Introducing Coyote

Sleepy is a portrait of a sleepy coyote looking over his shoulder to see what I’m all about. Obviously, I seem to have slightly disturbed him from his morning siesta. It was a generally hot day so he had already found a nice cool spot in the shade to sleep off his early morning breakfast.

This shot was a real challenge for me. When I saw this magnificent animal he was laying in the shade under a tree behind a chain link fence. Going up to the fence to take the shot was out of the question and the fence was too high for me to prop the camera over it.   So, I had to use the manual focus on my lens and stand at just the right focal distance from him to clearly focus his body and yet not see the fence between us.

The Coyote is a member of the canine family is found all over the United States and Mexico. In Texas, they are a common sight in rural areas and at night you can sometimes hear them howling and yapping. They stay away from people generally, but because of incursion of habitat and urbanization of creek beds and forested areas have caused them to have more contact with humans.

They have also learned that it is easier to hunt for the food people throw away and not try to catch their normal diet of rodents and rabbits. Once they have a taste for scavenging trash bins, it is very difficult to get them to stop.

While they pose no real danger to a human, in fact they usually run away, the real danger comes when a pet owner lets their cute Pomeranian outside at 3 am. Lap dogs, toy breeds, and even some cats are a menu item for coyotes. There is a real chance they may end up eaten if a hungry coyote sees them.

A coyote will not usually attack a larger dog and unless it threatens them. They are even known to attempt mating with them. The result is a coyote mixed breed. It’s relatively rare but it has happened. There are rumors in southern states that wolf and coyote mixes have begun to appear. This has caused a lot of concern for farmers and the well-being of the livestock.

Not this guy though. Our friendly coyote is more concerned about napping than anything else.


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