Wile E. Coyote

Today I was awakened by coyotes. I didn’t know that’s what it was right away; the noise I heard sounded more like a distressed sheep. There was still a smoky haze from the Butt Canyon fire in the next county, and sounds were muffled and seemed fairly close. As I lay in bed contemplating the logistics of a sheep rescue – their wool can get caught in barbed wire fences – and whose sheep it might be, I heard a few coyote yips and realzed I needed to move fast before the coyotes found it first. Then the “sheep” cries alternated with yips and – oddly – seemed nearer. My dog Manny gave a soft alert growl. Looking out the window I saw a rangy coyote checking out my campsite from the edge of our fire zone (we are camping in an area of the pasture scraped to earth for wildfire safety). As it circled the area, it moved into sight range of my large dog, Bella, who had chosen to spend the night outside on the couch (yes, we have a camp couch). She gave chase just as I let Manny out of the camper and the coyote ran to its buddies on the next hill. Seeing the pack, I called the dogs back and we watched the coyotes from the campsite. Within a few minutes, the “sheep” coyote started its bleating. I watched and listened in amazement. Then the others started yipping like normal coyotes. I wonder if the “sheep” coyote has learned to mimic a worried sheep or lamb to lure actual sheep close to the pack. I also wonder if the fire and smoke pushed them into the valley or if they would have been out there at 5 am anyway. I suspect I’ll be learning a lot about coyotes this summer!

[edit: found a relatively local article on coyotes, including a discussion of their pack structure, etc.]

5 thoughts on “Wile E. Coyote”

  1. So interesting! Also really impressed with Manny and Bella – come when called away from coyotes? Very cool. You are undoubtedly pack leader. 🙂

    1. They amaze me every day with what good dogs they are! They turned 2 years old in May and really seem like adults and not pups (or adolescents) anymore.

  2. Wow. That’s amazing. I had never heard of coyotes imitating sheep or other animals. They are very sneaky and work together in packs or alone. I agree, you will probably learn a lot about a lot of things new to you out there. It’s a different ecology than back east here. By the time I left our farm, the coyotes were quite rare, mostly killed off by hunters and the rest probably left the country. I think a lot of the wild life has come back though because so many of the farms that were there have disappeared. I looked on google maps and so many of our neighbors farms are gone as is ours and some of the ones left seem to be more like factory farms with a lot of buildings on the old farm home place with a lot more space between farms. More like to old west was before I was born. Interesting.

  3. I love coyotes (except when they eat our cats) – we live in coyote country. But, be careful. A pack of coyotes can take down a large dog.

    You sound like you are having so much fun! hard work, but fun!

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