Partners in the Hunt

I saw a similar pair hunting last year and had to get a photo. Most of the time they are separated by several feet and only visible on opposite edges of the frame. I watched two pairs in prairie dog towns and was lucky to get these guys close together. Maybe next time I'll get an actual prairie dog hunt. Finding a pair is also a good way to find the badger that is much more camouflaged than the coyote. Coyote and badgers hunting together is well documented and beneficial to each. From what I have read when one gets a meal the other does not attempt to steal it from the other.

Woodland Coyotes

Coyotes are the most prolific predators in America. My daughter regularly saw them in Portland residential areas. In Minnesota they are usually seen running for their lives since they are shot on sight in rural areas. These two camera trap clips show them in a more relaxed setting. In the second one you can hear a turkey scolding it.

The original snow cone

This coyote took a break from his carcass feast to get a couple refreshing bites of snow. The day was perfect and I watched him for several hours until he waddled through the snow to rest on the hillside.

The snow bites have been slowed to half speed. While watching any of the current nature shows note the speed of the action. Slow motion is currently in vogue, given the quality of capture with Sony and high end video recorders, but tends to be overused in my opinion. I like to select a small portion of the clip to adjust and make the slow motion seamless with normal speed.

Happy New Year!

We sing and party (well some of us) to welcome the new year but I'm sure most animals are oblivious to the 12 month calendar. I have taken the liberty to assume this coyote is happy for the arrival of 2017.

 

Coyote hunting Bighorns

It is rare to see a chase or hunting sequence in Yellowstone. Most of the time the animals are eating, eating, or just plain eating. A fellow visitor told me a coyote was hunting these bighorns but I said "No, they are just in the rut." He had witnessed a coyote chase one of the sheep over the cliff a few years ago.  Once again humbled in Yellowstone.

I smell something.

I'm moving on from ears to the nose. This guy stopped in front of the camera one morning and knew something was up but couldn't localize the the camera.

Technical: I stopped using scent blockers a few years ago and use time to degrade human scent. A camera is left in place at least a week before being checked and frequently for several weeks. It will be interesting to see if he is more relaxed the next time he passes by.

Flop Ear

This floppy ear turns this guy into a rogue. When I first saw him he was dapper but the more I looked the more sinister he became. I have been thinking about animal ears lately (a slow time of the year) and this bent ear creates an individual with character. What do you think?

Scent Post

 

Some of us read the local news each morning. Coyotes check their scent posts for the latest  information. Occasionally the news is updated.

Technical: Reconyx Ultrafire cameras are placed in selected Scientific and Natural Areas under a special permit from the MN DNR.

A Wily coyote?

 

We tend to give animals human characteristics, frequently based on fictional stories. Think about the wily coyote in the Road Runner cartoons. Native Americans give the coyote supernatural properties. As with  humans generalizations can be misleading. This guy looks anything but wily or supernatural.

Minnesota Coyote

I found a raccoon carcass in the woods and moved it to a good camera trap location. The scientist in me put it on the camera side of the log so I could record any mice that might eat it. The photographer in me wishes it was on the other side of the log. This raccoon died of natural causes (?) and was not eaten by the coyote. I question natural causes because I have found 4 dead raccoons in the same area since Christmas. My guess is distemper or another cause related to interaction with domestic cats or dogs.  This raccoon had been living in a nearby tree and I was excited to get it coming and going with young ones in the scene, maybe next year.

Perplexed Coyote

On morning I was watching ice melt (I'm retired). Imagine my surprise when a coyote appeared in broad daylight. To be honest I was hoping a deer would cross the ice like it had a few days earlier when I didn't have the camera set up. 

Coyote Contemplating Ice

Saturday morning I was watching this shallow oxbow pond because a deer had crossed it earlier in the week when I didn't have my camera. I was hoping another one might make the crossing but this coyote appeared. It spent about 20 minutes trying the ice in different locations, rolling in the snow, and finally choosing a safe crossing. This is a frame from video footage.

The Amateur Biologist

Healthy Deer

Malnourished Deer

These images are from a pair of coyote killed deer carcasses.  In 1949 a short article was published in the New York Conservationist magazine by E. L. Cheatum.  This article is the basis of all current studies of ungulate mortality analysis, however machines are now used instead of fingers to determine the fat content of marrow.  Analysis of bone marrow fat gives an indication of the nutritional status of the animal since it is the last fat reservoir used by a starving animal.

The tracks in snow gave an intriguing story. The healthy deer was the adult which apparently was defending its weak fawn which is the lower image.  The kills were made a few days apart since the fawn was almost intact and the doe was mostly consumed when I found them.  An alternative explanation is a simultaneous kill and the adult was eaten first.  The deer died in an open woodland and all bones were intact therefore not a wolf or bobcat kill.

Cheatum's article is an interesting study in field biology.  I couldn't find the original article on the web but would be happy to send a PDF file of it to anyone who is interested.

Intensity

The stare is almost frightening.  The reality is this coyote is hunting and intently listening for a vole under the snow as we stand on the road above it.  It is interesting to compare the relative size of the ears with the wolf image from a couple days ago.  This coyote ate 6 voles in the hour we were watching, all caught after hearing the voles move under the snow.

The Circle of Life

1/2000 of a second

vole dies

coyote lives