For the past week and a half or so, every afternoon between about 14:00 and 14:30 there has been an outbreak of coyote noise in the canyon behind my house. It starts up, goes furiously for about 5 minutes, and then abruptly stops. I’m rehabbing a new knee joint and am not really mobile now, but have hobbled out to the deck with binoculars to see if I could find the coyotes. The first time I heard all the noise I worried that the coyotes had gotten into a fight with someone’s pet dog. But when it kept happening every day at the same time, I decided it must be part of the coyotes’ afternoon routine.
We heard it again today, and both went out to look. While all the yipping was going on I looked for any telltale movement in the bushes—nada. But after they had quieted down, I was looking at a grassy slope where we’ve seen all kinds of animals hanging out. And a coyote wandered out! And she had three pups following her! I took a bunch of pictures, none of which were anything to share. I did also catch about 30 seconds of video:
Mystery solved! Nice to know the next generation of California’s most successful mesocarnivore is growing up. There is a ton of food in these canyons, so there’s a good chance that this trio of pups will all survive.
Such sweet footage.