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... 

Mama Rosa

On a recent visit to the Naked City we took some time to take a stroll through a new park in our former community; Wauwatosa’s Firefly Grove Park.

 

Meet Mama Rosa, a towering 24-foot troll sculpture created by world-renowned artist Thomas Dambo.  She's the first of his trolls in Wisconsin and a striking symbol of sustainability and imagination.

Made from trees recycled from Wauwatosa's urban forest and other materials from the city, Mama Rosa weighs over 4,000 pounds and features flowing hair crafted from oak branches. In her hands, she holds a bouquet made from old Wauwatosa streetlight posts—an artistic nod to her curious, flower-picking nature. 

The park is a one-of-a-kind experience featuring a picnic shelter, accessible play area for children of all ages, a pump track for BMX and mountain bikes, a living willow hut, sledding hill, walking paths and stormwater management features that filter up to 600,000 gallons of stormwater during major rain events.  There is a solar power facility at the park that reduces its carbon footprint, LED lighting from repurposed city lamp posts, landscaping incorporating native trees and plants and future plans to connect with the Oak Leaf Trail.

Firefly Grove Park was built 100% with grant funding—no local property tax dollars were used.   "Mama Rosa", was funded using hotel and motel room tax revenue—specifically through Wauwatosa’s Tourism Commission, intended for tourism and community attractions.

 

Check it out; it's located at 1900 North 116th Street in Wauwatosa, WI. 

Sunset

click on image to enlarge

 

Lounging around with my three girls over a glass of Merlot.  View from the city porch.....

Sunset

 click on the street light to enlarge

Sunset tonight from my pied-à-terre in the big city.   

Beautiful close to an otherwise joyless day...

Bridges of Door County

click on the bridge span to enlarge

This is the Oregon Street bridge in Sturgeon Bay.  It is a concrete deck girder bridge over the water on State Highway 42-57 (Business Route).  Built in 2008 it was constructed with more clearance than the Michigan Street Bridge which would reduce the number of openings.  Nevertheless, the bridge needs to be raised to allow passage of sailboats with their tall masts.    

This is my bridge over Silver Creek.  It was constructed in 2017 by my pals – New Guy and Mennonite of scrap lumber and rocks.  It is tall enough to allow the passage of an ordinary dog underneath but is capable of being raised and removed during high water events.   

Raising a toast to the reuse of found materials and American ingenuity.  This is what made America great.

Forest Exploration Center

One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise.

― Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac   

Yesterday was a good day for Wisconsin's Forest Exploration Center (FEC).  Yup - that is now the official name for the 67 acres of  state-owned forestland on the historic Milwaukee County Grounds in Wauwatosa.   

The FEC earned the unanimous support of Wisconsin's Natural Resources Board for the Tier Three Management Sheet (pardon the jargon) and advance the mission and vision of the non-profit organization.   

Progress is being made towards the construction of an ADA trail, stormwater management, controlling invasives, reforestation, restricting access to sensitive wildlife habitat, getting urban children in the woods and much more.  

Raising a toast to sustainable forestry.  

Cheers!  

Learn more about the Forest Exploration center at their homepage:  http://www.forestexplorationcenter.org/   

And like the FEC on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/forestexplorationcenter/

Urban and Rural

The photo above was taken from my vehicle in the middle of the city.  Mama and the twins were oblivious to my presence and obviously habituated to the presence of humans.  They barely budged when I snorted at them.

Mama and this fawn were captured digitally by means of a trail camera.  

click on image to enlarge

That's because they live in the country and about the only way you can obtain a photo is with a camera triggered by a motion detector.  They're scared to death of people.   

Predator/prey relationship we have.

SNAP and Choices

SNAP - the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – exists to improve nutrition among the 43 million poorest Americans who receive food stamps.  This $74 billion program aids roughly 23 million households each month - many of them single-parent homes at or below the poverty line – with an average benefit of $256 a month. 

I have no ax to grind with the intent or the basic merits of this program.  Nevertheless there is this.  

A recent report revealed that SNAP households spent about 40 cents of every dollar at the grocery store on basic items like meat, fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs and bread.  Another 40 cents of every dollar was spent on cereal, prepared foods, dairy products, rice and beans.  The last 20 cents of each dollar was spent on a broad category of junk foods that included sweetened beverages, desserts, salty snacks, candy and sugar.  SNAP households spent 9.3 percent of their grocery budgets on soft drinks alone.  That was slightly higher than the 7.1 percent figure for households that do not receive food stamps.  That means a household that spent 10 percent of its SNAP money on soda could buy at least 20 two-liter bottles of orange Crush soda. 

It is true that Americans indulge in too much sugary soft drinks in general and SNAP recipients are no exception. It should also come to nobody’s surprise that PepsiCo, Kraft, Coca –Cola, the sugar industry and the rest of the beverage industry have lobbied against attempts to restrict the purchase of junk food under the SNAP program.  As a consequence we have a multibillion-dollar taxpayer subsidy of the soda industry. 

It would seem to me that SNAP dollars should be spent on nutritious and healthful food – including fresh fruit and vegetables.  Of course there is the problem of a dearth of full-service groceries with large produce departments in urban and poor America.  Poor rural America doesn’t have hardly any grocery stores.   

You can read more about this here.  And for the record our family purchases no sugary beverages at all.

The Great Divide

I had a conversation with an acquaintance recently about the November election not necessarily being a contest of Democrat versus Republican.  Rather, it is a referendum on urban versus rural America.

Think about it.  Something on the order of fifteen percent of the population of the United States resides in rural counties spread across 72 percent of the nation's land area.  Rural America leans conservative.

Urban America is characterized by large population densities, greater ethnic diversity, larger numbers of college graduates – particularly those with advanced degrees – and a larger concentration of wealth and economic activity.  Urban America leans moderate to liberal.

Like it or not - urban America elects the President.

The GOP had a couple of candidates that did well in the urban areas in the early primaries - Kasich and Rubio. Now they are down to one.  It is not The Great and Terrible Oz.

If you’re looking for an interesting read there is this:  Red State, Blue City: How the Urban-Rural Divide Is Splitting America - http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/11/red-state-blue-city-how-the-urban-rural-divide-is-splitting-america/265686/