March 18
Good Morning
Luck of the Irish yesterday!
I was driving along a road which is on the outskirts of St. Albert, a community adjacent to Edmonton. I turned onto a side road that cuts through a cultivated field and I came across a coyote crossing the road. As I had not arrived at my destination, I had not got my camera ready out of the bag yet. Rookie mistake.
Coyotes are normally very skittish once you are in rural areas because farmers are not fond of them and will shoot them. Anyone who stops and points something at them is a threat. So I scrambled to grab my camera and get a shot before it ran away.
Once I had my camera in hand, I saw the coyote head across another road and into a field. I drove along the road and then stopped, leaned across to the passenger side window and took a few shots. The coyote did not run away! It stopped and began hunting. While I moved the car further down the road to get better light, I saw it leap up and punch through the snow and catch a vole. Darn, I missed catching that. I took some more photos from the car and the coyote kept hunting. I decided to risk getting out and standing by the car to take some photos. The coyote kept hunting. I decided to walk down the road parallel to the direction the coyote was walking. The coyote kept hunting. I decided to walk out into the field and lay down in the snow. The coyote kept hunting. I decided that this must be an urban coyote.
Urban coyotes have become habituated to humans and sometimes become aggressive, especially towards humans with lunch on a leash. This coyote was aware of me but unconcerned about my presence. I stayed with it for about a half hour. As it moved through the field, I would keep ahead of it trying to get the best light. I was always about 50 yards away but it can get a little disconcerting when you are laying in the snow, looking through a zoom lens and the coyote starts walking towards you.
I did have a more intense encounter a few years ago. I had located a coyote hunting in a field adjacent to a forest. I saw it quite a distance away and decided to stay hidden in the forest and wait. Over the course of 30 minutes, the coyote continued to hunt and continued to come in my direction. I remained still, hidden six feet back from the edge of the trees with my camouflage clothing on. Eventually, the coyote got closer and then started to walk towards me, unaware of my presence. When it became apparent that that is was going to get too close, I stepped on a branch to make it snap. The coyote immediately stopped and stared about six feet to my right. I am not sure what it saw, but it decided to turn around and walked off the other way. It was intense for me, probably less so for the coyote.
As I watched this coyote, I started to recognize some of the hunting behaviours. It would walk around with it ears erect, listening. Once it heard something, it would slow or stop and sometime tilt its head left or right to try to pinpoint the voles location. Then once it had targeted its victim, it would leap into the air and punch down into the snow with its front paws. That would be followed by its snout and maybe some more pawing, before its secured its meal. It would then raise its head and watch me while it chowed down. I think this was less a show of look at me, what a good hunter am I, and more a defensive behaviour. I think it was watching to see it I was coming to steal its meal.
After catching seven voles, the coyote headed back to St. Alberta along the railway tracks. This is another common predator behaviour in the winter. Road, railways and rivers provide a smoother place to walk, rather than walking through the snow in a field and breaking through with every step.
Stay Well !
