Two days ago I photographed a pair of coyotes up close as they hunted voles along the Antelope Island causeway.
1/2000, f/7.1/ ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon 100-400 @ 310mm, not baited, set up or called in
When they’re on the island itself they usually don’t allow such a close approach but the causeway is narrow and loaded with voles so the coyotes sometimes tolerate the nearby traffic and go about their business. I was close enough that I had to use my zoom lens for this sequence.
These coyotes studiously avoided looking at me though they were keenly aware of my presence. I had to stoop to trickery to get anything that resembled eye contact. Here the coyote had been looking behind it with its head turned backward to my right. In order to get a look at its eyes I deliberately timed a burst of shots as it was in the process of turning its head to look forward again. Though I did catch a glimpse of its eyes it isn’t really looking at me or my pickup.
1/2000, f/7.1/ ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon 100-400 @ 390mm, not baited, set up or called in
This is the other coyote. I recognize this one because of the distinctive Z-shaped scar on top of its snout. I sometimes call this coyote Zorro.
1/3200, f/5.6/ ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon 100-400 @ 300mm, not baited, set up or called in
Coyotes typically hunt voles by smell. They’re very, very good at detecting the smell of vole urine near their burrows, even when covered with snow. Here both coyotes investigate a potential rodent meal under the snow.
1/1600, f/7.1/ ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon 100-400 @ 260mm, not baited, set up or called in
This coyote mostly had its back to me when it snagged a plump vole but occasionally it turned slightly to give me a look at the meal going down.
A large crop of the same image reveals that it almost looks like the vole is standing up on the floor of the coyotes mouth and investigating the path that it is soon to follow down the throat.
Images like this make me appreciate the sacrifice of the vole for the greater good…
Ron
PS – And speaking of “dogs” – this old dog (me) is learning a new trick. Ever since I began learning to type in 1962 I’ve been putting two spaces between sentences but yesterday I learned that it’s proper to have only one. Yep, I can be a slow learner. Hopefully this is a habit I’ll be able to break. Apologies to those of you who have winced painfully as you’ve read my text in the past.
Grin, published author here (10 books in romance under a pen name) and that darned double space STILL gets me. My publisher insists on one. Ptooey!
Great series of photographs of the Coyotes! How interesting they avoided eye contact. Trying to avoid a potential confrontation perhaps?
Now, about this sentence spacing thing. I blame social media. Everyone is in a hurry to say something in the shortest amount of space possible and in so doing they started ignoring basic rules of writing, such as proper sentence spacing. Why, bfr u no it, evry1 wll uz sm knd of shrthnd tht no1 cn undstnd.
Vry gd pnt, Wally!
Another two space fogey here.
And it seems only fair that sometimes the coyote is bitten. There is very little which won’t bite back sometimes.
Fascinating series, and my sweaty self is loving your cool (in every sense of the word) images.
I’ve been reading about your Australian heat and fires, EC. Sounds like a tough summer for you folks.
It is a tough summer. But it is also becoming the rule. People lose their homes, their livelihoods and their lives each year. And many, many more birds and animals do as well.
Ron
I’m a spry young buck of only 47 and I was taught two spaces, too, in high school. I had to make the change, like you.
Cheers,
Ted
Interesting that they were still teaching it that way for so long, Ted.
I learned to type in 1959 and still put two spaces between sentences. Like this! Several years ago I did learn that one should use only one space after a colon, and have been doing that. With small print and old eyes, only one space can make it hard to distinguish between where one sentence ends and the next begins…
That said, I love these photos. It’s nice to see such healthy-looking animals, and to know that they are doing well. It’s especially nice when an animal has characteristic that make it distinguishable from others, so you know when you encounter it again. I’ve been able to do that with some lizards, which has taught me about things like territorial behaviors. It’s also nice just knowing that I’m encountering the same animal regularly.
I agree with you about small print, old eyes and spacing, Susan. Those sentence breaks are easier and quicker to recognize when there’s two spaces.
I learned to type in high school and was taught by a Christian Brother. He said it was illegal to use only one space between sentences. So I commonly use two. I’m 73 and refuse to violate Brother Patrick’s law. BTW, beautiful photos of the coyotes.
“I’m 73 and refuse to violate Brother Patrick’s law.”
Great line, Bill! Loved it.
Hey Bill and Ron – We got a new law, Brother Patrick told me to do it!!!!!!!
These photos should be required viewing for the State legislature when they reconvene. The coyote bounty needs to be repealed! As I have said before, I will bet real money that more deer are killed by cars, traps, barbed wire fences and other human caused means than coyotes. 80-90 percent of a coyote’s diet is composed of small mammals, I have read. Thank you for these great shots.
Our legislators would just ignore it, Tana. As you know, most Utah legislators are blind to any evidence that contradicts their own preconceptions and prejudices. And they have a lot of them…
Ron, enjoyed the li’l doggies and your story today…commenters always make it more interesting…or humorous!
Thanks everybody!
“commenters always make it more interesting…or humorous!”
Absolutely, Susan. Absolutely!
Hi Ron,
Maybe we should start a group called “Two Spaces Anonymous”. “Hi, my name is Dick, and I put two spaces between sentences”. Glad to see that I’m not alone!
Great images of one of my favorite animals (and it’s not the vole…). Thanks!
Cheers,
Dick
“Hi, my name is Dick, and I put two spaces between sentences”
That provided a wide grin, Dick. The humor was very much appreciated as I think I’m going to need all of it I can get today.
But wait, there’s hope! I purposely posted using two spaces to separate sentences, and it appears my iPad software automatically corrected me…
Dick, I suspect it’s not your iPad software. See my comment to Alison, below.
Ron, as a designer I’m constantly removing the extra space from between sentences from text provided to me. It’s indeed a hard lesson to learn, but more power to you for saving future designers this work when your photos are compiled in a coffee table book! 🙂
Great photos as always – I hear the coyotes howling outside several nights a week, and it’s gratifying to see what’s fueling them – when it’s not my landlord’s chickens or my neighbor’s calves.
Loved your “designer’s perspective” on the space rule, Alison. Don’t hold your breath on the coffee table book though…
It’s interesting to note that WordPress automatically removes those extra spaces between sentences when they’re made in a comment but not when I’m writing text.
That just means your getting older! I have the same problem, I get adjusted to one set of rules, and if it works well for me have a hard time adjusting either to change or to compensate. But hey, life is great, and it is always a learning process. As soon as we stop learning and enjoying life we’re ready for the Great Spirit to take over!!
Love your behavioral shots, absolutely taken with them. The shot of the whole vole on the lower jaw of the Coyote is excellent, and your right, it does look like he is ready to run into the dark hole. What is also interesting is that it looks like he is probably going to swallow him whole.
We’re two (old) peas in a pod, Dick…
Yes, the vole was swallowed whole. That’s what they always seem to do. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a coyote tear a vole apart and swallow it in pieces.
It’s interesting to watch them try to kill the vole before the coyote is bitten in the mouth. Sometimes they succeed and sometimes they don’t. When they fail the painful reaction of the coyote can be amusing as long as you’re not the coyote…
LOL That is something we ALL learned in business typing classes i the 60/70’s. I still <<< Do IT!
And as "ALWAYS" enjoy following your post.
Thank you for sharing with us.
CJ, Yes, that’s the way I learned to do it too. I’m just surprised that I’d never really noticed that the rule had changed. I’m such a creature of habit that once I learn something I have a very difficult time adjusting to a new way of doing things.