When you’re out in the field you just never know what you might see. Or hear.
On an early morning this week I found this Male Northern Harrier on a trail sign. Since the perch was not a natural one I set up to try to get a take-off shot if he should lift off.
1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc
As usual I was shooting from my pickup and in order to get in position for good light I had to park in the middle of the lightly used road. In such cases I always roll down the window on the passenger side so that I can hear any vehicle that might approach so I can get out of their way (it’s very easy to not see an approaching vehicle while concentrating on a bird through the camera’s viewfinder). Having that window down made a big difference to how I reacted to what happened next.
1/1600, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc
Suddenly there was a piercing howl that was so loud it sounded like it was coming from inside my truck! Seriously, I almost jumped out of my skin it startled me so much. It was this coyote, hidden in the grasses. It was only about 75′ away from me and with three of the four windows down the clamor was tremendous. Coyotes often howl as loudly as 105 decibels and believe me that’s a very impressive din at this close range – especially when it’s unexpected.
At first I could only see the front of the coyote through all the grasses, rabbitbrush and dried sunflowers.
1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc
So I quickly maneuvered my pickup to try to get a less obstructed view – fully expecting the coyote to high-tail it but it just stood there with its front feet planted on a mound of snow and continued to howl enthusiastically. And did I say it was loud?
1/800, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc
The coyote’s eyes were always closed during a howl but at least in this shot it turned a bit to put some light on the face.
1/1000, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc
By this time we’d spotted another coyote very close by and in this shot the animal turned to look at its companion which finally gave me both light on the face and open eyes. In this image the coyote looks rather handsome and noble…
1/640, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc
but I couldn’t resist including this shot taken just as it came out of a howl which made it look silly, even demented. It made me smile.
I’ve often seen and heard coyotes yipping and howling but it’s always been from great distances. This was a new experience for me and one I’ll not soon forget even though I never did get any completely unobstructed photos.
Ron
Great pictures! I especially like the last one with the “how long have you been there and what are you looking at????” expression.
I must admit I spent most of my working day going through your pictures and blog rather than work! Oh well I will just have to work harder tomorrow.
Thanks for sharing your wonderful pictures and your passion for it.
Thank you Kathleen. Sure glad you’re enjoying the blog and hope spending some time here made your work day go a little faster.
Wonderful series on the coyote, I have seen them howling many times but have yet to get a picture, way to go.
What amazing creatures! What luck to be in their midst!
What a great wildlife story, not just told by your words but also by your wonderful images.
Great story and beautiful images!
Oh wow! To seeing (and hearing) both the coyote and the harrier so close to each other, and that they stayed for their photographs. The coyote’s teeth look fairly impressive in that last shot – another blogger I read lost a pet dog to a pack of them a few months ago, and seeing your pictures made me understand a little better. As always, thank you.
Justin, yes, primal is the perfect word for the reaction I had, just for an instant. I can only imagine my reaction if it had been dark and I had been sleeping in a tent. Makes what little hair I still have on my head stand up just thinking about that scenario…
Good question Laurence and the answer is no. Evem though the harrier was essentially as close to the coyote as I was he (the harrier) was completely unconcerned about the coyote, even though he was on a low perch. Actually the photo of the harrier was taken a couple of minutes after the coyote had left. I had taken other images of the harrier before the coyote started all the ruckus but there was frost on the sign in those images which I thought made the earlier harrier images less interesting (you couldn’t read the sign very well because of the frost). It only took those few minutes for the sun to melt the frost – you can see the water flowing down the sign in the photo.
Good lesson for me. I should have been more forthright about the harrier image or used one of the earlier photos of the bird. Thank you.
That ‘sounds’ like fun. Did the howl cause the Harrier to lift off?
It’s amazing how primal that reaction is in humans to an animal howl like that. I was camping in Joshua Tree once, when a coyote howled just outside my tent. I went from sound asleep to sitting upright with my heart racing at about 180 bpm before I knew what was happening. It was all instinctive. I never got back to sleep that night.
Love the blog.