Night Visitor

We've had a young coyote visiting us the last few nights.  Last night he paused long enough in front of the camera to smile.  

These pictures are from the night before when he stopped long enough to get a drink.  

   About an hour before he showed up one of the rabbits had been right where he's walking. They stay under the big bush to the right a lot of the time.

    On my walk Friday morning I saw a young coyote on the golf course near us. Probably the same one. He looked like he was limping. They have access to plenty of water here, but the rabbit population seems low to me here at our house.  However, on the walking trail I've seen a lot of young ones. I'm sure the coyote is finding enough to eat as long as he stays healthy enough to catch them.

     

     It's always nice to have visitors, even if only for a minute.

     

Early Morning at the Water Feature

Early Morning at the Water Feature

    It was a busy morning for a coyote, a few doves, and the Quail family.

The pictures were captured on my Trophy Cam from about 5:18 a.m. until 7:45 a.m. this morning.  

Coyote on the Cam

It finally happened!   I "captured" a picture of a coyote visiting our water feature on the new Trophy Cam that I set up.  

The coyote only stayed a few seconds.   He enters the picture on the right side and exits from the top left.   Here are the 6 pix:

I hope these are only the first of a lot of pictures of our backyard wildlife.

Happy 2012!

Happy 2012!!!

          

      In my family we had a tradition of eating pork and sauerkraut on New Year's Day.  I'm not sure why, and I hated it as a kid.   It's okay now but I don't keep that tradition.

      Instead, I do on New Year's Day the things I hope to do all year.  It's more fun than making a resolution to lose weight, and I have a much better chance of succeeding.  So I've been writing, making cards, walking, viewing wildlife and partying.    All of these activities are too much for one day so I've expanded New Year's Day into New Year's Weekend.   It worked out great this year.

       I saw a nice sized coyote when I went to the mailbox on Saturday to mail out the last of the year-end charitable contributions.   He was walking between our house and the neighbors.   We both stopped.  I wished him a Happy New Year, and he returned to the back yard.  

       From inside the house, Kent and I watched him sniff under bushes and hunt around the mounds of cacti.   He managed to scare up a few quail, but he didn't find any rabbits.   But that didn't discourage him.  He was having such a good time he was wagging his tail!!!   Neither of us remembered seeing a coyote wag its tail before.   It was fun to see him so happy.   

       Our friends came over later to celebrate Christmas & New Years.  We had left for Ohio before having a chance to celebrate Christmas.   The day was so nice, sunny and in the 70's, that Kent grilled steaks for us.   Much better than sauerkraut! 

       Today I've been writing and making cards.   The New Year is getting off to a great start.  

       So if New Year's resolutions depress you more than inspire, think about changing your tradition.   Do at least one thing you hope to do all year.    You may not lose weight, but you'll be happy.   

   



3 Coyote Day

This coyote was behind our water feature a few years ago.

I always start off my weekend with an early morning walk with my friend Chris.  We are both early risers, which helps in the Arizona heat.   Our usual route is to go down a couple of  blocks and walk parallel to the golf course, cross the street and go down a long block to the walking trail.  Then we follow the trail to Mountain View, one of the main streets in Sun City Grand, until we reach a street that goes close to mine, turn and walk back to my house.   The entire route takes us about 45 minutes.

Today we had a special treat--Coyotes!!!   I love the little guys.   Chris spotted them first as they walked in the wash that runs next to the trail.   As soon as one of them spotted us, it ducked under a bush.   The other one ignored us and walked down through the middle of the wash like we weren´t there.   I concentrated so much on him that I lost sight of the other one.   By the time I tried to find him, it was too late.  He was hiding in plain sight among the bushes.

Later that night Kent and I went for a walk along the same trail.  We always wait for the heat of the day to leave, at least as much as it is going to do.  We take off around 7:30ish, while it is still light but fading fast.   By the time we reach the middle of the walking trail it is dark.  

We were at that mid-point mark on the trail when Kent heard a noise behind us.  He turned to see a coyote cross the trail behind us and lay down in the shadows of a bush.   It was too dark to make out where he was exactly, but we knew he had not jumped the little wall that divides the trail from the houses.   We stopped and waited for a few mintues but he never moved from his shadow spot.    He was near the place where I had seen two coyotes earlier in the morning, and I wondered if he was one of them that had hung around all day.   Feasting, I´m sure, on a bunny or two.

The morning coyotes were in great shape.   They were the first ones I have seen here for a while.   I have been hearing them at night, but not seeing any.   So it was great to have a 3 coyote day.

What a great way to start the weekend.