Coyotes

I saw a coyote yesterday for the second time in a month. I was driving down the 416 just south of Bells Corners and saw him or her heading down the embankment of the west side of the road and into the bush on the side. It was less than a kilometer from the fields that I call Deerfield, where I have seen more deer over the years than anywhere else.

Three weeks ago I was driving my daughter to riding camp outside of Orleans and saw another coyote. This one was hobbling along in the middle of a wide open field. It was limping and very scrawny.

I saw another one south of Kemptville near the Oxford Mills turnoff a year ago, in the middle of a field.

The first coyote I saw was about a year ago. I was on the VIA train, coming home from Toronto. I looked up on an embankment near Cobourg and saw a dog. I thought it was the skinniest dog I had ever seen. But grey. A quick double take......could that be a coyote?

I grew up in the country in a stone house on the top of a hill. Hay fields rolled down on the north and east sides to bush. During 15 years there, I saw lots of ground hogs, a fox or two and a deer or two. The only coyote I ever saw was Wile E Coyote on the Bugs Bunny Hour.

So what has changed in the last 15-18 years? I read somewhere that urbanization has increased the population of rodents they prey on such as rabbits (boy do we have rabbits here!) that are not controlled by other predators.

I found the following information at "Hinterland Who's Who":http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?cid=8&id=88 on coyotes.

For some reason, Bruce Cockburn's Wondering Where the Lions Are comes to mind.

"Had another dream about coyotes at the door
they weren't as frightening as they were before
But I'm thinking of eternity
Some kind of ecstasy got a hold on me."

Originally posted in February 2005