10,000 Birds

JANUARY 27, 2013

It is really worth clicking through to this excellent blog post by Ron Dudley in which a coyote pays a price for catching a vole. The photos are amazing as is the commentary. Watching animals closely can lead to all sorts of discoveries! Hat-tip to Suzie Gilbert.

Coyotes 164

Coyotes Animal Mammals 164

10,000 Birds

MAY 27, 2013

We’ve got coyotes in Chicago and its suburbs, but I’ve never bumped into one in the field. The tours out to the Stillwater Refuge and Carson Lake, though, offered good looks at two coyotes. Nothing, however, prepared me for the fauna that awaited last weekend at the Spring Wings festival in Fallon, Nevada.

Coyotes 191

Coyotes Nevada Rattlesnake Mules 191

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2012

They get hit by cars, suffer from parasites, predated upon by coyotes, and die from disease. And while I am sick of the cat colonies I am even more sick of the deluded people who believe that by feeding feral cats they are somehow helping them. Outdoor cats live short, ugly, violent lives.

Feral Cats 243

Feral Cats Feral Cats Coyotes 243

10,000 Birds

MARCH 28, 2014

Foxes, coons, coyotes, possums and hawks all get a free meal that lasts for days on some of the larger shoots.”. It was written by Bob Aronsohn, who, in December 2013, killed his 150,000th crow. The hunters who do not eat their crows) “are providing a smorgasbord for other wildlife!”

Killing 260

Killing Hunting Possums Hunters 260

10,000 Birds

APRIL 20, 2011

Also, a turkey fight and display will attract the attention of predators, I’m sure many a turkey lek gets ambushed by coyotes causing birds to flee in utter panic. With all that chasing and focus on hen heads, they may not notice the cars when they’re flying away.

Turkey 252

Turkey Hunters Coyotes Boston 252

10,000 Birds

JULY 17, 2011

Eastern flyway breeding populations appear to be maxing out their available habitat, and are subject to abundant natural limitations such as ground predation by coyotes, foxes, raccoons and opossums. Quick: what’s this? The handful of pairs that are attempting to nest in Ohio appear to winter in Tennessee. What if they’re shot?

Kentucky 260

Kentucky Protesting Protesters Protest 260

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2013

Mallard s are a good example, a hearty and endurable bird that can survive sub zero temperatures so long as they found ample supplies of food like corn and some open water to roost on and be protected from coyotes and foxes.

Minnesota 226

Minnesota Coyotes Nashville Fox 226

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 27, 2015

In addition to killing birds of prey, brodifacoum has also killed coyotes, grey foxes, red foxes, kit foxes, mountain lions, bobcats, black bears, Pacific fishers, and other animals, including domestic dogs and cats. Syngenta warns that “Talon” is “hazardous to dogs, cats, pigs, poultry and other wildlife.”

Mountain Lions 269

Mountain Lions Rats Rodents Lions 269

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2013

The flip-side to this is that nesting in an urban area versus a rural area provides the owls with more protection from natural predators like coyotes and bobcats. But whatever the reasons, the school kids certainly don’t mind being entertained year-round by their charismatic little school mates.

Owls 251

Owls Florida Raised Coyotes 251

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 25, 2013

Rabbits scamper into the underbrush, only to encounter a coyote nobody saw standing there. Carefully rehabbed seals are released, only to find an orca waiting silently beneath the water a hundred feet away.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 180

Wildlife Rehabilitation Coyotes Wounded Rabbits 180

10,000 Birds

MARCH 24, 2014

Groups across the country, including Project Coyote in California, are fighting similar battles. I have friends who hunt, and every one of them is disgusted by events like “Crow Down” and consider them bad publicity for true hunters.

Killing 272

Killing Animal Abuse Slaughtered Slaughter 272

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 29, 2014

Coyote bombs with sizzling wicks, so even at my sleepiest one glance at her chart would snap me into “en garde.” I took in a Warrior Queen Red-tailed Hawk hit by car (WQ RTHA HBC) who awed me with her strength and ferocity, but irritated me with her habit of trying to kill me every time I opened her crate.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 255

Wildlife Rehabilitation Wildlife Mice Vet 255

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 30, 2013

One wouldn’t tether a rabbit out to get a shot of a fox or a coyote, or is that somehow different? I am well aware of the debate that this is no different than photographing birds at a feeder, but for me it feels different.

Owls 221

Owls Mice Tethering Chickens 221

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2011

In addition to these aerial predators, their eggs and young are often taken by squirrels, gray foxes, house cats, coyotes, gopher snakes, rattlesnakes, raccoons, American Crows and Western Scrub-Jays. Let us also not forget the two-legged predator with a shotgun.

California 248

California Rattlesnake Gophers Eggs 248

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 30, 2011

Golden Gate Park was next and it delivered with a family of Great Horned Owls , nesting Cooper’s Hawks and Red-shouldered Hawks , coyotes, an annual American Bittern , Belted Kingfishers , Brown Creepers , and a host of small songbirds that I’m still getting to know. Hopefully I can share that story with you in a future post.

San Francisco 232

San Francisco California Condor Coyotes Iceland 232

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2015

Even worse, one of their self defense mechanisms when being attacked by a predator is to jump upwards, which might help them avoid a coyote but won’t help them get away from a car. Well, they were foraging in the grass when they weren’t running out in the road, which is an unfortunate habit that they have.

Florida 175

Florida Coyotes Wildlife Mammals 175

10,000 Birds

JULY 17, 2015

There was also a young and profoundly confused snowshoe hare who fled something unseen in the brush up onto the porch and under my chair, to say nothing of the songs of coyotes in the distance and an abundance of butterflies of all kinds.

Mountain Goats 160

Mountain Goats Coyotes Goats Nashville 160

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 8, 2012

Here are some ads: This is from Advanced Telemetry Systems and it advertises how you can tag wildlife like coyotes and then check on your animals from anywhere…even from your beach vacation…and the magical wireless internet that is available there for your laptop.

Industry 175

Industry Wildlife Coyotes Battery 175

10,000 Birds

JUNE 8, 2016

Male Costa’s at Playa Coyote. Last summer, such a plant bloomed near Playa Coyote, near the Cerralvo Channel of the Sea of Cortez. Now, don’t get me wrong, the Costa’s is a truly beautiful bird. The easily identifiable purple gorget, when seen in the right light, is stunning.

Coyotes 132

Coyotes Mexico California ALA 132

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 9, 2013

As I have mentioned, the bird life there is relatively diverse and if you are lucky you can have an up close encounter with coyotes. Back in December when I was in Orange County, California, I enjoyed my early morning walks to and through Carbon Canyon Regional Park.

San Diego 150

San Diego California Coyotes United States 150

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2012

No coyotes in sight right now, the Great Horned Owls are off in the cottonwoods closer to the river. If we get close enough we might see a pink maw and slivers of white teeth, ready to take a prairie dog by the throat and choke the life out but also rather perversely adorable. Maybe this is the one.

Ferrets 183

Ferrets Prairie Dogs Coyotes Kittens 183

10,000 Birds

APRIL 20, 2012

Result, families spending long dark seasons cooped up with each other, one-room schoolhouses as late as the 1950s, and a culture enamoured with self-sufficiency even to the point of self-destructiveness* (despite their willingness to graze their cows on BLM land and call on the ADC for coyote-shooting.)

Ferrets 208

Ferrets Wildlife Montana Prairie Dogs 208

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2015

These ground birds have been clocked going 20 mph, though their coyote predators can go more than twice that. Of course, only thirty minutes later I saw my second roadrunner, this time standing on a lawn adjacent to a busy street! However, in real life Greater Roadrunners are quite different. Not so much, as the above photo demonstrates.

New Mexico 103

New Mexico Mexico Coyotes Rattlesnake 103

Critter News

AUGUST 16, 2008

He was caught after a yearlong investigation by Virginia game officials that included the undercover purchases of 54 red foxes and 47 coyotes from Blevins. Hunters would then pay to hunt in the pens. The animals were transported in the closed bed of a pickup truck, sometimes with two dozen or more animals crowded together.

Fox 100

Fox Virginia Trafficking Coyotes 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 27, 2012

Likely he’d sacrificed those feathers escaping an attack; Sage Grouse have numerous predators on the high plains, including coyotes, badgers, and Prairie Falcons. In profile, he looked like a gigantic Western Meadowlark. The rest of his plumage seemed fine.

Ferrets 212

Ferrets Badgers Coyotes Ducks 212

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2016

This area, with its year round water supply, supports a huge amount of life, with coyotes, fox, bobcat and many different rodents, like this Mexican Ground Squirrel. There is also a kitchen dining room building across the courtyard. The is no refridgeration, so if you do visit, be sure too include a cooler with ice.

Coyotes 133

Coyotes Rodents Reptiles Fox 133

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2024

We also saw Prairie Dogs , Bison , Mule Deer , Abert’s Squirrel and Coyote. Although careful preparation, sophisticated intel from real ornithologists and a lot of planning had been derailed by half a meter of snow, we ended up scoring 63 species over the weekend. I ticked off 9 lifers. All bird and animal pictures are Brad’s.

Denver 186

Denver Colorado Ducks Mules 186

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2024

Coyotes took carrion from young Condors and then killed the weakest ones. Osborn gives story after story of having to “haze” young condors away from admiring crowds and off cliff sites accessible to coyotes (it seems that running and yelling at the top of your lungs is a job requirement).

California Condor 164

California Condor Falcons California Coyotes 164

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 6, 2024

Mauricio and Melba picked me up and if it weren’t for the Coyote we saw on the way it would have taken us 5 minutes to reach Chipinque Parque Ecologico. Late autumn 2022, I decided flying in a day early to do some weekend birding. I was joined by my colleague Mauricio, his wife Melba, and my friend David. It was David’s first time birding.

Parrots 185

Parrots Woodpeckers Coyotes Fast Food 185

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 16, 2012

adding wolves, who displace coyotes) can dramatically change the ecology and directly affect species diversity and abundance. If cats displace ferrets, then that probably means that birds are getting hit harder than rodents, and among birds, adult birds are getting hit harder than eggs or hatchlings.

Cats 203

Cats Boston Ferrets Killing 203

10,000 Birds

APRIL 9, 2017

Coyote as it stayed just out of acceptable camera-range in Irvine Regional Park. He had a lot to choose from with displaying Clark’s Grebes , hordes of western hummingbirds, breeding plumaged American Avocets and all the other goodies that can be found in the diverse habitats of SoCal. How about you?

Los Angeles 100

Los Angeles Coyotes 2017 Owls 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 27, 2016

Coyote for keeping this great bird as popular as it is! So, be honest, how many of you saw this story, or series of photos, and somewhere in the back of your head, just had a little “Beep-beep” sneak out? Thank you ACME and Wiley E.

Rattlesnake 100

Rattlesnake Coyotes Mexico United States 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2013

While Sitting in Church, a Videopoem – James Brush, Coyote Mercury. Turkey Vulture Wing Tagging – Charlotte Wasylik, Prairie Birder. Turkey Vultures Galore – Charlotte Wasylik, Prairie Birder. Kings of the Sky – Karen, The Greenbelt. Return of the Kings - Karen, The Greenbelt.

California Condor 207

California Condor Turkey North America Jordan 207

Critter News

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

of Wildlife Services , which is involved in mainly predator control programs (coyotes are a big target). Environmental groups have called on Obama to get rid of the USDA's Dept. Ranchers oppose the move.

Killing 100

Killing Wildlife Groups Endangered Species 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2020

This section gives brief descriptions of the birds painted in the Portfolio section, sometimes elaborating on the behavior portrayed in the portrait (the advantages of flying at night for White-crowned Sparrow), sometimes giving additional facts of interest with a small dollop of humor (Greater Roadrunners are not in a perpetual war with coyotes).

2020 264

2020 Birds North America Sparrows 264

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2013

A camera with a motion-sensitive shutter had to be used to prove that there are coyotes living in at least one closed landfill. (I really don’t bird Northern New Jersey as often as I should.) Mammal life has been harder to find and photograph. There are, at least 2 species, thank goodness.

New Jersey 175

New Jersey Legislation Mammals Pigs 175

Animal Person

JUNE 23, 2010

Have you seen the ridiculous television show, Wipeout ? There's something hilarious about people intentionally putting themselves in a position to be beaten up like Wile E. It's all in fun, with much of the humor coming from the commentators and the special sound effects. It does get old, however, after about 10 minutes.

Lions 100

Lions Animal Cruelty Cruelty Illinois 100