Coyote Pup

This weekend Corinne was sitting outside talking on the phone when she saw this walk out of the forest:


A coyote pup! Apparently it didn't see her initially, or maybe it hadn't learned yet that humans are something to be avoided. I was still inside, so Corinne did what she could to get my attention while not scaring away our visitor. Eventually I got the message and managed to get a few photos through the window before heading outside. By the time I made it to that side of the house, he had returned to the woods. We briefly walked along the edge of the woods, trying to catch another glimpse, but we gave up in fairly short order. Our chances of re-finding him were slim to none, and nobody wants to accidentally get between a mother and her offspring.

A minute or so later we heard the distinctive howl of a coyote. I like to think that the pup returned to the den, and that the sound we heard was Mom saying: "You did WHAT??"

We have a bit of a love/hate relationship with our coyotes. We love to listen to their yelps, which we typically hear in the early evening or as we are getting into bed. They are also great hunters, and anything that eats voles and gophers is a good thing. Unfortunately, one of its other targets is domestic cats like ours. In the end, we think they do much more good than harm. It's also pretty hard to dislike a baby animal of any sort.

- Mike (& Corinne)