Wildlife, Chapter 2,593

[nightdog_barks]

So lately on our night walks, Layla and I have just been seeing small critters -- geckos, waterbugs, an ivory-marked longhorn beetle (a cute little guy), various toads, emerald-green cicadas ... she was also very interested in a blue jay feather the other night. Well, last night was the jackpot. We saw a COYOTE.



Where we live is one of those "planned communities," the kind where they don't put in sidewalks but they do put in jogging trails. So Layla and I are walking down our street, and we stop no more than 15 or 20 feet from the trail so Layla can sniff some grass, when out of the darkness on our left, up by the trail, comes a coyote. I don't know if it didn't realize we were there or thought we were further away or plain didn't care, but it crossed the street in front of us.

It wasn't running, but it wasn't sauntering along, either. Like I said, maybe it didn't realize we were there before it started out?

But he (or she!) was beautiful -- obviously healthy, with a full coat of golden, grey-tipped fur and a furry tail. There's a deep culvert/landscaped drainage ditch on the right side of the street, behind the houses, and that's where it was heading. And that's where it disappeared, and we didn't follow it.

Layla didn't do ANYTHING. She just stood there and watched -- didn't bark, didn't growl, didn't anything. I think ... maybe she thought it was another dog? Because sometimes she doesn't react to strange dogs either.

I was just really happy to see it. :D

Edited to add that the coyote we saw looked a lot like this one.



ANYWAY. It's warm and humid, ugh. Maybe we'll see something else good tonight. :D

Comments

[silverjackal]

I can promise you the coyote knew you were here and didn't care. Layla's silence was the prudent response -- she didn't want to provoke any sort of reaction out of the strange canid. Dogs and coyotes tend not to get along and mutual wariness is ingrained for a good reason.

I am happy that you had such a marvelous experience. I *like* coyotes for all they're considered pests here. Ours are never as close-haired as the one in your example, however, not even in the heat of summer. :D

[nightdog_barks]

I had seen coyotes around here before, but not in a long time and certainly never so close. Our neighborhood newsletter periodically runs small articles that read along the lines of "Yes, we know there are coyotes here. Leave them alone and they'll leave you alone, and please don't feed them. Or try to pet them. PLEASE DON'T TRY TO PET THEM."

:D

I was mainly just shocked to see one up close. I think now that s/he was watching us s/he crossed the road, kind of side-eying us, and I think if I had waved my arms and shouted, it would have run. I wasn't frightened by it -- it was almost a feeling of -- for lack of a better word -- enchantment. :-)

And then the very next night -- last night -- I saw a screech owl, sitting on a tree branch. ♥

[silverjackal]

You will get no argument from me re: the enchantment. It never gets old for me, no matter what species I encounter. I am also delighted second-hand by your screech owls. :)

[nightdog_barks]

JACKAL I ADORE THE SCREECH OWLS I WANT ONE FOR A PET I COULD CARRY IT IN MY POCKET EVERYWHERE

:D

But. Yes. Enchantment, or, at the risk of sounding really New Age-y, a sense of what I might call the Great Divine. That feeling you get when you see elk crossing a road in the falling snow, or a tiny vole looking back at you from the undergrowth, or two magpies walking with a coyote, OR a coyote on your very own street. Not to mention forested mountains in the fall, the golden leaves forming a perfect herringbone pattern, or a storm sweeping in from the plains, or a leafstorm of aspen leaves.

Yeah, all that stuff. :D

[silverjackal]

It is very much the Leitmotif of my life -- in the most literal sense of "guiding movement". The goal of my education, pursuit of career, what led me here, etc. etc. You will get to sneering about the New Age-yness from me, or from any of my colleagues or people in similar fields. Or from those who are passionate about the outdoors. Or any of the followers of the Nature-based religions, of which I count myself one.

It's almost impossible to express to someone who does not have the spark of fellow feeling, but for those of us who do we understand. (And actually I think that encompasses a great deal of humanity, whether they realise it or not.)