Yellowstone's Coyotes

As you make the rounds on the roads of Yellowstone, coyotes are frequently seen as they work their way through the sage and grass covered meadows.  Our best encounter this year was just west of Canyon Village mid-afternoon.

We first saw him when he was south of the road working his way through the tall grass looking for mice.  He crossed the road and we managed to move ahead of the path I thought he would take.  It is MUCH easier to photograph an animal as it is working its way toward you naturally.  They often will get closer to you than you could ever get if you try to chase it. A parked car makes an excellent blind that coyotes will often ignore in their search for food.

While I did miss a few shots because I was trying for a good head shot when it pounced and caught the mouse, I was still pleased to get some good shots as he was mousing.

It was really special to be able to watch and photograph the actual capture of the mouse so near to the car.  Amazingly enough, the coyote swallowed the mouse pretty much whole, very little chewing!

I know that outside the park, coyotes are a costly nuisance to farmers and even dangerous for pets in the city.  But . . . one of the wonderful things about Yellowstone, it is possible to see wild animals in their home territory doing what they've done for thousands of years.  In Yellowstone I LOVE to see the coyotes go about their business!

Yellowstone's Coyote Babies

We discovered (with many other people) the coyote babies early during our visit to the park. While the coyote puppies in Rocky Mountain were a long distance away, the babies near the Gibbon River were very near the road. So needless to say, I was excited.

The first day we saw them, the park service had not put up the cones and signs, so the line of people was on the same side of the road as the den. I pulled out the big lens and tripod started out on one end of the line. As people moved on to other sights, I worked my way closer into the line of photographers for my shots of the coyote pups.



Everyone was quiet, orderly and respectful of the den and the pups.

We could see the mother come down the cliff, but she would not come on to the den. The lighting was bright, but I felt like I got some dramatic shots of her. But I was worried when she finally headed off to the river behind us to hunt without having fed the pups. So I packed up for the day, planning to come back, figuring I did not need to be adding to her anxiety.



We got out early the next morning and this den was my first stop. There were already a few people lined up, but I felt like I was positioned well enough. All seemed quiet, when all of a sudden from the grassy area above the den by the cliff, mother coyote stood up, stretched, and headed down to the puppies. When she got to the den the puppies streamed out to greet her . . . and to get that most important meal of the day, breakfast.



I went back a number of times while we were in Yellowstone. Some days we would go by and I would see the horde of people and we would just keep on going. Other times we would come by when the pups were in the den and there weren't that many people. I would get set up and wait.




I set up for photography about 6 different times and took over 680 photos. Most of the are more memory photos. The ones in the blog are probably the best ones. I'm thinking about doing another blog about the challenges in taking these kinds of shots. I've posted these photos on my website on the Yellowstone Coyote Webpage . You can see larger views of these photos by clicking on the thumbnails at the site. I'll be posting more as I have time to work them.

The Baby Coyotes

We'd been having snow showers for a day or two, but on Wednesday afternoon, the snow flakes became bigger and it began accumulating. We woke Thursday to a snow covered wonderland.




I took time to capture some of the beauty of the snow covered mountains, but my primary destination was the coyote den. This was my last morning here. I wondered if the pups would show up better against the snow.



When I got to the parking lot, all I could see were the elk in the distance in the willow thickets lining the river. But I knew to wait patiently. Before too long, I saw a coyote moving fast. He was coming my way, but I was not set up. Although I quickly got my big tripod and lens out, that photo opportunity was gone before I was set up. I could tell he was out hunting for breakfast. I wondered how long it would be before he or one of the other coyotes came back to the den. While you could see the small brown dome above the snow around it, it looked quiet and deserted. I wondered how long I would have to wait to see the activity around the den. I waited. I talked to people who stopped in the parking lot. One had seen the coyotes down the valley. She waited for a while, but gave up and went on. I talked to the docent about the big horn sheep that had been seen around the lakes. I waited . . . Patience IS sometimes rewarded. I saw the coyote returning. It was interesting to see the magpies and ravens start showing up around the den even before the coyote was close. The coyote headed straight for the den. Right before it got to the den, I saw it regurgitate - I'd been expecting that. Even though the birds tried to hang around to get a morsel from this feeding, the coyotes kept chasing them away.



The puppies did not come out until the coyote was right in front of the den. However, you could tell by their reaction and behavior that he had brought them food. No nursing behavior, so this must have been one of the male adults.



The puppies were happy to be outside. They romped around in the snow and tried to play with the adult who was also carefully standing watch.




It wasn't long before one of the other adults showed up.




The puppies clustered around mom to nurse.



While these are not competition quality shots, even with my 300-800m lens and a 2X teleconverter, this family is too far away to get what I call great shots. Each of these has been cropped so that the den and family are more prominent in the frame.



But even if the image quality is not what I would prefer, I'm still proud of these shots. They tell the story of a morning at the den. Before this trip I had never seen coyote puppies, much less seen the inner workings of a coyote family group.



I thoroughly enjoyed my time observing this coyote family. I hope you enjoy seeing these intimate family shots.

Elk vs the coyotes

We're up in Rocky Mountain National Park. We've been watching a coyote family now for several days. Today I went into a different area, Upper Beaver Meadows. I've been expecting to see coyotes in more than one area of the park and I was not disappointed. But I'm finding the coyotes when I see the elk start to behave differently. Several times now, I've seen the elk aggressively chasing coyotes. The Beaver Meadow area coyote very slowly left the scene after being chased out of the willow area by the elk herd.

Today we had snow. I had gone over to the Beaver Meadow area to find a vantage point to get photos of the mountains hidden by the snow clouds. But after I had gotten a few of those, I was ready to head over to the Sheep Lake area and check on "my" coyote family.

I checked the den area - no kits out, but there was mother coyote all curled up in a slightly protected area not far from her den. While she would look up every now and then, she stayed hunkered down as the snow showers came through. It was only a little bush or a little mound of ground that protected her from the wind. But all curled up she looked snug and warm. I kept looking for the other adult coyotes, but for a while I did not see them.

Then, I noticed the elk acting funny again . . . sure enough the elk were chasing the darker coyote. He found a spot to hide in the short willows and the elk went back to grazing.

I could see the snow coming in from the west. The valley west of Sheep Lake was totally whited out for a while. As the snow began to die down, things were quiet so I headed up to Endovalley. The elk were plentiful near the road. There was some accumulation of snow on the pine trees, the willows, and the aspens. I made my way back and all of a sudden I could see the sun lighting up the clouds in the valley behind me. That had to be a photo. I hurried back to the main road and back to Sheep Lake. I'm not sure those photos are great, but the most exciting part of my day was just about to begin.

When I got back to the Sheep Lakes area, I saw the elk at it again. They were in hot pursuit of another coyote, the dark one. The race was on. They also found the mother - so both coyotes were on the run. They were running north and away from their den, and the elk were intent on chasing them away from their area. The coyotes split up, but the elk were not deceived. They had lured most of the elk away from the den. But one elk stayed and nosed around the den. She wasn't eating, she was intently sniffing. But she finally moved away. I saw the mother begin to double back toward the den. Most of the elk were still intent on the darker coyote. Then all of a sudden there were three coyotes at the den, the elk were in pursuit, the kits were piling out of the den. Somehow, the other two coyotes managed to lure the elk after them. Mother and babies had feeding and play time. Two wandered a good distance from the den. After the other kits were back in the den, mother coyote seemed to round up the wandering babies . . . and soon all the kits were back in their snug home ready for the cold night.

Now, for several hours, I had not seen the babies. How does mother coyote teach them to stay in the den, even when she is not there? Or was one of the coyotes in the den with the babies keeping them company? I did not see where the third coyote came from.

In other seasons of the year, the elk have not been concerned about the coyotes. But it is almost time for the elk to start dropping their foals. Must be their mother instinct, trying to chase the coyotes away from the areas where they will be hiding the fawns.

It was a fascinating drama. Hope I can watch more of it tomorrow. And I wish the den was closer to an area where I could get better photographs.

Rocky Mountain Coyotes

While I love getting to go and explore new places, I also enjoy going back to the special places we've found. One of the advantages of going back to photograph familiar areas is that you have a better idea where to find your subjects. Once you've seen an animal in one location, you know you are likely to see it there again.

We've visited Rocky Mountain National Park several times over the last few years. Because we have regularly seen coyotes in one of the valleys, I usually try to spend time there waiting. The first morning I headed over there, I was rewarded by seeing two coyotes immediately. They were getting ready to cross the road, so after taking what shots I could, I moved on to a parking area which hopefully would be in the path they were heading. Waiting and being patient are a necessary part of being a nature photographer. I could see the coyote on the far side of the valley near the small willows along the stream. Still too far away to get great photos, but fun to watch. I was in no hurry to move.



At one point, I got to watch and hear him howl. I could hear other coyotes join the song. One was visible some distance away.



Before long, he started heading in my direction. I tried to position myself so that if he did continue in my direction I would have the best angle available. To my delight, he continued across the valley and I was able to get some full frame photos of him.




The sun was at the wrong angle to get photo competition quality shots. But I still try, because sometimes these shots can work. And by taking the shots even when things are not perfect, it prepares me for those times when the lighting conditions do cooperate.

We came back in the evening to watch for the coyotes again. I was watching one down in the valley, when someone told me there were kits. I grabbed the big tripod and lens and trotted off to get as close as the park rules would allow. They are definitely in the distance and in the evening lighting, the photos did not come out very well. At the distance without binoculars or big camera lens, they look like little dots cavorting around their parents. When an elk came near to investigate, the kits quickly scurried back into their den. I knew we had to come back in the morning.

We got up near sunrise, not perfectly, but good enough. We easily found one of the coyotes laying in the brush. We kept an eye on the den. Suddenly I realized there was a kit in the valley nursing on the coyote I'd been watching. I need to change the gender to she!


She picked it up in her mouth and trotted back over to the den. The other kits rapidly ran out and seemed to greet her with joy. It was definitely breakfast time.



We continued to watch, and I kept taking pictures, knowing they were too far away to get the details I wanted. I had brought my teleconverters hoping. While they did help, I had to use manual focus which is not ideal.

When the docents arrived to man the kiosk, we learned that the coyote family has three adults in addition to the kits. That is what we had been seeing. The mother and dad and one of the kits from the year before to help with feeding.



As we were watching, the dad came over and the kits were all over him in greeting.





At one point in the morning, there was still another reunion. We were watching 6 coyotes romp and roll and greet each other.


These coyotes really blend in with their surroundings. We've learned to look for motion, as that is what gives them away. Of course, we find some coyote shaped stumps and bushes, but they don't move. And now, I know what a coyote den looks like. I think of all the people who pass by this area without seeing the coyotes or the kits because they don't take time to wait or they don't get there early in the morning, or they don't know how to spot them. It is so much fun to watch the coyotes interact with one another and hunt - I'm glad that over time we've learned to see them.