{"id":6559,"date":"2012-07-14T15:41:58","date_gmt":"2012-07-14T21:41:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=6559"},"modified":"2012-09-02T12:53:34","modified_gmt":"2012-09-02T18:53:34","slug":"antelope-island-a-smorgasbord-for-coyotes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/14\/antelope-island-a-smorgasbord-for-coyotes\/","title":{"rendered":"Antelope Island – A Smorgasbord For Coyotes"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lot of folks don’t like coyotes but I’m in a different camp.\u00a0 I have great admiration for their adaptability, hunting skills, intelligence\u00a0and communication abilities.\u00a0 Over the past few years I’ve had many opportunities to observe their behaviors on Antelope Island which has made me an even bigger fan\u00a0of this amazing canid.\u00a0 To watch a coyote hunt is a fascinating experience.<\/p>\n

This post is meant\u00a0as a documentation of the opportunistic feeding tendencies of the species rather than as a showcase for\u00a0technically perfect photos.\u00a0\u00a0 Getting clear shots of any mammal on the ground (as opposed to perched or flying birds) is a rarity because of all\u00a0of the grasses, sunflowers, sagebrush, rabbitbrush and moth mullein the photographer has to shoot through on the island.\u00a0 \u00a0So there’s lots of “stuff” in front of the coyote in some of these shots and a couple of them are sizeable crops but I think their prey tendencies are documented reasonably well by the images.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"coyote<\/p>\n

\u00a01\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Coyotes eat a lot of voles – prodigious numbers of them in fact.\u00a0 I’ve seen a single animal catch and consume 4-5 voles in the same area within just a few minutes and I’ve seen it several times.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"coyote\u00a01\/1000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n

But they’ll also take birds when they can catch them.\u00a0 This coyote was returning from the lake shoreline with an unusual prize –\u00a0some kind of waterfowl.\u00a0 From the position of the leg attachment at the back\u00a0of the body I’d guess it to be one of the grebe species.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"coyote<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a01\/500, f\/7.1, ISO 400, 100-400 @ 320mm<\/em><\/p>\n

Here a coyote has scavenged what’s left of a duck carcass along the causeway to the island.\u00a0 I suspect the duck was originally\u00a0killed by either a Peregrine or Prairie Falcon as we would often see them during winter feeding on their waterfowl prey along the causeway.\u00a0\u00a0 They would eat their fill and abandon the rest.\u00a0 Several coyotes seem to have learned that it’s worth it to brave all the close vehicular traffic\u00a0along the causeway for the chance at some of these leftovers.\u00a0 The background in this image is ice that has been blown up onto the shore by the cold north wind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"coyote<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a01\/1600, f\/8, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n

Here a young coyote came oh so close to catching a first year Chukar as it flushed.\u00a0 We watched the coyote stalking a group of these young birds thinking all along that it had no chance to catch any of them.\u00a0 It very nearly succeeded but all it actually got was a single feather that came floating down in the next frame.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"coyote<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a01\/1250, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0This young coyote is enjoying\u00a0a magpie breakfast among the sunflowers.\u00a0 This one surprised me as I would expect the cagey magpie to be difficult prey for a coyote.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"coyote<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a01\/2000, f\/8, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n

This coyote is feeding on a winter-killed Pronghorn.\u00a0 I’ve never witnessed a coyote actually hunting or stalking any of the larger mammals on the island (mule deer, pronghorn or bison).\u00a0 In fact, the only actual aggression I’ve seen between coyotes and larger mammals out there was when a\u00a0gutsy pronghorn chased a couple of adult coyotes all over the north end of the island.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I’ve documented\u00a0that experience here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"coyote<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a01\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n

But the staple for coyotes on the island is, without question, voles.\u00a0 Voles, voles and more voles for dessert.\u00a0 I’d estimate that 95\u00a0to 98% of the time when I’ve seen them with prey it’s been a vole.\u00a0 One thing\u00a0has surprised me\u00a0– despite the fact that the island is\u00a0literally jumping with both jackrabbits\u00a0and cottontails I’ve never witnessed a coyote eating or even hunting one.\u00a0 Perplexing…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"coyote<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a01\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Like most canids, coyotes nearly always lick their chops after eating.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"coyote<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a01\/1600, f\/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes, I’m a great admirer of the coyote – one of the\u00a0major success stories\u00a0of evolution.<\/p>\n

In March of this year Governor Gary Hebert signed into law the\u00a0euphemistically named “Mule Deer Protection Act” which more than doubles the bounty for killing a coyote in Utah – from the previous $20 per pair of coyote ears brought in, to $50.\u00a0 The stated goal is to kill 20,000 of them in the state.\u00a0 They can be\u00a0killed all year-long, there is no quota on how many can be\u00a0killed\u00a0nor are there\u00a0regulations regarding how they can be\u00a0killed.<\/p>\n

This law was passed despite the facts that even wildlife officials are skeptical of the advisability and effectiveness of the law, trapping and poisoning are inhumane and inherently dangerous and the\u00a0negative ecological impacts of removing such an important predator from natural systems are obvious.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Funding a\u00a0$7.5 million program over 10 years on a wasteful and ineffective coyote-killing program\u00a0at the same time that our state parks are bleeding to death with\u00a0never ending budget cuts makes my blood boil.<\/p>\n

Once again I am embarrassed and disgusted by the ignorance and short-sightedness of Utah’s legislature.\u00a0 I had hopes that Governor Hebert would have the wisdom, foresight and political pluck to veto the bill.\u00a0 Silly me…<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lot of folks don’t like coyotes but I’m in a different camp.\u00a0 I have great admiration for their adaptability, hunting skills, intelligence\u00a0and communication abilities.\u00a0 Over the past few years I’ve had many opportunities to observe their behaviors on Antelope Island which has made me an even bigger fan\u00a0of this amazing canid.\u00a0 To watch a coyote hunt is a fascinating experience. This post is meant\u00a0as a documentation of the opportunistic feeding tendencies of the species rather than as a showcase for\u00a0technically perfect photos.\u00a0\u00a0 Getting clear shots of any mammal on the ground (as opposed to perched or flying birds) is a rarity because of all\u00a0of the grasses, sunflowers, sagebrush, rabbitbrush and moth mullein the photographer has to shoot through on the island.\u00a0 \u00a0So there’s lots of “stuff” in front of the coyote in some of these shots and a couple of them are sizeable crops but I think their prey tendencies are documented reasonably well by the images.   \u00a01\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc \u00a0Coyotes eat a lot of voles – prodigious numbers of them in fact.\u00a0 I’ve seen a single animal catch and consume 4-5 voles in the same area within just a few minutes and I’ve seen it several times.     \u00a01\/1000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc But they’ll also take birds when they can catch them.\u00a0 This coyote was returning from the lake shoreline with an unusual prize –\u00a0some kind of waterfowl.\u00a0 From the position of the leg attachment at the back\u00a0of the body I’d guess…<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/span><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,334,374],"tags":[31,772,774,401,98,770,606,771,256,773],"class_list":["post-6559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-antelope-island","category-birds","category-coyotes","tag-antelope-island-2","tag-bounty","tag-budget-cuts","tag-canis-latrans","tag-coyote","tag-governor-gary-hebert","tag-hunt","tag-mule-deer-protection-act","tag-prey","tag-utah-state-parks"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1zzJh-1HN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6559\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}