Recently I told about a lone coyote coming through the yard in the middle of a hot day. It stopped at the lake for a drink, then went on about its business.

Yesterday I realized the truth. Where there’s one coyote, there’s more.

At first, I thought the open door was creaking in the breeze. Then I thought a stray (or farm) cat was mewling in the yard. Then, Daisy Dewdrop jumped up from her nap and pitched a fit. The source of the noise was a coyote pup, one of two sitting casually in the shade at the back corner of the lake, looking at… something….

Ah, an adult coyote. But, where I stood my full view was blocked, and actually there were two adults as well.

I realize, as someone who lives on a farm with cats and dogs and newborn colts — this is bad.  Four coyotes, not more than 200 yards from the house.

I didn’t think they’d stay long, so I grabbed the camera, the binoculars and my sandals, and out the door I went.

Actually, they stayed quite a while. One adult would run into the woods, and the two pups and the remaining adult would lay low in the grass. Next thing you know, a deer would exit the woods near where the coyote entered – out in front of the three laying in wait. They didn’t get any deer yesterday, but not for lack of trying.

Had they jumped a fawn instead of adult deer? I think the results would have been different.

Here’s the best picture I got without the big lens on the camera. (I think, it’s been a long time since I’ve tried to include a photo in a blog entry. I’ve made it a large image, so you can see…)

They were not concerned about me. Although I didn’t get close enough to get a decent picture, I did get into the edge of their space. They were not scared of me. The pups looked at me with some concern – “Hey. There’s a human.” – but the adults gave the look like “Yeah, humans. Such varmints. I wish they’d just stay in their caves.”

When I got close enough to make them uncomfortable, I realized, I had the wrong equipment for such socializing. I had a camera and binoculars, but no gun, and was walking right up on two adult wild animals with young.

DUH.

Finally, they gave me their full attention – still without fear. “Eewww. The human’s getting closer. Come on, we’ll have to find somewhere else to train.”

Still, they went just past the edge of the woods, to a rock and boulder formation still within sight. All four lined up along the edge of the boulder, looking at me, watching me, as if to see if I was going to leave so they could go right back to what they were doing.

Eventually, they must have decided I wasn’t leaving, and they casually, one after the other, went deeper into the woods and out of site.

Although it felt like an episode on National Geographic, I also now feel as though they’re out there, watching.