11/01/2021   English German
  Edition # 140  
San Francisco, 11-01-2021

Coyotes at close distance
Figure [1]: In the evening light, two coyotes are wandering across a cow pasture at Point Reyes.

Michael We have plenty of wild animals here in America, travelers of the numerous national and state parks often report sightings of bears, cougars, buffalo and much more. However, lately there have been reports of wild animals entering even urban areas, and San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area are no exception.

Figure [2]: At the edge of the playing field in St. Mary's Park, coyotes are coming out of the bushes.

Figure [3]: A warning sign to remind owners not to let their dog run free.

At our Sunday old-timers' soccer game in the Bernal Heights neighborhood, for example, the playing field borders an area with tall bushes where a coyote family lives. Warning signs at the entrance of the athletic field remind visitors of the wild inhabitants and recommend that dogs be kept on a leash and are not allowed to run free. And indeed, when the weather is sunny, the coyotes often come out and we can see them rollicking at the edge of the field with their young.

Figure [4]: A resident in our neighborhood saw a coyote eating a house cat.

Unlike wild cats such as mountain lions, coyotes do not attack humans, unless they feel directly threatened. They are wild dogs, but they are quite shy and do not just come up to people. It would be interesting to see what happenes if a stray soccer ball would accidentally land near the coyotes, I cannot say what would happen in such a case. Retrieving the ball would require some courage and would have to be done without making any sudden movements.

Figure [5]: When the weather is sunny, a coyote sometimes comes out to the edge of our soccer field.

Pets should not be left near coyotes, as they may be foolish enough to provoke the wild dogs, and that can quickly go wrong. Recently, a resident on the online forum Nextdoor reported that while walking in our neighborhood, they observed a coyote eating a calico cat (Figure #2). So be careful!

Figure [6]: It's not unusual on hiking trails California to see coyotes.

When we went for a walk on Labor Day weekend during our short vacation in Point Reyes, about 40 miles north of us, we first came across a herd of cows grazing freely and then saw two full-grown coyotes peacefully trotting through the herd in the bright evening light (Figure 1). The cows didn't seem to mind either, so we just kept taking pictures from about 50 yards away. The animals seemed to be used to each other, yes, it looked like they simply met up every evening.

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