Living With Coyotes

In the creation story of Idaho’s Nez Perce people it was Coyote who saved the creatures of Earth.

The monster Kamiah had stalked into the region and was gobbling up the animals one by one.  The crafty Coyote evaded Kamiah but didn't want to lose his friends, so he let himself be swallowed.  From inside the beast, Coyote severed Kamiah's heart and freed his fellow animals.  Then he chopped up Kamiah and threw the pieces to the winds, where they gave birth to the peoples of the planet.       

The scientific name for the coyote is Canis latrans – literally barking dog.        

A diurnal or crepuscular creature (namely active during daylight hours or at dawn and dusk) coyotes that reside in closer proximity to people tend to be more nocturnal.  Unless they become habituated to our presence wild coyotes will make every attempt to steer clear of people.   If you were to inquire of a wildlife biologist they would tell you that there are nineteen subspecies of coyote that are exceedingly well-adapted to living in urban, rural and wild America.  

Male coyotes tip the scales at about 44 pounds while females weigh-in slightly less.  For scale my Labs weigh-in at 75 and 80 pounds respectively.  Coyotes dine on large prey and also eat snakes, insects, rodents, fruit and other mast.  As an opportunistic hunter coyotes have been known to prey-upon small pets and livestock.  In an urban setting they will eat garbage and pet food left on a deck or patio.  The coyote is a gregarious animal - socially-inclined - like the wolf.  This is likely a consequence of the need for a family unit or pack of animals combining to bring down large game. 
 

Recent genetic studies suggest that coyotes are not native to the eastern United States - The implication is they largely evolved on the Great Plains.  As the eastern old growth forests were cleared for settlement and agriculture coyotes adapted to the new environs.   It is thought that coyotes dispersed to our neck of the woods early in the twentieth century.  These canids are presumed to have come from the northern Great Plains and are unique in their genetic origins.  Additional coyotes dispersed from here to New England via the northern Great Lakes region and southern Canada meeting in the 1940s in New York and Pennsylvania. These coyotes have inter-bred with gray wolf and Eastern wolf populations adding to their own unique genetic diversity and further contributing to their hybrid vigor and ability to adapt to an ever changing environment.  Coyotes here are known as the Northeastern coyote.          

 

Jill and I hear coyote vocalizations rather frequently.  A live sighting is rare as in rural America coyotes share the same natural aversion to people that other wildlife do.  They are scared-to-death of people.  However, from time to time I do capture a handful of digital photos on a trail camera.  I’m working at getting better at it.        

 

I recently completed beta-testing the newest Moultrie camera on video mode in a location with proven wildlife traffic.  These videos are short 15 second vignettes and can be in either daylight (full color) or infrared (black and white) after dark.  There isn’t a sound feature but the recordings work just fine.       

 

This handsome subject showed-up the morning of April 27^th at 8:40 AM.     Enjoy and stay-tuned…..