A Tragedy For A Coyote On Antelope Island

I’ve always thought that nature photographers are some of the luckiest folks on the planet because we get to spend so much time in the natural world that we love and we see some of the most exhilirating sights and wonderous events that nature has to offer.  But occasionally there’s a dark side.  Yesterday was a difficult day in the field for me on Antelope Island.  Be forewarned that the photos are of documentary quality only and that at least one of them may be difficult for some to view.  When we spotted this coyote hunting in the grass for voles it was successful almost immediately and quickly swallowed its lunch.  A few seconds later I noticed that it looked like it had caught another vole because I thought I could see the vole hanging out the left side of it’s mouth – the grasses were thick and it was difficult to tell.     Then we spotted another coyote about a quarter mile behind this one and within a few seconds this animal also caught sight of the second coyote.  When it did so there was an instantantaneous reaction – it put its ears down, its tail between its legs and started running through the grass like a bat out of hell to get away from the second coyote.  I fired off a few shots as it ran but certainly didn’t get anything to be proud of.     It wasn’t until I got home and processed the running shots that I knew something was terribly wrong.  This…

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