Readers who have sent in photos: do not worry—the good ones will be posted. But when I’m on the road, it’s easier for me to post pictures that have just arrived than dig back to find email descriptions. Today, then, you’ll see photos that have just arrived—including d*gs!. These are from two of our regulars. First, one picture from Diana MacPherson, who always appends winsome anthropomorphic descriptions of her animals.
Here is a very dinosaur-y looking female Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinals). I like how the bits of red look like makeup over her eye and in her feathers on her head. She hangs around with a nervous male (nervous because the poor thing is bright red).
And Stephen Barnard is back in Idaho from his Pacific fishing jaunt. He sends these:
The following two photos are of a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias). I spook this bird every morning when I take Deets [the border collie] for his morning walk.
Common Raven (Corvus corax) harassing a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). Either Desi or Lucy — can’t tell which one. [Desi and Lucy are the pair that nests there every year.]
This coyote (Canis latrans) was very bold, hanging out just across the creek. Deets was going nuts.
Use any or all (or none) as you see fit. They’re all pretty decent if you’re into c*y*tes. Excellent morning light. [JAC: to satisfy the d*g lovers, I’ll show them all. This is a noble beast. . . ]
\
I caption the first photo, “Something’s in the air”.
In this photo the coyote is actually trying to entice Deets to come play with him (or her). Crazy shit.
As a lagniappe, when I was taking Deets out for his walk this morning I decided to wait a while.
Chris Schadler – Project Coyote
http://www.projectcoyote.org/wordpress/about/chris-schadler/
CHRIS SCHADLER, MS, MA. NEW HAMPSHIRE & VERMONT REPRESENTATIVE & WILD CANID ECOLOGIST. Chris’ interest in wild canids began in 1980 as ..
These are just gorgeous and exciting photos
to wake up to here on the west coast.
I’ve never seen such a healthy coyote…and to see how he moves and sniffs in these photos is so exciting for me.
I love the cardinal photo also. She looks a bit like she was painted by an impressionist painter.
all great photos-
Wonderful stuff, all.
Stephen, wonderful coyote shots! As you noted, very bold (and healthy looking!). Were there a few snow flakes falling (specular highlights as bokeh discs)?
Or maybe specs of frost on your front element?
Those are specular reflections from the snow.
Thanks.
Great heron takeoff photo! Stephen, do you think the coyote could have convinced Deets to play instead of attack?
I doubt it. Diets doesn’t like coyotes. There’s a creek that Deets won’t cross between the coyote and us.
Deets
This matches my experience with dogs/coyotes: Mortal enemies (literally).
Great coyote pics (along with all the others). Picking up the stick and playing with it must’ve sent Deets over the edge; that’s just unfair to the poor d*g. 🙂
What a lovely coyote. There was one in the field behind my gate. He appeared over the hill and angered my dog who barked in a way that I can only interpret as dog swearing. He ran into the field next door, intrigued by something in that direction (I suspect more coyotes) while my dog ran up to the fence barking angrily.
Coyotes are so dog-like in appearance, I wonder if one day I will mistake one for a dog.
Dogs and coyotes produce fertile offspring, but that’s not going to happen here.
We can all recognize how our dogs bark differently when it is barking at a strange dog or barking at a passing human. Once our dog was barking furiously and strangely at something, and so I looked out to see a coyote trotting across our neighbors lawn. So Percy (our dog) definitely did not think of this canid as just another dog.
Yes, killing small dogs and all cats is something Coyotes do. I’m guessing it’s just instinct but they will do it in a heart beat.
Big dogs, too, if a group of coyotes can lure one away from home.
Not quite the same thing but IIRC cats have a whole bunch of vocalizations they use only when communicating with humans, vocalizations they don’t use when communicating with other cats. They are bilingual, IOW. 🙂
“I wonder if one day I will mistake one for a dog.”
I had a small one follow me on a night-time walk many years ago. I was on the gravel country road, it was slinking through the weeds next to the road. I was sure it was a d*g, was talking to it congenially–until I turned on my flashlight. Oh, hai!
My impression when I thought it was a dog was that it was just curious; knowing it was a coyote didn’t change that impression, though s/he didn’t like the flashlight and soon took off.
Back when people let their dogs roam, you’d see your dog all dirty and worn out after a night with the coyotes.
That’s scary for many reasons.
Kind of surprising that you have the open water there in Idaho to keep herons there during winter. Down here we have them all summer but they take off in the fall. Maybe they go to Idaho?
One thing that tells we are having a very warm winter here is the open water in Feb. But also the moles continue to dig in the yard and I have never seen that before in winter.
I think most of the herons migrate, but some stay around all winter. There’s quite a bit of open water and plentiful trout in these spring creeks.
Stephen, I’m curious: did you name your dog ‘Deets’ after the character from Larry McMurty’s “Lonesome Dove”?
Yes
Why no picture of Deets?
Excellent pictures even by Stephen’s usual high standards.
Just makes you want a pet coyote doesn’t it?
Thank you, Stephen, for the photos of the great blue herons.
Another great set of photos, particularly like the Coyote!
I have dutifully considered Diana’s hypothesis regarding the male cardinal. To be scientifically well defined, hypotheses must be testable. The suggestion that the male is nervous and nervous because of being red, is plausible. But there are alternative interpretations. To test the theory, one approach would be to obtain suitable clothing (doll cloths has been suggested) to disguise the male. Something in a charcoal wool plaid perhaps. Then observe, quantitatively, the number of shakes and lurches, a good proxy for nerves in males of most species.
Then he’d be humiliated and look completely different – perhaps never coming out of the woods. His “wife” would probably leave him too.
There’s a Youtube video “Coyote trying to eat my dog” that shows coyotes apparently luring the photographer’s dog away from her while she’s trail riding. It’s a smart dog (looks like a border collie!) and doesn’t chase them far before coming back.
I just watched that. Thanks for the link. The woman has two Border Collies and she has exceptional control of her dogs, especially while mounted on a horse. Her voice was always calm, controlled, and confident, and the dogs were hypersensitive to her voice. Deets would behave pretty much the same way, but maybe more aggressively. He doesn’t like coyotes.
My dog is really big, so most coyotes avoid her. When there is more than one they can get cockier but they are afraid of humans, at least here, so a human and a dog together is something they want to avoid.
If my dog gets in a scrap with a coyote, I’d join in swinging whatever I could grab. I figure we’d both get not and I’d end up getting rabies shots.
I think Prof CC can be absolved of the charge of posting d*gs on this site. From the comments here, both coyotes and d*gs seem to be very definite that coyotes are NOT d*gs.
Also, that coyote looks quite foxy to me, and I seem to recall foxes are honorary cats here?
cr
Coyotes (Canis latrans) are classified as a different species than dogs (Canis lupus), yet they produce fertile hybrids that can breed through for generations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coydog
So are coyotes dogs, or aren’t they? PCC?
Maybe it comes down to something like the definition of pornography: I know it when I see it.
D*gs, coyotes, & wolves can all interbreed and last I heard the taxonomy was a subject of disagreement. (What it should be; I’m sure there’s an official judgment on what they are now.)
Some eastern coyotes have been found to be coy-wolves. And in North Carolina there’s debate over whether their remnant Red Wolf population deserves that designation given all the interbreeding with d*gs.
All of which I’m sure you’re aware of, Stephen!
Oh, and BTW–great pics! What a fabulous coyote opportunity!
I think you’ve mentioned this before, but does Deets leave the moose alone?
He’s carefully adventurous with the moose.
Love your phrasing! 😀