Coyotes In The Neighborhood

My home is in the city, and urban coyotes are nothing new – but I had a tantalizing glimpse of one during the day recently. Healthy looking and robust, it trotted off at a relaxed pace as I approached.


Coyotes have been wonderful and mysterious to me since childhood. Able to adapt to urban environments, and able to survive in deep wilderness as well. I photographed this individual in a remote area of the Mount Hood National Forest...



coyote (canis latrans) photographed at night


Some claim that a famous native american petrogylph in the Columbia River Gorge called "She Who Watches" is the face of a coyote. I can see the resemblance (and yet no one really knows what animal is depicted), and it is clear from the stories of the tribes in the area, that native americans have great respect for coyote.



tsagaglalal or "she who watches" in the columbia river gorge


I have long wanted to photograph urban coyotes, but a number of challenges have made that difficult. The primary challenge being that I need to leave my equipment in exposed areas, in urban environments (I wonder how long it be before someone "borrowed" it) for a long time. Or I need to find someone who has a regular visits from a coyote to their yard – or better yet a coyote den on their premises. That would be cool.



9 week old coyote pup (canis latrans)



coyote (canis latrans) cruising through an open field in the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, Washington.