Coyotes

I think that due to the fear factor, people under appreciate the vital role that Coyote serve to balance eco systems. There's actually talk of reintroducing these in downtown Chicago's park systems but they are far from implementation as they'll first have to change people's opinions of this animal.

Good on you for the rain garden. I almost went this route but opted for rain barrels instead. Pictures would be appreciated as well as knowledge of what you've planted.

 

I've seen coyotes numerous times on mountain bike excursions here in CA. They are beautiful creatures -- it always makes my ride when I come across one.

I hope people can appreciate their beauty and relevance to the ecosystem without freaking out over them.

In my experience, they appear to be quite shy, yet curious creatures and I've never felt threatened by them even when riding alone in remote areas.

 

Coyotes are definitely prevalent in the Chicago area. I live in a typical suburb with 1/4 acre lots, and my wife and I have seen a coyote in our backyard twice and once in a neighbor's yard. There was that story last summer about a coyote that got lost in the business district (the "Loop") of downtown Chicago, daylight came around and all the commuters arrived and the coyote tried to take refuge in a Subway shop with the doors open, and ended up stuck in their beverage display case. Animal control came and he was brought to a wildlife rehabilitator who I think released him in an outer suburb forest preserve. So I'm not really sure re-introduction is really necessary at this point.

They're not big enough to take down healthy deer however, I don't think they have a noticeable impact on those numbers. They are however eating a lot of goose eggs and probably keeping goose numbers in check (lots of Canada geese roam around midwest cities - they love manicured lawns that go right to the edge of small ponds where predators can't hide). I like to go for walks at lunch here at work, but it's so hard to walk without stepping on goose droppings.

But, and this is fortuitous timing - if you're in the NW suburbs of Chicago this weekend, there's a program on "Living with Coyotes", held at Vehe Farm in Kildeer (near Lake Zurich/Cuba Marsh). Citizens for Conservation, Barrington,Illinois has more details, click on the calendar and look at Jan. 19th.

 

We have them here too, and black bears. The bears are harder to see, since they are a bit more skittish, but once in a while one will walk down the main street of our village. So far the wolves and elk haven't made it up onto our peninsula, but just around the corner they have them. There have also been numerous puma (mountain lion, cougar) sitings, but this remains an area of controversy. The official stand is that we don't have them in the area, but it's pretty hard to confuse one with anything else. My wife and I saw one late one night, and I don't know what else it could be: low, fast, nine feet long including the long snake-like tail. Maybe it was a house cat - yea, right!

Tom

 

We have tons of Coyotes here in AZ. I'm dog sitting at my moms in the North Desert & at night you can sit inside & hear the howling on the golf course. I've only seen 3-4 roaming around the neighborhood during the day time, but they do tend to be very shy, unless Hungry!! Out here they do go after small dogs roaming at night, there's at least one story on the news about it per month. Last week, my mom walked out her door to get to the mail box & there was a bobcat by her box, needless to say, she didn't get the mail. That's the 1st bobcat we've seen in this neighborhood

 

We were in AZ a few months back and camped out in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. I've never heard a Coyote and was looking forward to hearing one. Only thing I heard was a large insect circling my head for a couple hours. This did not distract for the wonders of the land there. It was absolutely beautiful and surreal.

 

I grew up 40 miles south of Buffalo, NY, and when I was back there a while back my brother mentioned coyotes killing cats and I was shocked. He tried telling me they'd been around forever, but my mom and my sister don't remember them being around 30 years ago either.

I guess they fit in well or something...

 

Coyotes seem to adapt well to an urban environment. We have them here, and I can't help but think the fair number of missing cat posters I see are somehow related.

 

I live on the very outskirts of far west Phoenix and coyotes are a regular occurrence for us. I've seen them often on my morning walks (with my dog that is bigger than a coyote) and we hear them frequently.

A couple of months ago I was woken up at 2:30 am by a bunch of yipping and howling. I looked over my back fence and saw 5 coyotes - big, healthy ones - running down the street. Beautiful animals, but I wouldn't want to run into a pack of them alone!

 

More surprisingly, Great Horned Owls will take out cats as prey.

 

Ditto. I once encountered a coyote coming down a mountain bike trail. It had a dead rabbit in its mouth. As I approached the coyote ran in line with the trail so it appeared as if I were chasing it. That rabbit was flopping around all over the place. I think the coyote thought I was going to try to take it.

 

Coyotes are fine. They're not aggressive towards adults in my experience and I love the yipping and calling at night. When I lived in Tucson, I got to hear packs of them making quite a stir at night. It was pretty cool in an eerie kind of way.

 

Here, in the most densely populated county in FL, there are Coyotes. They have passed through the neighborhoods a few months ago. These are the well adapted urban Coyotes that know to stay very nocturnal for survival. The stray car population is now close to zero. The duck population is slowly returning. The armadillo population was unaffected.

 

Hi Jim!!

I know we have a bunch of 'em here in the N. C. mountains, I can hear them howling at night, but I didn't realize they were at the coast. Now I do know there is a large population of black bear at the coast, but coyotes? Hmmmmm. Very interesting. good I guess from an environmental perspective, but interesting..............

 

Crikey! They're eating cars down there?!? Ours just eat rabbits an stray cats.

 

We have coyotes in Rock Creek Park in downtown Washington DC. They tend to be hard on little yappy dogs that get off the leash.

 

Ha! You're a trip! (I'm the first to say that, I'm sure).

Come to think of it, I haven't seen many stray cars around here either...


I remember going to college in Duluth MN and a couple weeks into my first year some kids ran into the dorm saying there was a bear outside! I come from a farm way up north, so I've seen more than a few bear, and I knew they wouldn't go that deep into a city, so I sauntered out there to see what it really was and tell these city kids what's what. Turns out, it really was a black bear, and boy was I surprised! Just a yearling, but eating apples from under a neighbor's tree, apparently following a nearby ravine thru the neighborhoods.

 

I wouldn't be too surprised if it were actually a mountain lion.

Coyotes? . . . cute little dog things, generally harmless to humans.

Mountain lions? . . . cute, much more dangerous big cat - but the numbers of confirmed humans killed by cougars are much lower than peoples' hysterical reactions to viewing one in the wild warrants.

A saying out West: "If you see a deer, cougars are near."

Mountain lions range use to include the Eastern US. I wouldn't doubt if they start to make a comeback there too. There have been some unconfirmed sightings in the Ozarks.
Rewilding Institute Vision Statement

Years ago, friends thought I was joking when I told them I saw a mountain lion here in Sacramento while we were rafting down the American River.

We really DO have mountain lions right in the middle of a county with a human population over one million.
Mountain Lion Spotted Near American River Parkway - Find Internet TV

 

In NAm the coyote range is expanding.
Down here, it's big sharks. (see below)
Maybe global warming is starting to bite a little harder.

From today's NZ Herald front page:
"Swarms of up to 40 sharks have been sighted off the Coromandel coast over the holiday period as people swim only metres away, oblivious to the danger. Helicopter pilot Steve Broadbent said he has seen sharks disturbingly close to swimmers on the sandbar between Matarangi Beach and Whangapoua Beach over the past two weeks.
'The heavy [shark] activity began just before Christmas. Some days we've seen up to 30 sharks but on the day the photo was taken [Sunday] we saw about 40,' Mr Broadbent said.
'We have seen quite a variety ... bronze whalers, hammerheads and I think makos. There were at least three species.'
Just off the beach - A shark traffic jam (+photos) - 16 Jan 2008 - NZ Herald: New Zealand National news

Photo from the front page