"FAMILY TIES" - Coyote

February 16, 2025 • Leave a Comment

"FAMILY TIES"

Coyote - 11 Photos

Have been photographing these two young coyotes for almost two months now.

Have seen them separately & together on many occasions. You can't miss that leggy, lanky look of youth and the female is particularly small, probably the youngest of her sibling(s).

Their behaviour also speaks of youth. Still extremely wary of people, but more willing to push the envelope a little more than adults by getting caught up in a hunt or search for food and ignoring distractions.

The adult coyotes I have seen are more likely to be out between sunset and sunrise or are in the midst of courtship during the early part of the year. There have also been a few occasions where adults have been spotted with their offspring either out hunting larger prey (a good training experience for the younger coyotes) or taking advantage of the remains of a carcass, left by a larger predator.

The small female I've named "Scarf" because of her large neck ruff (Photo #1). Although the smaller of the two, she appears to be more of the leader when the two are together, foraging on and encouraging her companion to keep up. And she definitely is much more cautious, most likely as she is aware of her size.

Her companion, is probably male due to his large size & strong independence, willing to venture out boldly with a strong attitude. I've named him "Dash", because of his dashingly good looks (Photo #2).

This particular morning the two were out together, hunting for food. Dash eventually headed up the hill, where he decided to have a dog nap. Scarf eventually followed and having briefly scouted the surrounding area, returned to where her brother was resting and provided opportunities to document, what I believe, to be some very intimate & touching moments between two coyote siblings. The coyote standing is Scarf (Photo #3 through to Photo #9).

And then Scarf headed to the top of the hill (Photo #10), looked back to see if Dash was coming & continued over and out of sight. Dash waited (I think expecting his sister to return) and when that didn't happen, slowly roused himself (Photo #11) and followed his sister to the other side of the ridge.

PHOTO #1 - SCARF