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…..
 

Gobbler

The girls and I hiked up to the north end of the property today to fetch a trail camera  and a turkey blind.

I'm going to use the camera to try something different - photograph some of the visiting song birds that are coming to the feeders.  It is going to be a new experiment so stay tuned for the results.

The blind belongs to my pal Braumeister and I can pass it along to him next time we meet.  I have made an executive decision to do no further turkey hunting this year as I've got too many other irons in the fire at the present.

That was probably a rash decision as I uploaded the photos on the SD card and look who was strutting his stuff for the ladies.  In the last two pictures you can see a hen about 15 to 20 yards distant.
Yesterday, precisely 24 hours from the time of this post...

click on the images for a closer look

Happy Mother's Day

complete-wildlife.com

The staff here at The Platz raises a toast to all the hard-working moms out there.

Make it a terrific day.

Cheers!

Tariff Man

Gary Varvel - Indianapolis Star

Well, he's back.  And so are his tariffs.  Everything tweet-worthy is back in the news  So it is blog-worthy to note that it was about a year ago that President Trump levied a tariff of 25% on imported steel and 10% on imported aluminum.  Translation:  an additional Republican tax on imported steel and aluminum.     

After more than a year of allowing the Republican tax to work its way thru the economy you’re probably wondering what the impact has been on the steel industry, employment, businesses that import steel and aluminum and the consumer.  I think there are four key elements worthy of examination.    

First, The Alliance for American Manufacturing would tell you that the tariffs resulted in an increase of 12,700 domestic jobs related to the production of steel and aluminum.    

Second, domestic steel prices increased.  If you happen to be a manufacturer that uses steel to make something else - the cost of domestically-produced steel is about 10% higher than rest of the world steel. If you are a domestic steel producer - President Trump along with Republican largess - increased your profitability.

On the other hand, if you are the purchaser of an automobile, a box of nails, an aluminum boat, farm equipment or paper clips your costs have likely gone up.  Analysts at the Peterson Institute have calculated the total increase in costs at roughly $11.5 billion a year. 

Most manufacturers take the expedient route and pass this cost of the tariff (the tax) on to the consumer.  For competitive reasons a few manufacturers have decided to absorb some or most of the tax increase.  But this also has a price - reduced profitability.  That's the way the baby bounces.     

Third, the President continues to insist that it is other countries that are paying the Republican tax (tariff) and that this somehow represents a windfall to the US Treasury.  I'll be polite - he is pulling your leg.  (See #2 above).  My theory is that the President knows that if he repeats a lie frequently and confidently his followers will accept it as fact.  He’s probably correct about that.  PT Barnum had a phrase for it too.  But I digress.    

Fourth, those pesky analysts over at the Peterson Institute have also performed some simple math.  If you take the $11.5 billion dollars of additional cost and divide it by the increase of 12,700 new jobs that works-out to more than $900,000 for each new job.  After almost four decades in the investment business that sounds like a rather crappy return on investment.  Moreover, jobs in those companies that use steel outnumber jobs in companies that produce steel by about 80 to 1.  

So here you go.  The quaint-old Chamber of Commerce Republican Party of the past is dead and buried.  Contemporary Republicans raise taxes, pick winners and losers, engage in protectionism and thumb their nose at free trade.  Sounds more like post-soviet central planning, eh?  

Sure, I know that some of my contemporaries are willing to hold their nose and remind me:  Donald Trump is using tariffs to extract concessions from our trading partners (and China).  It is a negotiation strategy.  They're only temporary.  You're exaggerating   You'll see. 

I suppose we will see.  Although I'll not hold my breath.  I only have to look back a few months to the bluster of the government shutdown.  What an embarrassment.  I'll bet that the Chinese got this figured-out far better than Donald Trump thinks. 

If it turns-out I am correct - those tariffs are going to start looking more permanent.  Let's not parse words - call it what it is - a Republican tax hike. 

It’s certainly not the party of Ronald Reagan anymore.    Sigh…..

National Wildflower Week

Always the first full week of May - National Wildflower Week commemorates the colorful blossoms that bring our landscapes to life. Whether they are on mountainsides, pastures or our own back yards, wildflowers create habitat, help conserve water and reduce erosion. 

Here's a spring perennial that is brightening our stream banks right now.  

Meet Caltha Palustris - the Marsh Marigold - a member of the buttercup family (not a marigold) and a wild flower found in bottomlands, marshes, fens and wet woodlands  this time of year.    

This is a difficult plant to miss as the bright yellow flowers are quite showy.  This plant grows along Silver Creek and in the dappled sunlit areas where ephemeral waters gather.       

This plant also happens to be edible when cooked.  Sometimes referred-to as the poor man's saffron  - the tender spring leaves or buds can be blanched in boiling water, cut into bite-sized pieces, lightly salted and served with melted butter.  The flower buds can also be cooked and pickled for use as a caper substitute.  Whatever you do - DO NOT EAT THIS PLANT RAW.     

It is sometimes called Cowslip - a throwback to the fact that it is found in low-lying areas and cows would slip-upon it when they came to the creek to drink. 

Grilln'

Dinner tonight.

Grilled Angus chuck burgers seasoned with Penzeys Prime Rib Rub and anointed with olive oil.

Seared over blazing coals - medium.

Served-up on a fresh bakery roll - grilled.

Topped with mayo, lettuce, tomato and an extra napkin.

Behold the classic California burger......

Porch Setting

Cold and windy and the dogs and I are porch-setting.

We do this because we can. And it’s not raining the cursed wintery mix.

Blonde dog says this is an excellent American lager - especially when salted-in-the-shell peanuts are involved.

Guinness Brewing Company - Latrobe, PA.   Who knew?
 
Raising a toast to the dickcissel singing in the apple tree...