« How to do abortion at home! Fun! Profit! Entertainment! All yours in ten easy lessons from a feminist! | Main | Your turn for some musing »
March 18, 2006
Coyotes!
No, I'm not talking about scum illegal alien smugglers, I'm talking the real deal, Animal Planet/Discovery Channel type furry creatures.
Rained pretty hard last night and after an exhausting week for the two of us, we had a nice dinner and went to bed early. No alarm but woke up at around six. Hubby is looking out our window "Honey! There's coyotes!" I grabbed my cheapy little digital camera and shot blindly out the rainspeckled window and caught one of the three that were moving, single file, in that easy, quick manner of traveling canines.
Behind our house runs an old railroad right-of-way (no tracks any more) travels north east up to the foothills and southwest down to the valley. It both follows and passes over several natural and cement lined creekbeds that flow down from the mountains. It is a nice flat corridor for bikers, joggers, pet walkers, kids of all ages with ATVs, tricked-out pickups driven by the small-penis variety of male and wildlife. I get all sorts of mountain birds at my bird feeder and roosting in the eucalyptus trees that line the railroad path, from jays to red-tailed hawks to owls. I love the brightly-colored western tanagers as they seasonally migrate to and from the mountains.
We've spotted coyotes from time to time in the larger, natural creekbeds of the area, usually at dawn or dusk. In the winter, when these bold creatures, unafraid of humans, come down from the mountains to forage or hunt pet dog or cat, we can be sitting on the back patio and hear their distinctive yelping.
Along with skunks, possums and raccoons, coyotes have integrated themselves into the suburbia that bumps up against their undeveloped ranges.
I would never consider them anything but wild. I've always made sure my cats have been indoor pets. Anthropomorphizing wildlife is not only disrespectful of nature, but can be deadly.
But I loved watching the bushy-tailed creatures trot by! Neat way to start the day.
Posted by Darleen at March 18, 2006 06:21 AM
Comments
Seen a few myself. Plus all the other wildlife LA is heir to.
Posted by: Carl W. Goss at March 18, 2006 09:27 AM
Our friend's dog was a coyote's dinner one Thanksgiving. It was brutal. Respect respect respect.
Posted by: Mieke at March 18, 2006 10:28 PM
It's nothing compared to the dreaded, wild transvestites known to prowl in the night. They trot too.
Posted by: Digger at March 21, 2006 07:54 AM