Quick Coyote Update

I'll spare the fine details and focus just on the basics (it's late and I'm off to bed).

First, let me say that there are at least 4 coyotes, not just 2 that I knew of before, that reside in my park.

I know this know because as I was chasing one coyote and suddenly found 2 together. I had just chased the one about half a mile, alternately running on icy pavement, shin-deep snow, and tripping over buried logs, when I received a call from my wife, who I left with the dog in order to chase the coyote.

_"Hey, you should have just stayed here. I just spotted one coyote in the reeds, and another one just walked by, 20 feet away, and just sat there starring at me for the longest time. You could have gotten some great shots."_

BIG sigh.

Quixotic Coyote

*A quick refresher:* I was seeking a new wildlife challenge, and the coyotes at the park a couple of miles from my house seemed like good candidates. Unfortunately, they turned out to be a little too good. They're smart (wily, if you'd prefer), well camouflaged, and highly adaptable. I haven't noticed any large crates from _ACME_, but so far, they haven't needed any.

I haven't posted many pictures from this challenge lately because there haven't _been_ any pictures. The coyotes have adapted too well to my efforts. I figure out their routes & routines around the marsh, and they leave the marsh for the open fields. I track them to the open fields, and they're on the ice on the lake. I hide in the reeds at the shore of the lake waiting for them on the ice, and they're goodness knows where. I don't. I'm ethically opposed to feeding wildlife (and agree that a fed wild animal is a dead wild animal), and it's illegal. I'm almost to the point of considering a predator call.

Yesterday I caught a coyote on the frozen lake, but it was too dark to get a decent shot, and I never saw the coyote again that morning. I _did_ run into a coyote again yesterday afternoon while walking the dog along a game trail in the remote back part of the park - the dog and I were heading north and the coyote was heading south on parallel trails only about 7-8 meters apart. We all stopped for a brief moment and looked at the other, then the coyote trotted on his way. The dog and I waited a few minutes and then tracked the coyote at a discreet distance for about 20 minutes. Of course, having a camera with me would have made things far too easy . . .

This morning I was out well before sunrise, again hiding in the reeds waiting for the coyote to go out on the frozen lake. He was a no-show. the sun was just up, so i decided to try the open field. I spotted him briefly and tracked him to the wildlife area. I kept spotting him and positioned myself where I anticipated he'd emerge from the brush without success. I was about to call it a morning but decided instead of heading back to the closest exit I'd take one last loop around the lake. Just as I was in an open spot the coyote made a dash across the frozen pond. Fortunately I still had the camera/tripod set up and was able to quickly fire off several frames before he disappeared into the reeds.

Coyote (Canis latrans)
Crown Hill Park
Lakewood, CO
Sony Alpha700
Sigma 300 f/2.8+1.4TC
Giottos tripod, Acratech ballhead, Wimberley Sidekick

ISO400, 1.640sec, f/2.8