Friendly (?) neighbor

Pretty healthy looking coyote, and pretty bold. He/she was at the edge of our yard, wandering around the new firepit. Meanwhile, my dog (boxer mix) was curled up in her bed on the side porch, quivering.

Beautiful! Usually they're so secretive.

Last year raccoon sauntered through the pet door after I had gone to bed & started going through a lot of cat food. Hearing the noise, I came out & the raccoon sauntered back out the door. My lazy dog Osita lifted her head from where she was lying on the couch & looked at me as if to say, "What? She wasn't eating MY food."

Lassie she ain't.

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for coyotes.

Thats a great picture. Coyotes are so smart.

When a coyote ate my cat, my feelings changed some. No more outside kitties!!!

Ah, yes. The grandkids watched a pair of coyotes eat their cat in their backyard, too. I have NO affection for them. I sometimes fear for my minature Schnauzer! It is unfortunate that suburbia is taking over their natural habitat.

Sounds horrifying. Still a nice photo though, bonehead!

PNWMountainGirl - Sorry the grands have a visual memory!!!!!!!! With mine, all I had was a huge wide circle of orange/white hair - and I knew to not go looking for the rest.

The coyotes are really thick this year for some reason. Had another one (scrawnier) in the same spot yesterday - poking around the firepit/patio area, not sure what draws them there. So strange, I've never seen them come up the hill in daylight before, although I've certainly heard them howling very close to the house at night.

do you think building the pit messed with some rodent runs?

That could well be. One of the coyotes was definitely hunting some small creature in the ground. And my dog is a hunter also, and does a lot of digging on the hillside - comes up with moles and field mice on a fairly regular basis.

For this most recent coyote visit, I sicced the dog on it, and she did a good job of chasing it down the hill, across the field, and across the creek into our back woods. At that point she turned back, probably a good thing, I'm guessing the coyotes have a den or two out there. Not sure what the outcome might be of a dog-coyote scuffle.

And, strangely enough, I'm not hearing my neighbor's rooster this morning... He's rather haphazard about animals and I'm guessing he likely has not fortified the chicken house as well as he should. He's had free-range chickens, ducks, and rabbits at different times. None have lasted very long. He also has llamas, who I think will actually stand up to a coyote, although how protective they might feel toward his chickens is another story.

I have to say that my views of coyotes have always been fleeting, except for the one that was trotting down my road midday once. It then hung a right and came down the driveway and off thru the neighbors' yard. Now they have dogs and a good fence, so perhaps that interferes with the established route. My cats are outdoors a lot, but I try to keep them in at nite and in the early morning. I know one of them probably competes with the coyotes for the same prey. Several neighbors have happily hosted Lucky, and more than a few have lamented the loss of their cats to a coyote. Your coyote is so fluffy---do you think it's a youngin'?

I was out late on a full moon winter night in a local park (baseball field surrounded by woods) when I saw what I assume was a fox. New Haven Connecticut, West Rock Park.

He or she was as elegant, delicate and dainty as a ballerina. My friend and I were astonished and kept peering and pointing into the woods where she had disapeared, sure that she had been curious about what WE were doing out there on HER turf. We couldn't see a thing and eventually turned around 180 degrees ...
to see that had very nearly snuck up on us from behind while we stood in the middle of a bare, empty baseball diamond.

She danced away, we thought laughing at us, as dullards for not noticing that she had circled all the way around and nearly tagged us in an open field.

I'm still thinking "fox" rather than "coyote" based on the thin ankles, long legs and playful, curious disposition. But I don't know.

Or maybe we were lucky she didn't get all the way TO our backs and drag one of us off to feed her pups. But I figure that the middle of a city has no shortage of easier prey such as loose trash can lids, squirrels and rodents.

Hi, Rick. I think you know a fox as soon as you see one, because they absolutely look just like they do in kids' books: pointy ears, pointy nose, and luxuriant tail. Coyotes don't get much press in kids' books (in this country)---only Wiley Coyote, and I think he got rather short shrift as villains go....Kind of a goofball, wasn't he?

But veeeery funny.

>> Wiley Coyote

Classic underdog!

>> pointy ears, pointy nose, and luxuriant tail.

We mostly saw a flashing shadow, and the part that made the most impact on me was slenderness and long, elegant legs and ankles. I don't recall the silhouette of her (or his) head.

Plus the strong impression of her curiosity or playfullness and thinking "clumsy, stupid humans!"

Our next over neighbor had a wolf in his yard last week. I'm not real comfortable with that...

Whoa, that is scary. I love the idea of having wolves around but not around where I am. LOL

NIMBY says it all, and is not a metaphor in this case!

I've never encountered a wolf or coyote, but I met up with the remnant of an urban dog pack gone wild once, in a park a large metropolitan area. Yelling, and waving my back pack wildly around scared them off. I read later that they had actually attacked a lone jogger the previous week. I think the semi-wild disturbs me more than the genuine wild. But then I don't have a wolf in my backyard).

I once got a 'dog' from our local animal shelter who I am convinced was part wolf or coyote. He was also part husky, very handsome animal but just not quite 'right.' Our first clue was having to literally drag him inside our house. He rarely barked but did howl. Not at all affectionate. If you called his name, he would silently look at you but would rarely come. There was something definitely un-doggy in the way he held himself - we were stopped often by folks asking us, 'What IS that?' The clincher was when he chased my sister's kitty (as many dogs will do) caught up to it and quickly snapped it's back. He just up and disappeared one day, although my sons reporting seeing him in our back woods occasionally. Apparently he answered the call of the wild.

Man, Bonehead, that's pretty scary and creepy. You'd think the shelter people would have noticed something....I was just discussing this coyote thing with a neighbor yesterday. We have so many in West Seattle, and YES, they WERE here before the people came, one presumes. And the cats! But they seem to be proliferating. I thought I read somewhere that there is a way to neuter them in the wild, but maybe that was just a crazy dream, or another sort of animal. My big question was what happens when they start attacking peoples' kids in their own backyards? My neighbors won't even let their dogs out unsupervised in a fenced yard. Another neighbor told me yesterday that she prays daily for my cat. Only in Seattle....

We had lots of coyotes in Union also. It wasn't wise to leave a small pet unsupervised.
I graduated from WS in 1958. Lived on Beach Drive.

This message was edited Feb 9, 2012 6:13 PM

It's been my experience that coyotes are somewhat cyclical. If the coyotes are scarce, the rabbit multiple, then the coyotes multiple in reaction to that until the rabbits are scarce again. Not quite an alternating year thing, but I do notice a connection between the two. I think we are definitely coming into a coyote year - I'm hearing tons of them quite close at night, and so far the only rabbit I've seen is my neighbor's free-range pet. Good luck, black and white bunny.

I've never seen a wild rabbit in this neighborhood. They used to have tons of them near Microsoft, but maybe not so many coyotes. Haven't seen any lately. I guess they don't go for rats (the coyotes), or do they? If they do, they are competing with my kitty. WSHS is a grand-looking school since its $53 million remodel, but my son got into LOTS of trouble there. A motivated kid could take Chinese, though....Another of Mom's unfulfilled dreams!

Wow if I ever get over there again I will have to check that highschool out. It was sort of regal looking.