If ya don't love coyotes, don't read...

13 years ago

Today while out on our early-morning walk, we heard a coyote crying. We hear the young ones every so often when they get separated from their pack calling to the others for help. The pack will answer and they will call back and forth until they locate each other. Then lots of happy yipping and yapping.

Well, this little guy wasn't getting an answer. It's been really cold here the last few nights, and down to 27 degrees last night, so I really hoped his family would find him before he had to spend a night alone.

My walking partner can sometimes really be depressing. She kept saying he was sick, his pack wouldn't come for him, he was gonna die... I about had to smack her to shut her up!

A little ways farther on, we turned up a dirt road that crosses the undeveloped area where the coyotes like to hunt, and all of a sudden, something gray trots across the road. Took a moment to register that it was a grown-up coyote. Then here came another, about 3/4 grown. And finally, another pup, yards behind the other two.

Had to be the "lost" one. And he wasn't trailing behind because he couldnt keep up. he just had to investigate ***everything***. We stood watching as the first two made a bee-line for the wilderness. "Caboose" had to stop and sniff, or wander this way than that. I whistled, and the first two kept right on trucking. "Caboose" stopped, looked around, decided we werent all that intersting and went back to something else he'd smelled...

I suspect if he was a kid, they'd diagnose him with ADD. I think he's just overwhelmed with curiosity. If he survives childhood, he's gonna make a great daddy coyote someday.

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Comments (10)

jannie
13 years ago
Sounds like the way my dog behaves when I *try* to take her for a walk. She sniffs at everything, afraid of traffic, just curious.
jannie
13 years ago
And, to answer your post, I don't love or hate coyotes. I've never seen one here on Long Island; we have squirrels and raccoons, deer, rabbits,snakes, but no coyotes or mountain lions. Yet.
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"Progress". Years ago, our area was the same. This development was built in the late 60's on the outskirts of town and even though it basically still is, the landscape is changing all the time. There was nothing but fields and forest around here years ago. Now there's one development further out than us and more going up here and there all over the place. In the process more land was taken on top of the land used to expand roads and highways. It's not so bad where we've lost some of our typical nature sounds like our robins, owls, cardinals, cicadas and so on, but the feel is different. They tore down an old factory by the river 8 or so years ago that was supposed to remain as a park area where we used to see plenty of ducks, gulls and geese but it didn't take long for them to commercialize it with a restaurant, some shops, the obligatory CVS and leave us not forget the primo riverfront townhouses and condos. What I can't get over are the bloody drugstores. I grew up in a town that had a Rexall downtown on the corner. (Must be getting old. Spell check told me Rexall is spelled wrong.) Now, it's like some huge pharmacy giant just walks through the country, squats, and drops a CVS or Walgreen's here, there or wherever. The other thing that gets me about that is, whenever one builds the other is sure to build somewhere nearby.
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Coyotes will not eat anything that they think might harm them. If the Opossum was well it would have been gone by now. Yesterday, sorry I do not remember the site, I was reading that the use of high powered rat/mouse baits, warfarin, are believed to be causing deaths of other animals and birds up the food chain. The suggestion was that hawks, owls and other predator's were eating the rodents that had consumed the poison. Since the poison remained in the rodent it passed to the predator and so on down the line. The big question that remained unanswered was why were deer and other non-meat eaters being found with high amounts of the same chemical in their blood. My thought was the decaying bodies released the substance into the ground, which then went into the water systems. It could be possible that because your opossum eats anything it finds that it may have eaten animals that had died or were dying from the poison.
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Lol. Well there are some nurseries I frequent that I don't care, others I feel like I should at least look half way decent. I had to sort through the packs of allysum, some only had two plants when they were suppose to have three (which is why I ran out in the first place). I casually mentioned it to one of the clerks and he just laughed and said, "Yeah I find that sometimes too". duh. I was kinda hoping he'd give me a break on the price even tho it was only $.99 to begin with. This particular nursery hardly ever has sales and usually has lots of plants, trees, and shrubs left at the end of the season. I don't understand how they make a go of it unless most of their business is to landscapers. Bought a bag of mulch too. Normally I use my shredded leaf mulch but for some reason I thought the bark mulch might keep the moisture in better. It's triple shredded, pretty nice stuff actually. Not many wood slivers. I use it in the edging around my boxwood hedge borders. Which is another job that should be done soon.
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I love making soil. I love it even more when someone else is doing most of the work for me. I'm itching to start some spring planting in my tiny garden, but it's technically still a bit early (our last frost date is supposed to be around the 18th or so, but these days who even knows) and I'm impatiently waiting for the contractors to show up and replace my rotted fence before I can do any planting in the back half where the pile of rock mulch over weed cloth used to be. The fence would have rotted anyway, but the bottom of it was completely eaten away where the rock mulch was piled against it. I have already put down a tiny new tree (Amelanchier x "Autumn Brilliance") which arrived bare root and needed to go in the ground ASAP, but it's not next to the fence, so it should be fine as long as the fence guys don't step on the 18 inch high forked stick which, seen with my eye of faith, is already a handsome small patio tree. The tree went in the spot where the old, scrawny, unhealthy cherry plum used to be, where I have been piling vermicompost and leaves ever since last summer. I didn't amend the planting hole at all - just dug and filled in. Enough leaf mold and vermicompost just fell into the hole to make me feel fine about the start my new tree's roots are getting. Anyway, the "someone else" who is working for me outside is a healthy passel of earthworms, which I can see out there every time I pull back last autumn's leaf mulch, which I diligently collected from the sidewalk in front of my row house and brought out back. Even if I can't set to work yet, I like knowing that they're hard at it. I've seen some of my red wigglers who rode out from my indoor worm bin, and at least three separate species of native earthworms: slow gray short guys, some really huge red nightcrawler types, and a longer, thinner, super-active wiggly worm that's new to me. I've also scattered out some seeds and grains for the sparrows and squirrels, inspired by some videos of composting chickens I've watched on Youtube: so there's been lots of pecking and scratching and digging going on in the layer of leaves, which is both fun to watch and will serve to further shred down the leaves for incorporation in the soil. When I do get to the planting along the back fence, I'll try to remember to post a soil pic as a "before and after" to the one at the start of this topic.
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gazania_gw
13 years ago
I love all animals. They all have a "place" in this world.
Your cute story reminds me of a little skunk with the same problem as your coyote. Our neighbors had a mother skunk give birth under their front porch. It seems that for whatever reason, mom skunk decided to relocate her brood across the road to another neighbors shed. She led 3 little ones out from under the porch across the yard and road and up a bank to the new home. But a fourth little guy, an all white albino, got transfixed by a sprinkler that was watering the the yard. He didn't follow Mom across the road. Mom came back after him twice, nudging him and scolding, but the sprinkling water was too much for him to resist. Finally, while Mom was on the opposit side checking on the other three, the 15 year old neighbor girl ran into the yard and picked the wayward child and carried him across the street. She quickly plunked him down and retreated back home. Mom skunk did seem greatful for the help.
nodakgal
13 years ago
LOL Great stories!!!
That girl was brave! I wouldn't have done it, but I'd have loved to have seen it!
angela_nor_calif
13 years ago
So glad it has a good ending and he found his family - or they found him.

I definitely would have picked up that little skunk and took him to his mamma.

My husband teases me all the time that I'm the animal whisperer. lol
petra_gw
13 years ago
Aww, I am so glad little Coyotes' parents found him. :) And the skunk story is cute too, what a nice girl.
notjannaz10
Original Author
13 years ago
One of my old boyfriends had a skunk adopt him. He and his kids lived in a converted barn--much nicer than it sounds. They never quite figured out how the little stinker got in and out, but every night, when everyone had gone to bed, it would come in and make itself to home. Played with balls they left out for it, climbed in bed with the kids, ate the dog-food they put out...

I'm a sucker for any critter with fur and feet. Not so much scales or stingers!

J.
Jasdip
13 years ago
Awwww how cute!!!
I can just picture that little guy sniffing and investigating anything that strikes his fancy.

I love animal stories!!
kayjones
13 years ago
Nice story - I love all animals and when they hurt, I hurt. I'm glad it all turned out well.
nicole__
13 years ago
Very cute!

If ya don't love coyotes, don't read...

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jannie

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If ya don't love coyotes, don't read...

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