These are the sounds we frequently hear late at night, especially if there is a full moon. We have some coyote families that live somewhere near. Even though we are officially designated a town or city we have a lot of canyons full of brush and earthy cliffs as well as other green areas where they can live.
(Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)
This one looks more healthy than some of the skinny, mangy looking ones I've seen recently. I suspect ours don't have the thick furry coat because we don't have the really cold winters that those from up north have. My neighbor has seen our local coyotes in the street where we live a good number of times in the early morning (that's not in my vocabulary!) Apparently they dig holes in the earthy cliffs to make a den and are happy to take over ground squirrel tunnels. We have no shortage of ground squirrels so the coyotes are probably fortunate to find plenty of areas to call home. The ground squirrels also make a tasty meal for them. Unfortunately, people's pets are also a meal of choice. That's why many cat owners around here have strictly indoor cats. Coyotes have also been known to attack small children, as well as grab small dogs and cats from the back yard. But human physical contact is not nearly as frequent as you might think when you consider how many coyotes there are in any given area. I think I have heard of only two incidents in the last nearly forty years we have lived here.
My first memories of coyotes have happier overtones -- from the ever popular Roy Rogers and other cowboy movies that I saw rather infrequently around the age of six. The romantic yip, yap and yowl of the coyote remind me of these. But I still keep my cat inside! It's sad I know, but it would be much sadder if one of those coyotes had Scruffy for lunch!
Even so, because I love all animals, I think he is rather beautiful.
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Here we are at the tag end of the alphabet for ABC Wednesday, but if you go and take a look at the other participants of Mrs. Nesbitt's project (click on this LINK) you'll be amazed at how many have stayed with the weekly posting, not just for this round of the alphabet, but some participants have joined in for all nine rounds!
Now to find something unique for next week's letter Z.
21 comments:
One thing that I like to wake up at night specially when it's full moon is to listen to the sound that we can't hear in day time. Great ABC choice. Happy New Year!
Y
Our cats have always been indoor cats - some humans are worse than coyotes. I hear the foxes calling and that's always spine-chillingly thrilling.
The coyotes were so close the other night that my cats began to growl.
Jane x
There is something rather mysterious and chilling about the sound of the coyote.
Our son lives about 10 minutes from us and his home in on the edge of a very large field. the Coyotes think this is their private place and chase the jackrabbits and sing far into the night.
I have also heard our Coyotes here as well, we call them our City Dwellers and they also have been seen in the wee early morning hours on our streets. We (neighbors) think that there may be a family living in the nearby Balboa Park Canyons.
Coyotes are beautiful animals and very important to our environment.
As we humans move further out into the countryside, we disturb the natural habitat of animals like these. We have the same problem in the hills of West and North Vancouver and even in the suburbs in the east. They are magnificent animals and we humans need to be aware that we're in "their" environment and adapt to them. Hope you have a wonderful 2012!
Leslie
abcw team
We have a resident coyote who visits each morning, and our son, in the Cariboo, has marvelous shots of coyotes in the snow, pouncing for mice and other small animals in the snow tunnels beneath him.
The last time we were in Tahoe, two coyotes came right up to the cabin...I made sure Molly was inside.
They were probably just hungry, and they stayed a while and then went on down the beach.
This was a good read for "Y"
We don't have coyotes, but we do see the odd fox, which perhaps comes from the same family? But they are very quiet (sly!). Our night visitors are raccoons, and although they are quiet, they make an awful mess. The day after my daughter had re-seeded parts of our lawn in the fall, she found the whole area literally dug up, to the depth of a few inches - raccoons looking for the seeds, we suspect. And woe betide anyone who leaves a full trash bin out overnight - it will be spread around the neigbourhood by morning!
I own a Sons of the Pioneers album, featuring Roy Rogers, with a song about the coyotes!
ROG, ABC Wednesday team
Handsome fella.
Youth is my Y, have a great year of the dragon.
Hello Chris !
I saw a coyotte near Yellowstone Park.
I cannot get the translation this morning.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, Chris !
Sweet post. I used to love yapping as a kid, it helped release all my tensions. I'd go to the backyard and just let go. Years later we had a coyote in the neighborhood - beautiful animal and the irony was that one day the vet's wife ran it over....
Wishing you happy thoughts and howls in 2012.
I actually considered finding a video of Roy Rogers yodeling to post this week, but decided to post my cat yawning instead.
We have coyotes out int he woods and orchards her too. Once in a while we hear the pups yipping in the night, but the worst sound is the red fox screaming. She sends shivers up my spine.
When our neighborhood was younger, I could hear coyotes at night in the distance. Along with whippoorwills and bobwhites! I don't hear them much anymore and it makes me sad.
No coyotes in Wiltshire but plenty of foxes, which are quiet except once a year when the vixen makes a shrill noise calling for a mate. The other noisy night time animals are badgers, which scream like they are wounded and Muntjac deer that bark. If you want to hear a vixen call, watch Midsomer Murders repeats on BBC America, they always have them going in the background whenever it is a night time scene, no matter what time of year the action takes place:)
Coyotes always make me think of cowboy films. They actually remind me a lot of foxes - I've never heard one calling though, that must be quite an experience.
Thanks for the sensible critique. Me & my neighbor were just preparing to do some research about this. We got a grab a book from our area library but I think I learned more from this post. I'm very glad to see such fantastic information being shared freely out there.
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