The Urban Coyote

From time to time I've had an opportunity to attend a woodland owner conference, compare notes with neighbors, chat with a wildlife biologist or simply ponder my own personal observations and encounters with the top predator in our neighborhood.  Sure, we may occasionally encounter a gray wolf or a black bear around these parts but they're generally dispersing males and not found as breeding populations.  And since we don't have large breeding populations of humans close to where I live; wildlife encounters around here are strictly from a rural perspective. 

The purpose of this post is to draw attention to how Wiley Coyote has adapted to urban life and what, if anything, you might want to know about it or do about it.   

The frantic animal in the photo below was photographed on a motion-activated trail camera while being pursued by a pack of trailing hounds belonging to some neighbors of mine a couple of years ago.  Around here, coyotes are universally wary of humans.  This is a consequence of being hunted.   

Meet Canis latrans.... 

The translation from Latin - barking dog.  Coyotes are wild dogs and depending upon their location sport a grayish-brown coat that can vary from silver-gray to black.  The tail uniformly has a black tip.  Unlike the brown eyes of a domestic dog a coyote's eyes are yellow.  Adults can tip the scales at roughly 25-35 pounds and occasionally a healthy, well-fed specimen might grow to 40-45 pounds. 

Native to the Great Plains and deserts of Mexico coyotes have dispersed over the last several hundred years and now range from the arctic to Central America.  An exceedingly adaptable predator its numbers have grown as settlement reduced the numbers of larger predators such as cougars, wolves and grizzly bears.

Coyotes are opportunistic hunters feeding mainly upon small rodents, fruit, rabbits and deer - all found in bountiful abundance in a city.  Regrettably, a small dog or cat is the same as any other smaller prey animal that a coyote might seek as a food source. 

In Wisconsin coyote numbers have steadily increased and their remarkable adaptability to the urban environment has given rise to coyote, pet and human conflicts. 

Most of these encounters arise because coyotes become habituated to the presence of people and lose their natural fear of humans.  It is the abundance of food resources at the root of this.  If you have a bird feeder coyotes will both eat from the feeder and eat the animals attracted to the feeder.  Feeding the family dog or cat from a pet bowl on the patio or deck is a singularly bad idea.  And the common denominator found in coyote attacks upon family pets is typically a lack of supervision while outdoors.  If you have to let your dog out to do their business stay outside with it - especially during the periods of dawn and dusk.  Finally, don't let your cats wander.  It is dangerous for the cat on too many levels to count and outdoor cats are the single largest predator of wild song birds.

Sure, I know someone reading this is going to think this is nonsense and a huge inconvenience.  They're likely thinking:  Why not trap the coyote and release it somewhere else?  of kill the varmint? 

While it may be legal to trap and relocate the animal doing so simply makes your nuisance coyote someone else's nuisance coyote.  Besides, in the absence of altering the conditions of wildlife feeding and corralling your pets you may most assuredly rely-upon another coyote moving-in to claim the territory of the prior occupant.

Counterintuitively, if a community expects to solve the problem by employing large scale lethal means to reduce coyote numbers the Town Fathers are going to run-up against the Law of Unintended Consequences.  The complex biological response of coyotes to large scale lethal control efforts is to have larger litters with more females per litter.  They are adaptable after all.

So what to do? 

Take steps to discourage coyotes.  In addition to removing food and being vigilant about your pets if you see a coyote you should haze it relentlessly.  If a coyote approaches you or a pet respond by throwing things at it, yelling at it, spray it with a garden hose, a super soaker or (with some restrictions) pepper spray.  Make the encounter miserable for the animal.  Be fearless.  You are bigger and coyotes naturally avoid people.  Moreover, there is not a single documented case of an attack upon a human by a coyote in the Midwest.  If your response is to pick-up Fluffy the Dog and run in the opposite direction you've reinforced the message to the animal that he is Top Dog.

This time of year is breeding time for coyotes and as a consequence activity will increase with the arrival of pups in the months of May and June.  If a person is attacked or you encounter an animal acting aggressively contact the Department of Natural Resources or local law enforcement.

A word about the Coywolf.  A coywolf - the eastern coyote - is a hybrid wolf coyote species that emerged a long time ago after coyotes dispersed from the central plains and colonized the northeast United States and southeastern Canada.  Contrary to any breathless report you might see on Facebook coywolves may possibly be found in the northernmost reaches of Wisconsin; but evidence is sketchy and sightings scarce.  Furthermore, to an untrained eye coywolves look and behave no differently than the coyotes we know to be around here.  So I suppose none of us would know one if we saw one.  You may relax.  

In closing, if you live in a city environment and care to engage in some citizen science you might want to check out websites like iNaturalist.org - Milwaukee County Coyote Watch. 

Chicago is not just home to the Bears it is also home to a resident population of several thousand coyotes.  Chicago coyotes have been participants in a longitudinal study for more than two and a half decades.  Started in 2000 this is the longest-running comprehensive study of its kind.  Remarkably, researchers have documented den site locations near Soldier Field and Navy Pier.  You can learn more about the Cook County Coyote Project here.

Meanwhile if you want to learn how to haze a coyote there is this... 

Kermis

Kermesse, or kermis, or kirmess, is a Dutch language term derived from 'kerk' (church) and 'mis' (mass) that became incorporated in French and English. Its origins are originally associated with the mass said on the anniversary of the founding of a church (or the parish) and in honor of the Patron Saint.  Such religious celebrations were regularly held in the Low Countries, in Central Europe and also in Northern France, and were accompanied by feasting, dancing, drinking and sports. 

The Dutch-American Village of Little Chute, Wisconsin, has celebrated Kermis annually since 1981 with a street festival. The Wallonian settlements in Door and Kewaunee Counties have celebrated Kermis with traditional Belgian dishes and events for as long as anyone can remember.  

Traditionally, Kermis around here stretched over several calendar weeks as each small settlement - Namur, Brussels, Rosiere, Little Sturgeon, Forestville, Lincoln, Duvall and Casco celebrated the harvest and the life-giving bounty of food.  

I'm not of Dutch or Belgian descent - but we're celebrating our own Kermis here with With the last of our garden harvest and attending the annual Kermis festival at the local Belgian American Heritage Center in Namur.  Nothing better on a late summer afternoon than friends, neighbors, a couple of Trappist-influenced craft beers and some Belgian Church Lady food. 

Beginning in the mid-1800s and over three decades more than 5000 Belgian immigrants settled in several communities in the area.  To this day it constitutes the largest concentration of Walloon Belgians anywhere in the world outside of Belgium.  It's a national treasure.  But I digress.

Getting back to the subject of culinary traditions I happened-upon this short video published only a few years ago.  I'm sharing it as it is about the tradition of hog butchering in both English and Walloon.  Walloon is a national treasure around these parts as it's actually an endangered 'Romance Language' of the Langues d'oïl family - spoken primarily in the Wallonia region of Belgium.   

One of the elements of the past that is alive and well is a local favorite called Belgian Trippe.

Trippe (pronounced like: trip) is a sausage similar to a bratwurst but with a not-so-secret ingredient.  The thrifty Belgian settlers extended their pork sausage with the inclusion of cabbage.  Further seasoned with onion, salt, pepper, thyme, nutmeg and ginger it is made locally by Marchant's.

It's pretty good stuff for breakfast, lunch or dinner and you won't find it anywhere outside of northeast Wisconsin.

Here's a newspaper clipping from 1963 with a recipe for 60+ pounds of the sausage for serving at a Kermis - or Belgian harvest festival....

click on image for a closer look

Canis Latrans

Near the dawn of time, the story goes; Coyote saved the creatures of Earth. According to the mythology of Idaho's Nez Perce people, 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.  

– Nature

Yote - short for coyote, Wile E. Coyote, Canis latrans.   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 top out at about 44 pounds while females weigh-in slightly less.  For scale When we had hunting dogs our Labs are bulkier than the average coyote.  Coyotes are known for how well they adapt to different habitats.  They are found living in and around large cities, the central plains, farmland, and northern forest, in the desert scrub of the Sonoran Desert, foothills and mountains as well as in populated ring suburbs. 

 

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 - having 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.  

 

More frequently Jill and I hear coyote vocalizations than we see them live and in person.  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. 

 

There photos were taken by the same camera one minute apart.  Same animal, same location, infrared and color... 

 

Hiding Spot

Sometimes it’s the smaller surprises that can make your day. 

At the bottom of the first photo is our raspberry patch.  It’s not very large and the variety(s) of raspberries planted there is lost to history. Consequently, it isn’t mown, it sometimes gets a pruning of dead canes and usually receives a fertilizer drench in the spring.  It persists marginally above neglect and below proper husbandry.   Anyway, I picked the first ripening berries before the birds got them all. Nice surprise. 

The second surprise was this nest deep in the middle of the brambles and the briars. 

I’d agree it’s a good location hidden amongst pickers and thorns…… 

What's For Breakfast?

Yard Eggs.

One of the benefits of living in rural flyover country is neighbors who raise chickens and have eggs for sale or barter. They're fresher, more wholesome than factory eggs, and come in all sorts of fun colors including brown, green, blue and basic white.

Check this guy out for size and color (it's actually light greenish-blue).

That is a meal in itself...

 

 

Stinky Business

As a younger man I never considered I would be in the waste water treatment business.  Alas, I have a Private Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems (POWTS).  

Such is rural life.

Three year inspection and pump.

Passed with flying colors.

Raising a toast to cleaning the filter twice a year a scheduled intervals.

Big Brown Bat

This critter met a terrible end.  With the start of the new year I swapped-out the furnace filter at its predetermined schedule and found this mummified surprise waiting for me.  

Meet Eptesicus fuscus - the Big Brown Bat.  Most of the time I find these occupying a songbird nest box or spot them flitting-about on a summer evening.  It's likely they hang-out (pun intended) from the rafters in the granary.  This critter likely found its way into the house via the fresh air intake for the furnace last fall following the October filter swap.  This species of bat likes to roost in houses over winter.

An insectivore this critter inhabits woodlands, farmlands and urban settings.  Maternity colonies can be found in hollow trees.  Their vocalizations include high-pitched clicks and the squeals of pups calling to mom.  They mate in August - September before hibernation and give birth to 1-2 (usually 2) pups from May to July.  Pups are capable of flight by 18 to 35 days.     

I feel badly for this one. Bats are good critters to have around, mice not so much.  Memo to self to install screens on the air-intakes this spring.

 

Dump Run

Trip to the dump today.  

Two barrels of mixed recyclables and three tall kitchen bags of garbage.

Unlike city dwellers - who enjoy municipal curbside garbage and recyclables pick-up - in rural America you have to haul your trash and recyclables to the town waste disposal facility (the dump).  Sure, we could pay extra to an outside contractor for end-of-the-driveway pick-up of a couple of carts.  But considering the minimal amount of waste we generate it doesn't seem economical.  Besides, a trip to the dump is something of a social affair on a Saturday morning and I'm almost guaranteed to bump into someone I know and have the opportunity for some idle chit chat and local gossip.  Moreover, I can combine it with a stop at the grocery or general store in town.  

The vehicle in the picture is our first and only pick-up truck - a 1998 Chevy 1500 Silverado 4X4 with a towing package and a matching cap on the back.  We took delivery of it in early autumn of 1997 which means it celebrates its 28th birthday this coming fall.

It has made multiple trips to Canada and the Gulf Coast and everywhere in between, pulled a boat countless times for fishing and recreational cruising and has hauled more dead deer than I can count.

It lives in its own stall in the machine shed, doesn't leak or leave spots on the concrete and started this morning in 14 degree weather on the first crank.  You can tell by looking at it it's pretty clean.  It even has an AM/FM cassette stereo.  In a couple more years I suppose it officially becomes an antique.

At 135,000+ miles it doesn't owe me a thing and at least once a year someone will approach me and ask if it's for sale.  It isn't.  A similarly-equipped Chevy today would cost about what I paid for my first house in 1984.  Scary, eh? 

Darth Vader Edition

Not mine.

It's a loaner.

The Ford dealership had to keep our Mach E overnight for a sleepover to replace its software brain.

Long story short - a big brain dump.

This is a model year newer and at 0 - 60 in 3.9 seconds still blows the doors off most piston-powered sports cars.

At least off the line.

Black livery has a Darth Vader menacing vibe.  It looks real cool.  It tempts to lure you to the dark side. Nevertheless, having  been down this path early in my life - no f’ing way. 

No black car!

By the time I got home from Green Bay this Mustang was coated in a uniform layer of flyover country dust…..

Never Grab A Groundhog

Groundhog Day is a big event every year on this day over in Gobblers Knob, Pennsylvania.

Someone provokes a hibernating woodchuck named Punxsutawney Phil to come out of his hole and predict the arrival of spring.

Even I can do that.  Provoked by the alarm clock I crawled out of a perfectly warm bed this morning at 5:30 AM, poured myself a steaming cuppa joe and took the dog out to pee.  It was snowing.  I therefore concluded more winter before the arrival of spring.

The man in the picture is a fool.  You should never grab a groundhog - especially if you are going to wave it around in the air over your head.

From the Algonquian wuchak - also known as the whistle pig - Marmota monax belongs to the vast squirrel family. They are big rodents.

They are also sinister-looking with their small ears, beady black eyes and very sharp teeth to go with all of their claws.  I wouldn’t grab a groundhog any sooner than I'd make a grab for a beaver or a porcupine. They are all much too dangerous.

Trust me.  I know this.

I have had to deal with multiple critters infestations under my barn. This includes everything from bunnies, to raccoons to kittens.  One year I had a groundhog.  And that bugger was burrowing furiously.

Groundhogs are well adapted miners.  They have short but powerful legs and very sharp claws.  They are capable of excavating hundreds of pounds of dirt.   And this fella was chucking enough dirt that it wouldn’t be long before he seriously undermined the structural integrity of the barn foundation.

Shooting a woodchuck is against the law in Wisconsin. Yep - they’re protected - just like badgers and wolves.  Not wanting to draw the attention of the local game warden and pleading a landowner exception I opted for the old reliable method.

Mothballs.

I poured a box of mothballs down the woodchuck’s hole.  Oh sure, your barn will smell like grandma for a while but critters cannot stand mothballs.  And it worked almost immediately for me.

I was puttering in the machine shed when old Phil (smelling strangely of naphthalene) waddled his way into the shed and gave me the hairy eyeball.  He was not happy.  Actually, he was angry to the point of provocation because he reared-up on his hind legs and gave me a nasty bark.

Taking a machete from the peg board I waved it menacingly and told him to get the heck out of my shed.

He scurried away retreating behind a sheet of plywood leaning against the wall.

I grabbed a garden rake and thrust it in his face.

He snorted and whistled and parried back with his claws.

Claw for claw - back and forth we went. Parry and thrust. I was gaining the upper hand and Phil was losing ground.

Finally forced from the shed he scurried a safe distance from the crazy guy with the rake, turned and gave me a dirty look and waddled-off in the direction of a neighboring farm.

Nasty attitude the groundhog has.

Dangerous too.

*This post was first published on the JSOnline WauwatosaNOW Gas Pains blog on February 2, 2010.

Morning

We rotated a new coffee maker into the kitchen on Saturday.  For any of you that live in rural America, and obtain your life-giving drinking water from a well, you know of what I speak.  The struggle is real.

Sure, our water is clean and tastes terrific.  Not at all like the water city folks have to tolerate.  City utility water that smells and tastes of bromine anti-bacterial chemicals when you raise a glass to your lips.  

An additional reason my water tastes great is because it is rich in calcium having originated 267 feet deep in the dolostone rock formation of the Niagara Escarpment upon which we sit.  Dissolved calcium eventually clogs the works of your Mr. Coffee machine.  And with the passage of time no amount of cleaning can reverse the impact of calcification on the slow brewing of a cuppa joe in the morning.  Yeah, first world problem.  And I digress.

Fall mornings are a terrific way to start your day with your pup and a steaming mug of black coffee.

These are the views I wake-to....

Swamp gas floating just above the ground

And the morning sun peeking-over the machine shed

Life sucks in flyover country, eh?

The Garden Chronicles

It has been a busy place around these parts.  Living in rural America means that when things dry-out sufficiently the spreading of manure, tilling of fields and planting is a near non-stop endeavor.  Morning, noon and night the sound of farm machinery is ubiquitous. 

This armchair farmer has been busy too.  My garden is basically installed.

The first sowing of radishes looks sad; a consequence of neglect while away on vacation.  A second sowing has been made along with spinach, five varieties of lettuce, carrots, beets, green beans, cantaloupe, cucumbers, pumpkins and leeks.

The peas are up! 

After the risk of frost has passed the sweet peppers and tomatoes will get plugged-in.  

Vive le Jardin Magnifique!

Never Grab a Groundhog

Groundhog Day is a big event every year on this day over in Gobblers Knob, Pennsylvania.

Someone provokes a hibernating woodchuck named Punxsutawney Phil to come out of his hole and predict the arrival of spring.

Even I can do that.  Provoked by the alarm clock I crawled out of a perfectly warm bed this morning at 5:30 AM, poured myself a steaming cuppa joe and let the dog out to pee.  It was snowing.  I therefore concluded more winter before the arrival of spring.

The man in the picture is a fool.  You should never grab a groundhog - especially if you are going to wave it around in the air over your head.

From the Algonquian wuchak - also known as the whistle pig - Marmota monax belongs to the vast squirrel family. They are big rodents.

They are also sinister-looking with their small ears, beady black eyes and very sharp teeth to go with all of their claws.  I wouldn’t grab a groundhog any sooner than I'd make a grab for a beaver or a porcupine. They are all much too dangerous.

Trust me.  I know this.

I have had to deal with multiple critters infestations under my barn. This includes everything from bunnies, to raccoons to kittens.  One year I had a groundhog.  And that bugger was burrowing furiously.

Groundhogs are well adapted miners.  They have short but powerful legs and very sharp claws.  They are capable of excavating hundreds of pounds of dirt.   And this fella was chucking enough dirt that it wouldn’t be long before he seriously undermined the structural integrity of the barn foundation.

Woodchucks used to be a protected species in Wisconsin.  Nowadays, landowners do not need a hunting or trapping license to trap or kill a groundhog on their own property.  The fore-mentioned critter was from back in the protected era and not wanting to draw the unneeded attention of the local game warden I opted for the old reliable method.

Mothballs.

I poured a box of mothballs down the woodchuck’s hole.  Oh sure, your barn will smell like grandma for a while but critters cannot stand mothballs.  And it worked almost immediately for me.

I was puttering in the machine shed when old Phil (smelling strangely of naphthalene) waddled his way into the shed and gave me the hairy eyeball.  He was not happy.  Actually, he was angry to the point of provocation because he reared-up on his hind legs and gave me a nasty bark.

Taking a machete from the peg board I waved it menacingly and told him to get the heck out of my shed.

He scurried away retreating behind a sheet of plywood leaning against the wall.

I grabbed a garden rake and thrust it in his face.

He snorted and whistled and parried back with his claws.

Claw for claw - back and forth we went. Parry and thrust. I was gaining the upper hand and Phil was losing ground.

Finally forced from the shed he scurried a safe distance from the crazy guy with the rake, turned and gave me a dirty look and waddled-off in the direction of a neighboring farm.

Nasty attitude the groundhog has.

Dangerous too.

 

Canis Latrans

 

Near the dawn of time, the story goes; Coyote saved the creatures of Earth. According to the mythology of Idaho's Nez Perce people, 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. 

– Nature

Yote - short for coyote, Wile E. Coyote, Canis latrans.   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 top out at about 44 pounds while females weigh-in slightly less.  For scale When we had hunting dogs our Labs are bulkier than the average coyote.  Coyotes are known for how well they adapt to different habitats.  They are found living in and around large cities, the central plains, farmland, and northern forest, in the desert scrub of the Sonoran Desert, foothills and mountains as well as in populated ring suburbs.  

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 - having 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. 

More frequently Jill and I hear coyote vocalizations than we see them live and in person.  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. 

 

The Dignity of Farming

Seen by the side of the road.....

Weekend Update

Fun day yesterday

Started with the Classic and Wooden Boat Show (and Sikaflex Challenge) in Sturgeon Bay. 

 

And capped with refreshing Trappist-Style Belgian adult beverages at the Belgian Heritage Center Kermis in Namur. 

 

Incidentally, nothing makes homemade ice cream like a Deere.

 

More updates to follow....

 

Living With Coyotes

 Near the dawn of time, the story goes; Coyote saved the creatures of Earth. According to the mythology of Idaho's Nez Perce people, 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. 

– Nature

Yote - short for coyote, Wile E. Coyote, Canis latrans.   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 top out at about 44 pounds while females weigh-in slightly less.  For scale my Labs are bulkier than the average coyote.  Coyotes are known for how well they adapt to different habitats.  They are found living in and around large cities, the central plains, farmland, and northern forest, in the desert scrub of the Sonoran Desert, foothills and mountains as well as in populated ring suburbs. 

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 - having 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. 

More frequently Jill and I hear coyote vocalizations than we see them live and in person.  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.

All of which leads to this:  A silent video vignette captured during daylight hours.....