the birthing event. Their job is to stay away and to keep a lookout not far from the den area to ensure that everything remains safe for the birthing mother and pups. Birthing, of course, is a vulnerable time for all of us, and the male, in this manner, puts extra effort into his mate’s and offspring’s protection and security, and goes the extra mile for their needs, including bringing home food. For me, this activity has always served as a sort of secret “birth announcement”!

Of particular interest is the fellow above on the rock. For years now, when the time comes, he hangs out on the same rock regularly for up to a couple of hours a day for several days as his mate gives birth. Because of this, I call it “the birthing rock”. Several days ago, I decided, “it’s time”: I had seen these two mate a couple of months earlier.  I began visiting the rock daily. When you can predict coyote behavior, there’s a feeling that maybe you’ve “arrived”: that you know coyotes as well as it is possible to know them. For several years now, I’ve been able to predict a bunch of behaviors, which always impresses those I’m talking to as much as it impresses me myself! :))  I’ll state what is about to happen, and then it happens! So I knew this guy would imminently be on the birthing rock, and within a few days of looking for him, there he was!

So pups are either being born or have already been born here in San Francisco. Another tell-tale sign will be lactating mothers, if you can find one: behaviorally, most coyote mothers I know generally keep themselves more secluded and hidden when their pups are very young: maybe this is a security precaution — keeping themselves out of danger’s way — to make sure they are around to nurture and take care of their growing and dependent pups. In many coyote moms, their condition is pretty much concealed, especially in younger moms, but in others, especially older mothers, their maternal state is more obvious, as seen below. They will be lactating through the beginning of June when regurgitated and then solid food begin taking over.

Mark Twain’s Description of a Coyote

18 Apr 2019 3 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in Uncategorized

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.

Images by J. C. Amberlyn

Hello Stranger!

13 Apr 2019 10 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, coyotes and human behavior

Today, who should appear across a chain-link fence but this fella I knew well from a place miles away, but hadn’t seen in many months. Although most coyote families I document are long-time residents of their territories, a few leave their homes for greener pastures. What an amazing surprise! He saw me from the distance and came up to investigate, recognized me, and lay down in the grass facing me but on the other side of a chain-link fence. He remained there, watching me with soft eyes: closing his eyes repeatedly ever so slowly in recognition and acceptance, and I, of course, beamed inwardly and blinked back!

I stayed only long enough to snap a few record shots because I know this is denning time and coyotes don’t want their hideouts discovered. When I began walking away, he knew the visit was over: he got up and stretched and watched me go, and then he turned around and went in the other direction as I looked over my shoulder. He had come over specifically for a little visit with someone he recognized from his past life!

I suppose that I had been somewhat of a fixture in his life as he had been in mine: he had watched me frequently call out to folks to please leash their dogs when he was around, and I’m sure this coyote knew exactly what was going on: that I was watching out for him. I meticulously respected him and his space, and over time he came to know this: the trust and respect were mutual, which was confirmed by his coming over to see and acknowledge me with a, “hello there!” from way across the fence.

Re-Wilding: The Presence of Wolves, by Walkaboutlou

07 Apr 2019 4 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in Re-wilding, wolves

Hi Lou! I love reading what you write: there’s always so much in-depth understanding and wisdom to what you say. This wisdom about the wolves serving to re-wild the deer herd and the cattle — and the guard dogs and coyotes — is a good paradigm for what I’ve been seeing in a slice of the coyote world: Life became too easy for one coyote: to see her frolicking on a hill totally carefree, every day, within mere feet of people and dogs made me feel that she’d been robbed of her essence — she seemed more pet than wild animal. I did my best to keep people from being friendly or feeding her, but her wary/wildness seemed to be something she no longer had: there was no need for it. And then one day another coyote came into the area with a territorial agenda of her own, driving our coyote out. Because of this, our displaced coyote appears to have been re-wilded in the sense you speak about, having to look over her shoulder for danger and use her wits to survive. She is more careful, more wary, less out-in-the-open, more, as you say, wild and natural. It’s a good way of looking at the situation here, based on what you’ve said about the presence of wolves and their effect on “re-wilding”. Thank you for your insights!

Timber wolf hunting in mountain (Reprinted with permission; Credit: Byrdyak)

Hi Janet!
This is Lou. We’ve had some interesting times on some of the ranches bordering BLM lands and the canine dynamics are in change I think. Our area has been verified by locals and biologists as having a [new] resident pack of wolves. They have not bothered livestock to anyone’s knowledge with predation, but there are definite changes noted. Elk which used to gather rather lazily out in open are now very alert and quick moving.

Fuzz the ranch dog has given up roaming at night. He stays closer, and has ceased long distance ranging as well. This is most unusual for him. Also, the LGD are much more vocal at night and at times seem quite agitated as the evenings come. The biggest change we’ve seen is among the coyote on the coyote friendly ranch. They too, have seemed to change. They are very vocal and act unsettled though no hunting or skirmishes with dogs has happened. Both LGD dogs and coyotes seem to avoid one area of ranch which connects to Cascade forests.

One thing for sure-no one seems to pay much attention to coyote when wolves are known to be in area. The old gentleman on the ranch is touching. He’s worried about his sheep, his dogs, “and the local coyote.” He says “I hope they keep far from that pack” I assured him his coyote would be pretty careful around wolves. Packs of territorial wolves are known not to tolerate coyote or dogs in their woods. All the same-the canine conversation and dynamics will continue. I feel dogs, coyotes and wolves can exist-with caution-and coexist well.

Hi Janet! In essence, once wolves become established as a pack, they are the “top dog” in woods, with exception of a pack of experienced LGD. Yes, I’ve seen films of wolves on coyote. No mercy there from the wolves. I don’t know what the effects ultimately will be but I know [the coyotes] will survive.

The rancher who enjoys them is pretty upset with wolves being here. He says he doesn’t expect wolves to wipe out his cattle. But he feels “coyotes are easy to live with, are smarter and adapt to living with people.” Regarding wolves he says “They are hard to live with. They are harder on the land. They scatter the elk and make them skittish. They cost cattlemen money not because of lots of predation but because of lost weight. Cattle get spooked by wolves in area and move alot more. Eat less and are much more alert. They don’t gain as much weight for summer, which means herd wise thousands of pounds less for Fall sales, and that’s financial disaster.

Coyotes eat mice and grasshoppers literally sometimes under cattle. A wolf moving through cattle, or a pack, will cause fear. And finally the guard dogs are respected and feared by coyote. A wolf pack only respects another pack and then only if its very powerful”. He seemed without anger or prejudice with these words. But felt very strongly Coyotes are good neighbors and small ranged, whereas wolves are alot harder to predict and gave huge ranges. I do feel he’s quite upset by the great change he feels have taken place with “his” coyote. He says numbers have dropped, and that denning areas have been abandoned on the wooded side of his ranches and that the pack that lived there has disappeared. He also feels his dog Fuzz is terrified of the wolves and this is why he’s staying close to home.

I think the coyote are going to be viewed as almost harmless by ranchers compared to wolves. So the coyote may well recieve less attention from human hunters, as he gets new attention from the new canine neighbors. Or old predator returned.

Hi Janet! The cattle weight loss is very revealing, because it hits the truth about the situation. Rightfully so, ranchers are concerned about financial affects. A herd of fat, relaxed cattle vs a herd of leaner, fit cattle means alot of money lost.

Also, with hunters, I know what upsets them. Elk here haven’t seen wolves almost 100 years. They tend to be relaxed and congregate in large groups that move and feed slowly. Hunters like this. The elk are predictable, easy to find and hunt to a degree. When wolves arrive, they do not wipe elk out. But the effect on elk is electric. They become skittish and scatter into the landscape. They become alert and elusive and move often. The wolves take many young, old, unfit or those who make mistakes. Literally, wolves make deer and elk very wild. They cause game animals to reconnect to instincts of evasive living. Hunters don’t like that. A morning hunt can no longer be so easily scheduled, and may turn into days of effort that some may not have time for.

So wolves cause an effect in the land and animals. And some do not want that. Wolves make wild things wild, instead of an extension of farming. I know some wolves will be poached. But they are colonizing all over and really can’t be stopped now. The wise and wary wolves will stay in wilderness and stick to deer and elk. The too bold or inexperienced may visit ranches or unsuitable places-and may pay for it. But I feel wolves are here to stay. Plus for now they are federally protected.

In all this I’m just going to keep sharing and talking with my neighbors. I feel with a large influence of LGD dogs, canine conversation among guard dogs, wolves and coyote need to be allowed to happen. 2 in the morning among the pastures and hills and land, humans are non functioning. We can’t communicate with wolves. But LGD can. They can literally be everywhere by scent, sound and sight. A pack of LGD dogs is canine battle lines-wolves want food not fighting. So I feel most wolves can learn like coyote. It’s exciting yet turbulent too. But I know some wolves will make it. Funny thing is, my pack has learned to cope with coyote and LGD-wolves are just another canine neighbor we hope is shy and fleeting. But besides my own pack, the coyote remain my favorite. I’ll watch them and follow their lessons. ❤🐾

Two grey wolves showing affection (Reprinted with permission; Credit: RamiroMarquezPhotos)

Adversity Continues

02 Apr 2019 29 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, territoriality

Wired coyote has returned

After brutally driving off our 3-year resident coyote and hanging around the area for about two months, the Wired intruder headed off to an area several miles away where I serendipitously encountered her a number of times. She appears to be roaming the entirety of San Francisco, from corner to corner. I wondered if she had permanently moved on. I wondered what her plans were. But she was gone less than a week and is now back patrolling the turf she battled for and won.

Ragged: tattered and torn in body, but not in spirit

During those two months, our previous resident coyote had been staying away and hanging low as she recovered from her severe wounds and infections. Then, during the last week she, of course, became acutely aware of her rival’s absence and was making daily forays to her old turf, bravely sticking her toe in the door — so to speak — moving to reclaim her domain. We of course no longer ever saw her romping joyously at the top of hilltops, Queen of her domain and ever so happy, but rather slithering by quickly and surreptitiously through inconspicuous places. Her tentative forays were not being met with resistance from her arch-rival and things appeared to be going well for her. That was during the week the Wired coyote was away. But now that she’s back, we’ll have to wait and see what kind of a truce, if any, is worked out between them. Let’s hope there’s not another fight.

It’s been an amazing drama, and a scary one, if you care. One has to wonder at the stress and tension being sustained by this brave little creature willing to risk life-threatening injuries to defend her turf. Although coyotes are not [corrected 7/2020] known to kill each other over their territories, the fighting can be ferocious and the injuries from these battles can be severe: it goes to show just how important their exclusive land-claims are for their survival. Again, I want to point out how intense coyote lives are, with ups and downs to match anything going on in the human world.

See: Detrimental Effects of Radio-collars

Not Sharing: Her Selfish Side

28 Mar 2019 2 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in Uncategorized

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.

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