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!
This ten minute video might seem long by today’s 2-minute standard. Although I’ve actually cut it by half, I’ve incorporated the entirety of what the field camera captured except the long sleeping sections.
I spend hours out in nature, waiting to see the coyotes I know, and then waiting for something to happen, as it often appears that nothing at all is really going on. But of course, something is always going on, and I can figure it out if I really look for it. In this video it appears that almost nothing is going on, but in fact there’s a wrenching story.
This is a five-month-old coyote pup. At five months, developing coyotes are becoming what we might call *teenagers*, unless something is preventing that from happening. Teardrop is one of Scout’s pups born this year — one of seven pups and the smallest. In addition, right from the start I noticed her constantly wet and oozing eyes, indicating that her immune system was not up to par. So she has been challenged right from the start.
I hadn’t seen her in months and thought she might no longer be around, but then several days ago she passed by one of my field cameras, and then, magically, as if she herself wanted to share her story, she spent time right in front of another of my cameras. I’m sharing that 20 minutes (reduced to 10 minutes) here.
In the video, Teardrop approaches one of the numerous dens dug by her parents but which were never used. Until this day, neither parents nor pups had ever entered this den, though they passed it occasionally and sniffed around. I had a camera there *just in case*. Coyote parents dig numerous dens to have them ready if they are needed, say due to flea buildup or a sudden danger, but few of these are actually used.
This particular den was dug when the pups were already two months old — not before they were born! — and HERE is a video of this den being built back in June.
Since this den had not been used, of course I was surprised that suddenly was, even if not for very long. Teardrop enters the den and remains in there, emerging a full hour later. The thing to notice is how emaciated, frail, and feeble she is. I don’t have images of her next to her siblings, but here is a healthy brother of hers on the left, she is in the middle photo. To the right is her as a much younger pup.
Bolder (brother) to the left; Teardrop a few days ago in the middle; Teardrop as a small pup to the right.
I’ve put captions in the video, pointing out what is going on. I wrote my wildlife vet and asked what, if anything, could be done to help. For instance, if this were a case of parasites or worms possibly we could intervene.
UPDATE: Her response was negative: “Most worms don’t cause severe emaciation- I would think more like not hunting well, or some other more severe problem- like kidney disease or other digestive malformation. Sadly that is not going to get better just with a deworming medication.”
I’m now thinking that the watery eyes, and the way they look in the video, may indicate a problem with seeing which would lead to not hunting well, as the vet suggested. I don’t think this is something we can intervene for. If there is a Part II to this story, I will post it, but it’s bound to be a sad one.
Displaying testy behavior towards a sibling: hackles up, grimace, teeth displayed
In coyotes, “etiquette” — the customary code of polite behaviors among members of a group –is slowly absorbed through constant sibling and parental interactions.
In human terms, this might include not bumping the next person, not interrupting them, not hitting, not grabbing their stuff, not crowding them. And, of course, there are different degrees of what is and what is not acceptable, with sometimes just a fine line separating the one from the other. And then there’s teasing and joking that allow crossing the line “in fun”. “Rules” are all geared to respect personal space and boundaries and to prevent a defensive or antagonistic reaction. On the receiving end of another’s behavior, there are also degrees of acceptance: from returning the respect, removing oneself from a less-than polite encounter, to warnings and to all-out retaliation in kind or more. The same seems to hold for coyotes.
At 4 months:wrestling, play-biting, testing, oneupmanship is all for fun and has no meaning behind it.
With coyote pups, back even just a month ago, tugging, chewing on, tackling, pinning were all behaviors pulled out of the toybox with no real underlying meaning except for the fun of it all. Early pup interactive behavior consisted of back and forth bantering and reactions which were innocent and fun. Here, above, is a series of photos showing the fun: pell mell, tumble bumble, catch me if you can, gotcha! behavior.
By five months of age I’ve noticed a qualitative change injected into this play. Now their behavior towards each other can be testy, seemingly coming from a developing sense of personal boundaries and resulting in standing up for oneself. There is less tolerance for perpetual pushy, dominating, or too rough play.
Below are photos showing five-month-old coyote pups reacting to each other’s perceived intrusions, with warnings of various sorts. It’s not particularly intense yet at this stage, but from their gazes and expressions, you can see that there are negative feelings and an “I mean it” behind a lot of their actions now. Their actions and reactions have growing meaning for themselves and their relationships with their siblings.
At five months, there is now a qualitative difference in their play: they respond with resentment and anger to unwanted intrusiveness from another sibling.
Photos: First row, a second youngster is interested/curious about the first youngster’s focused activity. First coyote decides to quelch any intentions that second coyote has about intruding on him and stealing his find: he firmly grabs the newcomer’s snout in a perfunctory manner, telling him “no” in a much milder manner than his parents have. The *message* then continued with another perfunctory back grab to the intruder coyote: the underdog first coyote has his say about it.Of interest here, the intruding coyote remained totally chilled with this treatment — “ho hum” about it. Within seconds all seemed forgotten — but it’s never entirely forgotten and these episodes add up, just like with humans.
Middle row, notice the antagonistic facial communication. In the first photo, again there is an intruder and the first coyote is warning him off with a snarl and bared teeth: there’s something in the bushes he wants and has claimed as a second youngster shows interest in taking over. In the middle photo there’s a glare of “you’ve crossed the line” at a sibling’s body slam; and in the third photo a youngster pulls back his lips, backing away from an intruding brother who he doesn’t want to deal with.
In the bottom row you’ll see a bullying sibling dominating and pinning down a sibling, hackles up in anger at being resisted. In the second photo, a sibling lashes out intensely with bared teeth and a lunge — a sibling has crossed the personal boundary line. And lastly a bullied youngster bends over with hackles up, teeth bared, and tongue out, showing intense displeasure with being ganged up on by two brothers.
So, they are now pushing their boundaries and pushing back in order to stand up for themselves.
In past litters, I’ve seen antagonisms grow and lead to dispersals. But I’ve also seen avoidance to divert an antagonism. Siblings end up pairing up with like-energy and like-dispositions for play purposes. I’ve also seen reversal of antagonisms. They are writing their stories as they go along!
By the way, parents don’t interfere in sibling relations — siblings are left to work these out by themselves. That is . . . . until dispersal time when dominating behavior of a lingering male may be slammed down by a parent when a parent is present, even if the dominating behavior was part of play.
Last October, SF forced out each of his littermate siblings by repeatedly slamming each of them to the ground and standing over them intimidatingly, including bites, pinches and punches, in essence, pushing them out of the nest, not unlike Cuckoo birds that do the same thing.
SF is now two-and-a-half-years old. Last year, at just over 1-1/2 years of age, he drove all of his littermates out of the family territory, forcing their dispersal — there were four of them — all were males. This is, of course, normal and natural coyote developmental behavior. Most dispersals that I’ve seen have been prodded on by a rivalrous sibling rather than a parent. Last year, his parents produced a subsequent litter of three. The two males have left, probably also driven out by SF: I was not around to catch the dynamics of their departures. One female from that litter, Bibs — 1-1/2 years old now — remains. These two — SF and Bibs — have become charmed buddies, and remain on their natal territory, along with their parents and another new litter born this year.
Dad no longer feels the same way as his daughter about this lingering son of his, after all, two and a half years is longer than most youngsters remain before dispersing. And on top of this, probably unbeknownst to him, it’s not actually his biological son, but his step-son. Yes, coyote families have the same complicated relationships that we have — even more so since inbreeding is quite normal for them. But I highly doubt that Dad understands that this son is not his: the son was, after all, raised as his own and I saw all the affection and care proffered on the son as though they were directly related; he was, in fact, the behavioral and situational dad. But above this they ARE related in all sorts of ways through the alpha female, who is Dad’s mother, sister, and now his mate, and SF is Dad’s half-sibling.. As I stated earlier, there is plenty of inbreeding in some coyote families. It can be confusing and reminds me of an SAT question long ago, something like, “A family consists of 6 members P, Q , R, X, Y, Z. Q is the son of R but R is not mother of Q. P and R are married couple. Y is the brother of R, X is the daughter of P. Z is the brother of P. How many female members are there in the family?” I’m sure many of you remember this type of question!
Recent domination by Dad of two-and-a-half year old son, SF, with one-year-old daughter standing on the left
This developing antagonistic Dad/Son relationship can be seen at their recent rendezvous greetings — see above photo. It is now Son who must kowtow and lie on his back for long stretches of time while his Dad stands dominatingly and provokingly over him — just like he did to his littermates. Not until Dad is totally satisfied with attaining Son’s absolute submissive response — no flinching, no struggling, no show of displeasure — does Dad release his physical and psychological hold, allowing SF to slip out from under him if he does so calmly.
In addition, in front of Dad, Son can never be confrontational with his younger sister, so it’s almost a *forced* ranking: he’ll get knocked down by dad for snarling at her, AND for showing too much interest in her. To curb son’s attention towards his sister, Dad weaves himself between them when he greets the two of them — see video below. In other words, Dad wants control and it appears that he’s is getting ready to drive Son out. Boomerang: what goes around, comes around.
By the way, daughter’s response to SF is always very warm and affectionate. I’ve seen her only a couple of times display the oneupmanship that goes along with privileged rank: putting her paws on him. She’s not into dominating him at all and actually starts grooming Dad to get him to stop his dominating behavior towards SF.
Video showing a recent rendezvous greeting between Dad, his two-year-old son, and his one-year-old daughter.
I’ve been following a number of coyotes here in San Francisco for their entire lives, many since their births. These have been territorial coyotes which makes following their stories possible. Of these, some I follow more intensely than others. I always identify the coyotes as individuals and within their families and territories, but beyond that, I don’t look for specifics as I observe, rather, I document what they themselves reveal to me, and it’s always something different with each family and each individual. It seems that each has something different to offer up — a different aspect or focus of themselves, all of which contribute to my overall understanding of not only the entire species, but to the very individuals and differences that make up that species.
Ash, the old fella depicted in the above video, is one I came upon and then followed over a number of years as year after year he and his mates — he went through several of them — produced litters, kept them hidden, raised them together, hunted for them, played with them and guarded their territory. I considered him and his family one of my “peripheral” families — not one of the coyote families I’ve been following as closely as some of the others. But I had been able to identify the family members and some of their behaviors on their territory in the little time I watched them.
This pupping season, I was surprised that the new alpha male at Ash’s old homestead is his son, Red. Ash was getting old, and I figured that maybe his time had come. Years ago I noticed an alpha pair abandon their long-term territory, and I wondered if they did so because they knew they could no longer defend it, AND, I’ve speculated that they might have been ceding the territory to an offspring — one remained there for a year after her parents left, and then she herself disappeared. I’ve also seen younger or stronger coyotes fight and win territories from weaker or aging coyotes. And now I wondered if Ash had become too old to hold on to his territory.
Shortly after documenting this “changing of the guard”, I was sent a distant photo of a lame — injured — coyote in the area who held his right back leg up high and tightly. Without having a good image of the coyote’s face, I couldn’t tell WHO it was. Some people thought the leg had been cut off due to the way he carried it, and it certainly looked that way from particular angles, but it was not cut off at all, it was just being held that way. Multiple times I was sent reports of this fella from all corners of the city: he obviously had become territory-less n– an interloper — sneaking between the interstices of other coyotes’ territories. Who was this? A year later I captured this video which clearly shows this injured coyote’s face: it is our aging Ash.
Between when I first saw the photos of him with his held-up-leg and more recently, all the muscles on that injured leg had atrophied. I wondered WHAT could have happened — had he been hit by a car? Unfortunately, as with humans, when one system goes, it puts a huge burden on all other systems which in turn makes them susceptible to further injury and eventual failure. This phenomenon is compounded with age.
Might he not have been able to defend his turf, or hunt very well for prey to feed a potential new litter? Might he not have been able to mate? Was he rejected by his much younger last mate who was driven by her hormones and nature to find a more functional mate? I’m speculating here: I don’t know if it was his will or her doing that drove him away. I have known of a coyote “divorce” where the mostly absent alpha male was forced out by his mate who had found a more attentive male.
It’s been about a year since I became aware of the lame coyote — but only recently did I see who it was. Come to think of it, a year ago is when I last saw Ash. He has lasted a long time on three legs and without a territory. What popped out at me in the video was his stressed look in addition to holding up that leg and his difficulty in moving around. It’s obviously been hard for him: hunting must be difficult. He’s likely been hiding and most likely in pain. You’ll see in the video he’s constantly shaking himself: he’s unable to scratch and the parasite building up on him must feel excruciatingly uncomfortable. My heart cried for him when I saw him this way: I could tell his end was near, and for all I know, that time might have already passed. I have not seen him again. They say that cowboys never die, they just fade away — the same holds true for coyotes.The only natural death that I’ve seen documented is the one described by Walkaboutlou: that oldster appears to have headed for a pile of reeds where he lay down and never got up again. Most oldsters I see less and less of as they get older, and then one day I become aware that they are never around anymore. In this case with Ash, there was a severe injury from which Ash was unable to recover. If you happen to see him — he’s so distinctive with his ragged fur and holding up that leg, I would really appreciate your letting me know.
Below is a photo of Ash’s family before he left. This year there is a new male with new pups at his old densite. Life is short and hard for coyotes, and life for survivors always moves on. But the stories of individuals that make up the species are the warp and weft that make them who they are.
UPDATE: Ash was spotted in a Kirkham Heights backyard this morning, September 4th, so he’s still slithering around! Before that, he was seen sporadically in the Stern Grove area and even in the Buena Vista neighborhood.
Above: two-month old pups in early June playing together when left alone; and playing with Dad when he’s there.Photos taken shortly after their move.
I was able to observe this coyote family move their pups when they were two months old — moving the pups at this age is not uncommon: they’ve been fully weaned by this time. This was very exciting for me because I was able to see Mom carry each youngster, one by one, in her mouth over 1/4th mile away. Half of the pups were moved at night, one right after the next, and the other half a full week later during the daytime — in fact, at noon! Essentially, for that week in-between, her pups were divided between two den locations about 1/4th mile apart. After the second *batch* of pups was moved, all pups again were all together in one location — for a while. At least that is what I thought.
But the *divided litter* story didn’t end there because one pup it turns out had remained at, or returned immediately to, the original den site. He was there alone for several weeks without any of his siblings, albeit with both parents coming and going regularly to be with him. At two months of age, I wondered: had he/she traveled there with a parent again, or had he/she remained there in the first place?
The initial move, when the pups were just two months old, of course was a decision made entirely by the mother coyote: she carried each pup. But after the initial moving, I’ve wondered if it was the pups’ or Mom’s decision as to where they stayed? Several weeks after that, and over the course of the next six weeks, some pups would turn up at the old home where they joined the one who seems to have never left, and some remained at the new home. In other words, the litter was now permanently divided between two locations, with pups seemingly having access to both, but fairly consistently remaining at one of the locations. When they travelled between the two locations, youngsters did so inevitably before dawn and after dusk.
Two-month-old pups explore the periphery of their den area and stick their heads out. Over the next month, some of them begin venturing beyond, initially only with their parents
Three month old pups in July being babysat by Dad
In mid-August, three 4-month-old siblings wait, then one squeezes under the cyclone fence. Almost all of the pups are now wandering beyond the 2 den areas (1/4th mile apart) to within over 1/2 a mile from “home”: they are reaching out further and further, exploring every inch of their territories including the neighborhoods.
After the Mom’s initially moving the pups, the choice of where to hang out during daylight hours was apparently influenced by immediate circumstances. For example, sometimes I would see a pup attempt to leave a location but then become thwarted by the appearance of a person or a dog, so that youngster simply turned around and remained wherever s/he was for the duration of the daylight hours. Pups at both locations were left to themselves for long periods of time during the day. In fact, parents often hung out at totally different locations from where the pups were, even though they were regularly visited by one or both parents. I wonder if the entire family ever gets together anymore as a whole?
During the timeframe between two and four months of age, Dad would regularly come to guard and play with the pups at each location, sometimes for as long as an entire afternoon, whereas Mom spent her daylight resting time at only the more hidden location.
Now, at four months of age, their range of traveling has more than doubled, and this happened rather suddenly, with some pups not returning to either of these earlier two den sites. They’ve been hiding out during daylight hours in out-of-the-way locations over 1/2 mile away and often alone, including in backyards and clumps of trees, to unite with other family members when the protective cover of dusk sets in again. If you see one pup wandering about alone at dawn or dusk, this is probably his/her situation. And here, I’m wondering if this early moving of the pups might encourage early dispersal? I’ve seen families where the den was not moved and noticed dispersal not taking place for sometimes up to two years.
Regarding their yips and howls: With pups distributed between a 1/4th mile or longer area, it’s logical that their howling and vocalizations are a family communication, possibly: “Where are you? How are you? or “We’re ready to get going!”” This makes sense within one territory where youngsters are fairly far apart. But I’ve also documented two territories — two totally different families — which are right across a roadway from each other, the dens themselves being only about 1/4th mile apart. In this case, howling would serve to proclaim their separate ownership there, and would be more of an oppositional type of communication rather than a family chat. More usually, dens on separate territories are over a mile apart: at this distance, I think howling can be heard only if conditions are right: if the evening is still, if the wind is traveling towards the listeners, if there are no sound barriers such as hills in the way. Coyotes’ huge ears of course can pick up what we can’t even fathom — but I wonder how much that is? And if one mile is within their range of hearing?
Four-month-old pups, above; and playing together below
[This has been written for distribution to several neighborhood newspapers and newsletters here in San Francisco. I’m posting here so it will be available to more of the same.]
In the ‘hood.
Hi Neighbors!
This is Janet. I’ve been documenting our coyotes here in San Francisco for the past 16 years: their population, dispersals, family life, and behavior including their encounters with people and pets.
We have about 17 coyote families here in San Francisco, each living in a separate territory about the size of the Presidio (2.4 square miles): ONE family lives on each of these territories and have ever since I started documenting them in 2007. A family consists of the mated alpha pair — i.e., Mom and Dad — and then pups born this year, and possibly some of the yearlings born the year before who haven’t yet dispersed. All of these territories extend beyond the parks and include our neighborhoods. Sightings in neighborhoods is normal.
Territories: Most territories include a substantial sized park, or a number of smaller fragmented parks, but a few territories do not even have this. In other words, a couple of coyote families live in the neighborhoods and retreat for most daylight hours to small patches of green spaces. Their main trekking activity is through the streets where they become visible to human pedestrians and car traffic. Please note, there are no more coyotes now than there have been over the last several years, but some people are seeing them for the first time.
Exploring front door steps along the street
Trekking: *Trekking* behavior involves brisk trotting/walking around a dozen or so city blocks. The coyote — usually one at a time, but two together have also been spotted, and more rarely more together — is either moving to another resting spot within its territory, or he’s patrolling to find out what’s going on in his territory: he’ll do so through sniffing, looking, and poking around. Of interest to him is that no outsider coyotes have been around, what animals have been around, and where food scraps have been tossed. He’ll be on the sidewalks and zigzagging down the streets. He’ll enter driveways and alleyways. He’ll go up people’s front steps, even if those steps are steep and take him three stories up. He’s checking things out. He may take a shoe, a ball, or a newspaper. Sometimes he’ll sit and watch: I’ve seen him sprawled out on some dirt, just chilling for a few minutes.
Stopping to examine the terrain in his territory.
Main hours: His main hours of activity are between sunset and sunrise, so this is when you are most likely to see him — though note that they can be out any time of the day. All you need to do is always walk away from him the minute you see him. He’s not interested in any kind of confrontation with you and he’ll do his best to avoid you by going around and hurrying away. But dogs have always been an issue for coyotes. Dogs and coyotes are notoriously mutually antagonistic and need to be kept far apart. Part of this is for territorial reasons: coyotes keep other coyotes out of their territories in order to preserve the scarce resources there just for themselves: in other words, the territory is owned by the one family that lives there and they exhibit ownership behavior. Because of this territoriality, the population is consistent and stable which is what we all want. If you see them repeatedly, it’s because you are seeing the same coyotes over and over again, not different random coyotes from all over the place. These coyote territorial owners often come to know by sight — always at a distance — the regular walkers and dogs and vice-versa.
Interestingly, few people even know these coyotes exist here, and even fewer actually ever see them. Those folks who have seen the coyote — usually as they walk their dog — have seen a coyote 3 or 4 times during the past year, even though the coyotes are out daily. Unfortunately, several of those people have been spooked recently because the coyote approached or followed them. I’ll explain more about this below.
Dogs: Coyotes avoid and ignore most dogs, but they are suspicious of them all. They have a need to tell dogs that the territory is theirs, especially if the dog gets too close or is in the pathway of the coyote. Sometimes they do this through a sort of one-upmanship eye-to-eye communication most of which we humans are not aware of. But at other times it is more blatant, with the coyote actually approaching or following a dog. The minute you ever see a coyote, you need to always walk away, in the opposite direction, with a shortened leash. Your dog may bark and lunge towards him, so you need to drag your dog if necessary to walk away from the coyote. If your dog is small, he may become frightened, rightfully so, because coyotes have picked up small dogs. It doesn’t happen often, but it has happened. It’s a good idea to pick up a very small dog as you walk away from the coyote.
Examining debris, a newspaper and chilling in the neighborhood.
In approaching a dog, the coyote’s main interest is usually simple curiosity — they are sniffing to find out more about the dog: sniffing is how they pick up most of their information –dogs exude so many hormones and other chemical odors full of information about themselves — but also to test the dog’s potential reaction to themself. The coyote may then follow your dog: again, this could be simple curiosity, OR he’s ushering or escorting the dog away and making sure the dog is leaving. Just keep walking away from him. In rare instances, a coyote’s suspicion and even dislike for a particular dog (your dog or a similar dog may have chased him or lunged at him or snarled at him in the past, and of course any coyote would remember this) may cause the coyote to approach the dog from the back (where there are no teeth) and nip the hind side of the dog, cattle-dog fashion, to get that dog to leave. It’s not a frequent occurrence, but it has happened. You are unlikely to encounter any coyote regularly, so when you do, just follow these simple guidelines. IF you feel crowded by the coyote approaching or following your dog, you should face the coyote and angrily heave small stones or pinecones at his feet without hitting the coyote. You may have to do this several times. Making eye contact almost always stops a coyote from approaching any further: he’ll stop, and then you should continue walking away, keeping your eye on him.
It might be a good idea to actually practice this so that you know what to do — then, if the occasion should arise, you’ll know exactly what to do without thinking.
Dens: If there is a den within 1/4th mile of where you walk, you need to know that parent coyotes are very protective of their personal space, their areas, and their young and their suspicion of other dogs is compounded. A parent coyote can be persistent, insistent and intense in his communication to make a dog leave. I’ve been through it: it indeed is scary. The same guidelines should be followed: stay away and walk away when you see a coyote. If you are seeing a coyote regularly on your walk during denning season, you might consider taking a different route for awhile.
I am available in person to be there and help out. Also, if you have questions about *your* neighborhood coyote or coyotes generally, please contact me: janet@coyoteyipps.com
Summaries of easy guidelines
Cats: Cats, should not be allowed to roam free where there are coyotes — cats are at risk if they are accessible. Cats are not equipped to handle coyotes, dogs, or cars, ALL of which kill cats, with cars leading the list — cars kill 5 million cats a year. Dogs — because of their sheer number in our area — are the biggest issue when it comes to coyotes. It’s best to simply keep your pet as far away from a coyote as possible — this is easier to do with a leash.
Relocation: Some people have asked if coyotes can be relocated. They cannot by law. The reason for this is that moving them kills them inhumanely. But even if a coyote could be eliminated in some way — which the city does not do — its niche would soon be refilled by another coyote, and you would have the same dog issues to deal with as with the first coyote. Keeping your dogs leashed gives you control over your dog. Dogs love to chase coyotes, and a leash prevents this. Leashing keeps dogs safe from coyotes, cars, and others dogs. Over 3 million dogs are killed each year by cars; their second greatest killer is other dogs. .
Danger to humans: As for dangers to humans from coyotes, these are almost non-existent. The 17 — yes, only 17 or so — *scratches or bites* to humans from a coyote each year throughout all of North America have almost all been due to separating a dog from a coyote, hand feeding, or to a small child where feeding has gone on. Small children indeed have to be watched as carefully as you would watch your dog — but hopefully you do that anyway! Please compare this figure to 1000 dog bites to humans every single day of the year ending up in emergency rooms.
Feeding: Lastly, please don’t feed coyotes. Not only does it draw them to the area, it can cause them to hang around which increases the potential for pet incidents. Profusely fed coyotes become unnaturally docile and sometimes even get closer to humans in the hopes for a toss out. This is no good for the coyote or us humans or our pets.
Trekking through a neighborhood street in San Francisco
This was a month ago, during the Summer Solstice, when pups were already 2 months old. They had been moved out of this construction site, one by one, carried in Mom’s jaws, to a location about 1/4th mile away. Mom and Dad continued to frequent this old denning location.
Then, suddenly, both Mom and Dad dug this new den at that old location. I didn’t put the camera out until I saw the hole there, which was on the second day the coyotes worked on this dugout den. One youngster was underfoot at the time. Possibly this youngster never left the old area. I would see him as he regularly crossed the path of this camera, but he actually only entered the den a couple of times. Within a month, I saw a few more of the pups crossing in front of the camera, as have the parents, sniffing and looking around, but never entering the den.
It does not seem logical that this den might be a purposeful deception for potential harmful predators — such as dogs or humans. For one, no dogs go into the area, and all humans there have purposefully avoided the coyotes, letting them do their own thing. The pups are almost four months old now and won’t be using dens from now on. Still, one has to wonder why the effort was put into digging this den away from where the pups generally hang out, and when the pups were already 2 months old.
Wired (left) is 6 to 8 years old. Sparks (right) is four years old now and on his 2nd litter. Notice the knot on his left arm — the broken bone he sustained in 2020 healed crooked leaving him with a detectable limp.
You may recall Sparks from my update last year — it’s been a long time since I’ve updated his developing story, so I’ll do that now and recount his past.
He indeed now is the alpha male at the Presidio and has been since last year. He may even have moved into that position the year before when the then-alpha male went missing, though those pups from two years ago were probably sired before this happened. Sparks most definitely could only have moved into the alpha male position there if it had been naturally vacated because with his healing broken leg, he was in no position to fight for it.
Sparks and his now-mate, I’m told, have four pups this year — only three of whom I’ve seen so far. Whereas last year there were a number of yearlings still living with the family and passing through the den area regularly, this year I’ve seen the alpha parents as the only adults around. Not having yearlings around to help puts an extra work burden and stress on parents.
There’s a long history associated with the alpha female who I call *Wired*. Briefly, we don’t know her origins and won’t until our DNA analysis is completed, though I suspect she’s from the North Beach coyote family. She was captured in the Presidio in January 2019 where tags were punched into her ears and a bulky radio-collar was clamped onto her neck. She became famous as her story intertwined with Scout’s — another female whose territory Wired tried taking over. But Wired moved on from this saga. She found a mate and ended up fighting for the Presidio territory where the previous alpha male had somehow succumbed and his older alpha mate was unable to defend her long-time territory alone. That older alpha female was forced out and fled south where she was eventually killed by a car — as per the Presidio ecologist.
Since that time, Wired has lost both of her ear tags — probably they were ripped out by something in the environment — you can see the scars left on her ears — see square image below — but the cumbersome collar remains attached to her, along with the all the grit you can imagine under it. She is unable to scratch or groom herself under it. The collar was supposed to self-release after a year for humane reasons, but it malfunctioned and so she’s stuck with it. It is much too difficult, and probably more damaging to her to try and capture her than simply to leave her alone with the collar on at this point.
Wired: you can see the scars left from the torn off ear tags.
As for Sparks himself — the now alpha dad on his 2.4 square mile territory — you may recall that he fully broke a front leg when he was a year old during his dispersal. It took him more than six weeks to recover to the point where he could at least hobble/limp, albeit badly, on it — there were Good Samaritans who allowed him the safety and calm of their yard during his recovery, where he slept most of that time, and was probably in great pain. He retains a large knot on his front leg, showing the deformity that resulted in the self-healing bone, and he runs with a limp which looks to me like he still feels the injury. This disadvantage has caused him to cultivate a much stronger wariness of people and dogs than he had as a younger coyote. In fact, he tends to appear inordinately stressed when he is alerted to danger, and stands back, whereas his mate takes on the front line.
Sparks turned four this Spring. Briefly, in his Glen Canyon birth family, (see genealogy), he was one of five siblings. He was the daring one out hunting and exploring his surroundings well before the others, and not terribly concerned with people watching him. I mention this because it changed. He developed a close bond with his litter-mate sister: the two of them actually *dispersed* together, but she eventually returned to her birthplace, whereas Sparks’ trajectory took him much further away. I had seen him living on the periphery of the Presidio for a period of time and wondered why the resident coyotes were allowed this. I’m also wondering if he sensed a weakening of the then-alpha male’s condition, and was waiting for the inevitable so that he could move in.
A few months before moving to the Presidio he was harbored by the North Beach family for several weeks: I’ve always wondered if this was because they sensed his injury and his plight and therefore didn’t see him as a threat. I had never seen this before.
I’ve posted some recent photos here taken in late Spring and early Summer of this year. On the first day I returned to hopefully see them, I saw Wired grooming Sparks affectionately — he closed his eyes and soaked in her warmth: it was joyful to watch. The next day I spotted him alone high on a knoll guarding his den from afar: so he is totally ensconced in warm family life right now! See photos.
I took a series of photos of one of the pups at two months of age. A month later, you’ll see three photos of two of the pups at 3 months of age. The bottom darkish photo was taken only a few days ago: in the dark, late dusk, I watched two coyotes hurry off together for their nightly trekking activity. I thought it was the alpha parents who would have tucked-in their offspring beforehand for safety. But when I got home and actually zoomed into the photos, I saw that it was two pups heading out on their own! These youngsters are growing up quickly.
Wired affectionately grooms Sparks
Sparks guardinghis densite from afar(above)
Above: A two-month-old pup explores during the daytimeand uses 8-inch open abandoned pipes to escape into.
Above: This most independent pup from the litter of four — we’ll call her Volt — at two months of age enjoyed her time away from the family: exploring, practicing hunting, sleeping. Each pup has his/her own preferences and personality and this one’s is coming to light early!She seems to be taking after her father. :)
Above:Pup buddies a month later at 3 months of age, slurping up the morning dew and just being with each other. These are the two that headed out alone together, depicted below..
Here it is July 5th and two of the 3-month old youngsters are headed out at late dusk on their own to a known rendezvous spot. They really grow up fast!
ADDENDUM of August 8th: Four pups at four months of age, with the den moved to a new location:
July update on Kinky and her family. She and her mate have moved the litter to this area. From the fence to the hills is the summer rendezvous. And it’s perfect for growing coyote to learn Landspeak.
Landspeak is what anyone who lives or spends long periods of time out here…learn to do. Animals do it automatically. But it’s possible for humans too. If you stay quiet and learn to listen and feel the land..it speaks.
So what did this land tell Kinky???
Well…she knows it. She feels good about it. And it serves her needs and instincts. Everything says..BRING PUPS HERE.
Ironically, it’s not an easy spot. Wolves travel thru here regularly, following the ever moving elk. It has humans that are not friends that pass occasionally. But…its dry hills hold a lot of hiding spots and lots of voles on eastern hillsides. There is a forested hill for the scorching afternoon. And it’s a land of choices. There is heavy cover to hide. Open ground to outrun enemies. There is a river in the ravines below. Riverbank are another wonderful place for pups.
So Landspeak here says this is where pups learn to become the coyote that survives here. This land is a good place to maximize the odds of litter survival. Voles, wild plum tree, berries, open land, deep woods, river and more.
It’s been noted these pups are very large and maybe are ahead developmentally. The dead cow of early spring and several road killed deer likely were part of that. They were literally fat pups. But now it’s vole and ground squirrel and berries. The pups are learning to hunt in earnest for vole.
One small female pup…hunts vole very well. She is serious about her hunt and quickly scoots for bushes etc to eat her meal. She’s def the best hunter thus far.
Landspeak says in this space the litter is poised to spend the fast summer and grow quick. I wish them lots of lessons and good growth.
Lou
Thank you, Lou! It’s too bad we humans — for the most part, though this is changing — stopped listening to the land long ago. Humans have not been so interested in being part of it as much as wanting to conquer and dominate and subjugate it to our own desires. I hope your post opens people’s mind to the fantastic symbiosis (not sure that’s the right word) of a species with its environment, as you describe it, through Landspeak.
Janet
Yes … as individuals, collectively and as a species … humans have literally lost touch with earth. It’s our bane. I’m not without hope. But I think mankind is in for some major shocks from earth in future.
It would not suprise me that coyote survive us and see us humbled by our own behaviors in regards Landspeak.
But in meantime … Kinky isn’t bothered by such thoughts. Too busy surviving and feeding pups. Lol.
The same animal, whether from a ranch or city, learns and adapts to its given situation, each of which is unique. Each coyote reacts to what is presented to him/her. Hearing about different reactions and behaviors in different environmental situations gives us insight into the whole animal. Yes, I like it all up. As Lou says: “It’s great — it really is — how you like it all up. I think it’s important for your followers to realize that coyote live sometimes in polar opposites behaviorally. A Range Roaming Ranch Living Coyote is vastly different than a SF Park or City Coyote. But there are also parallel behaviors…and it’s all applicable and helpful learning to coexist with them. Keep roaming and looking.”
Hi Janet.
I wanted to share with you something I’m experiencing and sorting.
While out on ranch patrol recently the dogs and I experienced a pack of coyote rush in that was very fast and direct. I’ve never quite had that. It was…different. We’ve experienced scores of coyote encounters and as a pack we keep our center and via pack go fwd. The local coyote learn to respect us and more importantly….this time of year coyote pups learn about working dogs.
We are usually known by local coyote. This encounter..felt like new pack. New Coyote. New Behaviors.
I don’t encourage people with pets to do what we do. We are on vast properties where there are horizons to dodge. To learn. To evade and develop avoidance behaviors. My dogs an coyote skirmish quite a bit. But it’s canine name calling. Until recently.
The coyote clash we experienced was fast, intense, direct and bold. And it seemed..real numbers. Instead of a parent pair and yearling or two…it seemed like 5-7 rushing in very hard.
My pack reacted in coordinating our center and moving together fwd. On these ranges, the lesson and coexistence is loosely coyote have horizon or hills. Dogs have center. Converge is costly. The coyote master this lesson and so do my dogs. It’s worked many years.
Except these coyote barely acknowledged my pack and only grudgingly gave way mainly because I stepped fwd loudly..and they had pups to keep in hills.
The next few days of patrols are revealing more.
The Eve before our patrol…the night was full of coyote yips and vocalizations. Hours off and on. To the point the ranchers 3 dogs were very agitated and scented the air growling at distant hills.
The Rancher thought 2 packs of coyote fighting.
Next morning was my pack clash. And later that day a dead cow.
Also seen…1st time here ever…flocks of Ravens.
Trail Cams in wooded sections, 4 different wolves.
There is alot to sort here. But so far…we have found…
Cow down of acute stress related pneumonia. It’s consistent with cattle not at their best moving too much.
The cow died of acute stress related pneumonia. This happens more lately with weaker cattle. There is a connection with wolves moving thru and cattle stress. They don’t hunt the cattle as they seek elk and deer. But…they affect them. They move a lot. And some of the weaker develop pneumonia. They can’t keep up. Become isolated and more stressed and drop.
The trail cams reveal wolf movement weekly. And…another connection.
When wolves nocturnally move thru ranches..the local coyote are extremely agitated. And vocal. Which local ranch dogs hear. And join vocally.
The coyote are locally turning into 1st responders to wolf movement in hills.
Also very likely the coyote and wolves skirmish. Wolves will kill coyote any real chance. Coyote counter terrain allowing. 2 or 3 coyote will chase a wolf or 2. And scatter with a full wolf pack.
So…imagine all this activity going on…also with pups in tow…
And then here I come with my pack in patrol.
The new dynamics of wolf and coyote relationship and skirmishes means we are likely meeting coyote with new behaviors. It’s similar to cattle. Cattle after wolf encounters are way more skittish of ranch dogs. They are more combative of all canine.
It’s a sorting that varies…canine to canine..pack to pack.
But out here it’s very much pack to pack and intense in the dark hours.
Ironically…the rancher now values the coyote as extensions of wolf alert and values them. He realized they never bothered caused fear or stress among his herds.
Wolves ARE NOT hunting cattle here. But they do radically change behaviors in cattle and coyote. And do cause some stress in weakened individuals.
The coyote…as always..are a gauge of land by behaviors.
Ravens too. NEVER had flocks gather here. Until wolves recolonized. It’s just change and nature. And interesting.
Sorry for the ramble. ALOT going on. I’ll need more coffee and cake and thinking time.
Till Next Time
Lou
Our morning office
My dogs are trained to wait and stay out of way while vet does autopsy and professional tracker determines the events. It’s very much like a crime scene but no criminals.
Coyote aren’t culprits. And neither are wolves. But the Landspeak must be understood to realize…what wolves mean for the land. And how they affect..cattle, coyote, dogs, elk, deer, and how coexistence can keep being the goal. It’s a new balance not yet achieved.
But trying.
PS-coyotes seem blameless when wolves roam and rule lol. But wolf packs create a very intense coyote.
Ravens. (Not crows) We have never had flocks of Ravens here utilizing land like this. (Field of voles)
But since wolves returning..so did Ravens. Ravens don’t hang too long with Coyote. Coyote are too fast and opportunist. Tweak a coyote tail…you might be lunch. But they follow wolves and tease them too.
If you slow vehicle the slightest..the raven explode in erratic evasive flight patterns. This tells me they are hunted by humans and very wild.
If one is going to delve into the canine behaviors of your own working dogs, local coyote packs and regional wolves, I do advise the following. A dependable high mileage vehicle and body. Care for both.
A LOT of time in contemplating thus mentioned canines realizing you need more time and patience and coffee and cake.
Endless hours out there in Landspeak and studying hints. Accepting in the end we know very little but can witness a lot and share that while minimizing conflict.
Survival requires putting one’s best foot forward and dealing with a myriad of stressors. Of course, we want some stress — that’s natural — stress is what motivates and drives us to do something when we are hungry, sleepy, lonely, bored. Stressors also include diseases, injuries, territorial disputes, inter-family disputes, dispersal, raising and protecting pups.
Above and beyond these common, even if life-altering, pressures and life hurdles, the presence of humans and dogs, and all sorts of human activity, especially in denning areas, stress coyotes. For the most part, humans tend to be unthinking, unknowledgeable, or uncaring about wildlife situations and therefore add more hurdles to their survival. I’ll use recent events in Amber’s family as an example:
Left:Dog chases coyote in her denning area.Right:Unleashed dogs being approached and driven out. Even leashed dogs are approached by the coyotes: they are demanding dogs leave a sensitive area.For perspective, please remember that coyotes keep OTHER COYOTES out of their areas in the same way.
Last year Amber (alpha female b: 2018) picked a den-site off of a heavily used dog -path in a park. Why she picked this spot when there were many quieter, more isolated, and wilder areas around I can only guess at, and I would be pleased to get insights from other observers. Maybe the den itself already existed. Maybe the nearby pond as a water source was attractive. Maybe the den itself had few access points and could be well protected. Maybe the trashed food in the area was an attractant, or the area had tangled brambles to hide in, or it offered a good vantage point. Or maybe the dogs were slightly more controlled on this path in comparison to the wild and free running dogs in wilder parts of the park.
For whatever reason, this area was chosen as last year’s den site and remained the den site throughout that pupping season, in spite of there being a constant stream of dogs, many unruly, on the nearby paths. Most were leashed, but this doesn’t matter very much to coyotes in denning areas who don’t want ANY dogs anywhere closeby. Of course dogs and coyotes are notorious antagonistic enemies which can only be managed by keeping dogs away from them. Leashing is a tool for controlling the dog more than anything else: it gives you control for pulling your dog away from situations and prevents the dog from chasing them.
Amber to the left; Arrow her mate on the right
Defending their denning space is paramount to coyote parents. But it’s not just during the pupping season because coyotes firmly keep all outsider coyotes out of the area using the same methods: this is what keeps our coyote population in check: only one coyote family per a 2.3 square mile territory. This family of coyotes — parents and several yearlings — became fixated on letting the dogs and their owners know that they were there and didn’t appreciate the presence of dogs: they were protecting the pupping area. They would snarl at or encircle the dogs, and even attempt to butt up against or nip the tail end of a dog. They followed some of the dogs *escorting* them out of the area. Some people came to believe, inaccurately, that all coyotes were like this all the time. I put up denning signs in the area, but these were soon removed by the park department. When I asked that they be left up, they told me they wanted only their own signs up — and that they were working on new signs. Their signs never went up. So I spent my time out there where I docented and educated as many people as I could by talking directly to them, asking everyone to please leash up in the area because it was a den site, to please try walking elsewhere. Many folks listened, but some did not. That was last year.
Three year old Scarf and One year old Dart both serve as babysitters and aids to their parents.
Come Fall of last year, the park department decided to dredge the nearby pond and clear all vegetation in order to landscape it differently. We humans tend to think only in terms of ourselves and not of the many individuals and species who use the area. Bottom line: the coyotes’ territory was taken over by that project, so they now needed to expand their territory further east. But this entailed a chain reaction: the coyote family’s territory to the east was squeezed east, putting stress and pressure on that family, as well as on Amber’s family. Repercussions reverberated throughout.
I think there are six pups total this year.
Hence, the following year — this year — Amber had to find a new den location. She picked a location about half a mile away, on another pond where she had her pups in April of this year. But soon afterwards, although there were many dogs and their walkers in the area, it was two large incessantly intrusive dogs — dogs that deliberately went after the coyotes every time they came, chasing them wildly and for long stretches — that caused Amber to move again to a new location, this time with young pups in tow. Although I didn’t actually see them move, I did document another family’s move: it entailed Mom carrying each pup, one at a time the half-mile distance, over the period of about a week..
This new location, again, was in a dog play area. Every inch of the parks have become dog-play or dog-walking areas. Most regular dog walkers, fortunately were understanding and moved their dog-play group to another field, but some of those dog owners had/have a need to continually *test* the coyotes by walking towards them whenever they see them: they want to show the coyotes that they are the ones in-charge. This situation continues — we’re only into the first few months of the pupping season which lasts through the Fall.
May 14th there was an outdoor rock concert which sprawled to the den site. We have a handful of these loud concerts every year here in our San Francisco Parks and apparently the Mayor has proposed increasing them: please write and oppose the idea. It’s much cheaper for the city to use the parks rather than renting out venues. But it’s “an extractive exploitation of a common space that was intended for quiet outdoor recreation”, as a friend of mine put it.
Disruptions to wildlife(credit in article linked below)
Visitors to SF love the concerts, but many of us who live here are disturbed not only by the loud noise generated, but also by the parks being taken over for these money-making events which last many days. A gardener decided to measure the decibel level during a concert right at the densite: it came in at 90 dB. We don’t have to have these loud outdoor concerts in our parks where our wildlife is. Can’t we use our baseball stadium or the colosseum? Besides the loud noise and crowds of people into the late evening, there are miles of temporary cyclone fencing put up for the event which block many of wildlife’s habitual travel routes.
As I passed one of the den-sites on June 19th, I heard either firecrackers or gunshots — I recorded some of these deafening blasts which came one right after another (above recording). We humans may forget how super-sensitive coyote ears are compared to ours: just look at the size of their ears to know they are catching and processing sounds on a much higher and more intense level than we are. I myself find the concerts deafening; this is compounded many times over for coyotes. I can get away from it when I’ve had enough of it, but the coyotes, birds, owls, raccoons, skunks, squirrels, etc. cannot.
Fireworks will be coming up on the fourth of July: just think of your own dog and how terrified he/she becomes at fireworks noises. It’s compounded for coyotes who don’t understand it and have no way to escape it.
Evening of May 1, 2023, coyotesbeing harassedin the dark of nightby the city
On top of this, our city apparently harasses the animals unnecessarily. I totally applaud our city’s support for coyote coexistence: in addition, they have helpfully cordoned off some trails to dogs during pupping season, and usually put up signs where needed. They’ve been pretty good about leaving the coyotes alone, which is what is needed. However, a month ago, I was stunned as I watched a large white city van, headlights on, roof emergency-light bar flashing, horn blaring as it approached and directed its powerful searchlights on a family of three adults who were gathering for their regular activities at dusk, minding their own business. In this case, two “officers” jumped out of their van and rushed the coyotes with high-powered flashlights, pursuing them. The father coyote circled around to defend the others— they were all in a frenzied state of *scared*. Several bystanders yelled out at the officers to stop harassing the coyotes.
The next day I spoke to these same officers: by harassing the coyotes, all they were doing is teaching the coyotes to hide from their vans, their harassment wasn’t creating general *fear of humans* in the coyotes, if that was their intended goal. They told me that “they wanted folks to see that they were doing something about the coyotes.” They told me the coyotes were *approaching* people. Truth be told, this department relies totally on hearsay rather than actually getting out and looking at and assessing situations. Over ten years ago I pleaded with them to please, please come out and watch, but they preferred the hearsay which is so often sorely mistaken.
These coyotes indeed have approached dogs, even leashed dogs, to drive them away — their *approach* was not towards the owner. Coyotes might hang around areas where they are fed, especially if food is being tossed towards them, but it would need to be happening a lot for any coyote to approach a human, if it’s happening at all: this human activity is what needs to be addressed. The difference between a coyote approaching a dog vs. a person could be one of life or death for the coyote. If there is ever a need to “haze” coyotes, it has to be done properly. To be effective, hazing has to have a very specific purpose and be tied to a very specific place: it is counterproductive if used generally to instill fear of humans. Coyotes get used to it and begin to ignore it, so when a situation then arises where the tool is needed, it becomes useless. There is an expert in Canada who is willing to help train city officials.
In a similar vein, in 2019 I repeatedly watched these same vehicles with blinding searchlights as they followed a terrified coyote through the streets in the dark of night, and even directed that searchlight up a trail into a park where they saw the coyote go — it’s where the coyote lived. Is this supposed to make them wary of people? It doesn’t. It’s simple harassment.
So, this is urban stress. For perspective, in the wild/wild — outside of urban areas — the stresses of life for a coyote are extreme and come from wolves and mountain lions hunting them as prey, and from humans with their dogs or from helicopters hunting them down in farming and ranching areas: coyotes have been and still are the most persecuted animal in America. Coyotes may have moved to cities to escape some of that kind of stress, but they’ve traded it for different stresses caused by indifferent humans. The namesake for our city is St. Francis who is the patron saint of the environment and animals. Maybe we should help bring our city’s name and wildlife policies and treatment into better alignment.
The best “management” tool we have is educating the public about coyote behaviors, and letting the public know that their best option always is to avoid coyotes and walk away from them, especially if they have a dog. Denning areas should be avoided and feeding should stop because it can cause coyotes to hang around. In addition, intense park noises, such as outdoor concerts could be moved to more appropriate venues such as stadiums or colosseums that are meant to handle the noise and crowds, and maybe, with a little more understanding, the city can stop unnecessarily harassing the coyotes.
I posted “The Move” when it was breaking news — you got it right after it happened, fresh off the press. Little did I know that it wasn’t over yet. In fact, I collected my cameras from the construction site three days later — the site had been locked up for the Memorial Weekend — the cameras, in my mind, would no longer be needed — they were there for counting pups.
I perused the memory cards from those cameras and, surprise! Four more pups appeared on the cameras! As seen in the videos from a field camera and my previous posting about this, two had been moved, but there were more. Would the other four be moved, or had she decided to divide up the litter for safety reasons? The situation remained like this for close to a week.
This is from a badly aimed video field camera: there are four youngsters on the 28th
Over the next 2 days, I spent a couple of hours, at the same time of day Mom had moved the first two pups, waiting to see it happen again. It did not happen while I was there.
However, I did spot her on guard in the old area on top of a high dirt mound, keeping her eye on the construction activity AND regularly peeking over to where I imagined any pups would be (they were not in my view).
Mom guarding at the old location.
Then, a full five days after moving those first two pups, this time before dawn, a camera caught another youngster being carried away, this time in a much sloppier fashion: the pup had been grabbed by the nape of the neck and its feet dragged on the ground as his mother carried him. See first part of video below which is in black and white using IR lighting.
One more pup carried to a new location; four others almost *follow* Mom, but end up not doing so.
This same day, another field camera captured an additional four pups at the construction site gate. In the video, it looked like Mom was going to entice them to *walk* with her to the new location. Two followed her out, but eventually they all returned. If you’ll notice, the pups are not small at this age, and I wondered if the burden of carrying such big unwieldy pups was proving to be too taxing.
The next day I watched Mom again at the construction site where the pups had been born. This time she was not guarding the area. Rather, she was purposefully trotting around: she had direction to her pace — she knew exactly what she was doing and where she was going — but of course I did not know what she was up to until after the fact. It turned out she was making sure everything was in place for her next move. Shortly thereafter, I was able to glimpse, just out of the corner of my eye, Mom carrying yet another youngster out of the area — I was unable to catch up with her to record it with my camera. She headed for exactly where I had seen her head earlier. After she disappeared, I went to that spot and found that she had widened a hole under the fence and this is the route she took with the pup in her mouth. When I had seen her earlier, she had been checking to make sure that hole was still there and usable so that she could pass through it quickly.
There is purpose and direction to everything coyotes do! Mom had had a pre-thought-out plan — detailed foresight — and she then carried it out. As I would later find out through the video below, her plan was to carry out the remaining four pups, all the while avoiding as much detection as possible by people and dogs: she had already analyzed most dogs’ routes and planned to go when those dogs who had a history of antagonism or chasing would not be around.
Interestingly, and this, I’m sure was part of her plan, a couple of bystanders saw her head in the opposite direction from where she had taken the other pups. When out of view, she then circled around and back, all the while carrying a pup: she was making sure no one was following her.
The video below shows her carrying each of those remaining four pups within the space of three hours in the middle of the day to the new location which was about 1/4th mile away.
Four more pups carried to their new home within the space of three hours
By the way, based on what I saw, I don’t think coyotes know how to count, at least beyond seven. After all the pups were removed, she went back to see if there were any more, which she would not have done had she known how to count!
I’m not sure the pups are any safer than before in their new location: now there are dogs to contend with, and the fence is right on the street where cars could easily pick them off: these conditions did not exist in the old location. But the family will have to deal with these and other issues as they come up.
I’ve seen both Mom and Dad take turns guarding against the intrusion of dogs at their new location — but they guarded in the old location for other reasons. I’m sure that in their minds whatever the tradeoffs were, they are better off than before.
Guarding at the old location; then guarding at the new location; these are both Dad
I’ve been setting up this month’s property patrols and have cancelled “Kinky’s Place” for the next 2 months as her family is studied by biology students, and her litter is expanding in areas and experience.
Something of note is the students feel Kinky is not only an exceptional mother, but also Leader of her family. Her Mate is a nicked up weary type male. She makes him seem flaccid in family support but perhaps that unfair. It may well be he does alot unseen and is tired.
But the family moves and happenings seem really directed by Kinky.
Her moving to the area of poison oak habitat was really sharp. It’s open in some parts but always has bushes a mere hop away. This has ensured no golden eagle predation on pups and minimizes their visibility in play. Litter size is now 6.
The dozens upon dozens of meat caches she made past weeks still are being utilized by her. The pups are hunting voles and insects now.
Yesterday, a doe died a couple miles from pups. A vehicle hit her and she made it to pass deep in woods. It’s hard to witness. And yet, it’s a prize to Kinky and her family. She was seen on it last night 5 times. It’s hard to relay the sheer work and mileage she puts in at time.
She also is the one who sees off dogs or other coyote near her denning areas.
All in all…summer mode is in gear. For Kinky I only wish her well. My dogs and I are very busy but also rest alot.
I can only wonder at Kinky’s hard work and dedication to her pups. She was hard raised in her youth. And she is a force of nature as a Mom, Hunter, Patroller and Adaptive Scavenger.
PS-She is only half mile from very thick groves of wild plum. I almost guarantee when they are ripe she moves her fam there!
To a meaty and fruity summer!
Lou
This is never easy to see or witness for me. The road is over a mile away. Many deer make deep woods to pass away after being hit.The only positive thing is..it will not be wasted. Kinky was feeding here within hours and off and on all night. By day vultures and ravens will cover it. Foxes, Weasel, Bobcat, Raccoon, and even bear or cougar or wolf may claim it. But Kinky was there 1st. And will utilize as much as she can.
Thx Janet!
Of Leaders all I can say…experiencing them in all forms..is my personal belief is some are made by experience..the best are born…and I feel and have seen the strong female type are the best and most serious.
My male dogs are utility level serious workers and very experienced. And one is a Leader. Yet they have certain traits many males have..that lend to mistakes or easy going styles to degrees.
My females are immensely more focused and serious. If my males are seeing off strange dogs on property..the males will chase but gladly see off.
The females are very earnest. You don’t want to be their focus in certain situations.
That’s just me and my limited experience. I think there are many more female coyote and wolves that are the core of their territory and families. It just hasn’t been as eye catching as larger bolder males.
There are tried and true solutions to the issue that would cost much less, while at the same time benefiting both the environment and the ranching industry. Please read the following and spread this information. Walkaboutlou has SEEN first hand, over a period of more than 40 years of first-hand ranching experience, the detriments of slaughter, and the benefit of working WITH (not AGAINST) the environment with guard dogs.His words:
If they spent A FRACTION of that money on quality LGD dogs and behavioral education for farmers and ranchers to learn how to use such dogs it would make difference. This is all about a lifestyle certain “animal control” folks and certain hunters want.
I know of large remote herds and ranges maintained by LGD that almost never experience such losses or behaviors. Excesseive herd sizes spread out in total isolation and not watched is the issue. Some individuals want to treat entire regions as one massive grazing pasture with no predatory wildlife. That’s what its about.
That is old school manifest destiny ranching. And some still are willing to waste millions of dollars enforcing their beliefs and hobbies.
When we hear individuals using terms such as vicious etc describing natural predators we have to stay calm and also see other side. Lambs and calves are dollar signs to ranchers..but also it really is emotionally upsetting to find them killed or injured graphically. It’s a “A Killing Crisis of Both Sides” since there are livestock being lost as well. The thing is…it’s a preventable Crisis. Yes.
But again the issue is behavioral shaping of wildlife. And lack of protection provided by fencing and LGD packs.
When we rent vast regions of BLM land or own vast regions which herds roam without daily protections these are magnetic to predators. When they find no resistance…its free food.
A 100 dollar bill on sidewalk doesn’t lay long.
Unprotected rarely checked herds in isolation will be checked out.
LGD are part of the answer. And the days are over not checking on herds weekly or even daily.
Also…coyote are viewed with almost extremism for many. They are an excuse to hunt without regulation or rules and some revel in that. Also..they influence other laws allowing other species to be included in “management”. Coyote are very political so to speak and you can easily affect wildlife management of other species allowing anti fervor to flame unabated.
So much to consider. More science and solutions are available more then ever. A pack of well bred well supported LGD truly act as a huge step resolving predator issues.
But many have a culture of resisting such solutions.
I did want to add one more solution that’s not popular in modern circles..but was in older days. And works.
Locally in our region we have ONE (that i know of) 1 Range Rider. A Range Rider travels range and checks on or stays with livestock. The one I know travels daily via a switched team of 2 mules and a mustang. He literally with several dogs rides everywhere checking for wolves, trespassers, calf checks etc. His wide and unpredictable patrols keep wolves very nervous..and they simply pass cattle. They do not tarry. They fear his sounds and prescence. They are literally taught certain areas…are patrolled and enforced.
Zero losses to predation. Range Riders are experts of land management and often have extensive training in animal behaviors as well as ecosystem enrichments. They improve herds, lands and wildlife coexistence.
But they aren’t free lol.
Anyhow. I think my insights are minimal. The PROOFS found in fencing, husbandry, Range Riders and LGD packs are abundant and available.
It just means not allowing people who literally want millions without feasible results to take control and take funds. They need more science then “ravens are vicious”.
(If I took millions before and there is still “predator issue” I either wasn’t thorough, I wasted your money, or I’ve found a way to funnel money for my own agendas.)
Some coyote parents have pups in the same area year after year. Some move for a year — about a mile away, while still maintaining their home-base territory — and then return the next season. Some move far away to an entirely different territory for good — 5 miles away from their original long-term territory and remain here until a territorial battle drives them away. These are some of the situations I’ve documented. Every coyote family is as different as is every human family.
And I’ve seen numerous instances where pups are moved at about two months of age within an urban territory to about 1/4th mile away. That’s what this posting is about.
Two pups in a den under a house on a construction site
Denning locations in the city are chosen mostly for their inaccessibility to dogs. Dogs are intruders that coyotes detest the most. I’ve seen dens built right along the freeway, beyond a fence keeping dogs and pedestrians out. The noise is incredible — the whooshing by of car wheels on the freeway and force of the wind against those vehicles, in addition to all the motor noise, is deafening. But coyotes prefer this over dogs.
Construction site
Human activity, no matter how noisy, as long as it isn’t intrusive, is also preferred over dogs. Multiple enormous tractors with huge clanky digger-arms and noisy motors, along with a lot of activity and movement of this equipment have not stopped coyotes from denning at construction sites. And it is here, in the middle of such a site, under a tiny cement building, Mom had her pups this year. Mom and her mate along with a yearling could be glimpsed coming and going among the hubbub, and it was obvious that Mom was in a lactating state. And then one day, a tiny head popped out into the open from under the building. For several days we thought there was only one pup, but then a second one appeared. When pups are first born, they stay put, but after 6-8 weeks, they need to start moving — and a construction site was not ideal for them at this stage. Mom knew she had to move them.
It’s not uncommon for mothers to move their pups at this stage — six to eight weeks of age. If you are aware of it, maybe that’s all you see. But by focusing in, I could see all the intelligence involved: planning, forethought, knowledge and work.
Mom must have been planning this for some time. Weeks before moving, every night, she would slither under the fence to the new area and work on digging places where her pups could duck into and hide if they needed to. She worked at this in the thick foliage among a tangles of branches which would be difficult for dogs to penetrate. Remember that a coyote is only 30 pounds and with the bendability of a cat, allowing them to slither under and over things. Not so for dogs. I didn’t capture the digging, just the coming and going each night at that new location.
The time had to be right, and that time would be when the pups began following her around — the same as little ducklings follow their mothers. I caught what I thought of as them “practicing” their following skills, or, possibly Mom “testing” to see how well pups would follow. They did!
Practicing following
On the day of the move, Mom led them to the construction site’s fence line. However, she knew they might not follow in the street where there were too many new distractions. For the street part of the journey, she signaled one of the pups to remain quiet and stay put: it’s a signal all pups know. Meanwhile she picked up one of the pups by it’s back, and carried it out the gate and along the sidewalk, crossing a number of streets, and finally slithering under the hole of the fence to the new area. Within ten minutes of depositing that youngster, she headed back to get the other one, and returned with that one within 25 minutes.
Interesting is the time of day she did this. One might have expected her to make the move at night when no one was around. But she did not do that. One of the reasons may be that the fenced construction site could only be exited from the gates. She herself could slither under the gate, but only barely — the tiny opening under the gate probably was not high enough for her carrying a pup. I had actually seen her walk out that gate at around noon a number of times, probably practicing and assessing what the situation was at that time of day. Shortly before noon every day, even I was able to see that almost all dogs had already been walked, so few would be out to go after her, and traffic was at a low at that time of day. So, when Moving Day came, this is the time she chose: 11:45 for one pup and then 12:20 for the other.
One person saw her walk down the street carrying a pup, and a friend relayed this to me — thank you, Beth — I myself missed it, though I knew it was coming. But I had cameras set up at the hole under the fence at the new location, and that is what I have to show you, below.
Interestingly, this mother followed the exact same pattern two years ago, moving her pups on June 1st of 2021. This year it was on May 26th. Also of interest, only Mom moved the youngsters. She was not helped by Dad or her yearling daughter.
So, just imagine the planning and foresight involved: planning for contingencies on the street, planning her route, planning the time of day this would happen, making sure the pups were ready, planning that it would happen at all, preparing the new denning spot. I think you have to be pretty impressed with the capabilities of coyotes generally, but especially with the capabilities of coyote mothers!
Mom brings first pup in under the fence. Ten minutes later you see her patrolling the fence line before heading off to pick up the second pup and returning twenty minutes later with him.
This story has a sequel! See The Move, Part II posted on June 12, 2023
About My Site and Me: This website reflects my almost 20 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! I am a self-taught naturalist and independent coyote researcher.
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. What I’m presenting to you is the reality of their everyday individual lives. 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.
