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.