Wednesday, May 29th, 2024

The other day when I was riding my E-bike, a number of miles from my cabin; I rode across the bridge of this tannin-rich river, that pummels ancient basalt boulders as if in a nine round boxing event. While perhaps less impressive than larger trout streams in the west, it is nevertheless a thing of beauty, impressive all on its own.
I stopped on the bridge, and dropped the kick-stand, aware that traffic of any sort is not frequent along this stretch of country road.
On one of the concrete abutments was some scat (poop, for those unfamiliar with the word). I have always found it fascinating what scat can tell us about the animal that left its deposit behind. You will notice from the photo that one of the feces is dark brown, almost black, and the other, nearly identical in ssize and shape is grey, almost bleached looking. I don't pretend to be an expert on "scat", but I will try to pass along what I know. First off, it is clear that one of these samples (the dark one) is probably fresh either today or yesterday. The bleached out one is much older, how old? Hard to say. After close examination, some field biologists break them apart with their hands to see what they can. (Trust me, my hands are clean now!) Both samples contained much hair and small bones. The feces were approximately 1'' in diameter and did not crumble easily, which probably suggests they are not dog feces, but a carnivore of some sort. The 1'' diameter would be in keeping with a coyote or a fox, though, as a fox feces are smaller, usually 3'' or so, and pointed on the ends. You will notice that the photos show this particular sample is about 5'' long. So a quick guess would suggest a coyote rather than a fox.

On this bridge there are four abutments, one on each corner. Interestingly, only one abutment had scat, maybe a half-dozen or so. This might indicate that not only was this abutment a convenient place to poop but probably a marking of this animal's territory as well.
So, what else makes coyotes interesting, well, for one thing they are monogamous. I suspect their divorce rate is low, I wish I could say the same for myself. Oh well.
Coyotes will bring home their dinner and regurgitate for their pups, something that other mammals will rarely, if ever, do.
Coyotes, on occasion, will mate with dogs, the result is called coydogs. It is noteworthy that coydogs will NOT regurgitate food for pups, and so the passing on of coydogs genes is less likely, and by Darwin's natural selection, they are generally a Darwinian dead-end.
Coyotes are very adaptable and have managed to become part of both rural and urban settings. If you run into a coyote, bear in mind they are wild animals and attacks do, and have, occurred.
A study of coyotes in the Upper Peninsula revealed that coyotes killed more deer, particularly fawns, than wolves, bears, and bobcats. Recently the hunting season for coyotes was shortened. This ruling was not without some controversy.
Synchronicity exists, whether we like it or not, as yesterday I spied four coyotes pups as I rode down on a backroad. They were jumping and playing, like small pups do. I never forget that Mother Nature, is called mother for a reason.
Thanks for reading,
Hilton