Posts Tagged ‘coyotes’

Yellowstone: Day 6

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

Today was our last day in Yellowstone and I can’t lie, it was pretty disappointing. The entire park was incredibly vacant of all life. There were so little animals that we saw almost nothing. This includes wolves. For the second year I am walking away from Yellowstone without a photo of a wolf. It is disappointing but I can not forget what a wonderful experience I have been blessed with. I got to see a fox, coyotes, eagles, buffalo, big horn sheep, and many other things. I have had a wonderful time but I really want to see the wolves.

Today was a really sparse day. I didn’t take any photos all day because there was absolutely nothing in the park. Near the end of the day we followed a coyote from round prairie to their family. There were four coyotes, a family, all playing and having fun. They were adorable and rambunctious.

They were far away but still really fun to watch as they chased and tackled each other.

After we left the coyotes it started snow extremely hard. Everything in the park was quickly covered in snow. It was beautiful to watch the snow coming down and coating the valley. We found some animals including buffalo covered in the snow. They sit so still that the snow just clings to them as if they were a part of the landscape.

Theses animals were about it for the entire day in the park. Except for the very last stretch of the road were we found a coyote trying to cross the road.

AS always, I wish I didn’t have t leave Yellowstone. There is never enough time to do everything. I hope I can return soon and hope to see and photograph wolves next time.

 

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Yellowstone: Day 4

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

Outside our hotel is a group of deer that seem to hang around at all times. This morning they were especially cute; they were all huddled up next to a house trying to stay warm. It is a nice thing to wake up and have wildlife basically sitting on your doorstep.

There was a lot less wind and bad weather today and even some really nice sun that greeted us frequently throughout the day. The remnants of yesterday still remained and the snow plows and blowers were out in full force trying to clear away all the snow off the roads.

It was really fun to watch the snow being jettisoned hundreds of feet into the air. After the roads were cleared we decided to take advantage of the sun and go snow shoeing. We went out to Lost Lake which included a hike through the Petrified Forest, and a beautiful walk through a snowy canyon way tat led to the lake. We also found a kill. it was an old dead buffalo that had been eaten from the inside. It was gruesome but interesting to see.

After our snowshoeing was over we drove around Lamar Valley looking for animals. Sadly still no wolf sightings and in fact there are very little animal sightings at all. It seems like our luck may be changing soon however. We found a beautiful bull elk that we were able to follow for a while. This means that the elk are moving into the valley which means that the wolves should soon follow.

And as our final good sign for our changing luck was a couple of coyotes running across the road right in front of us. They didn’t stay long but we got a couple of pictures.

Tomorrow is a new day and with that we hope, as always, to find and photograph wolves.

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Yellowstone: Day 3

Monday, February 28th, 2011

Today was a snow storm. There was so much snow and wind that it felt like a snow hurricane. At certain times we couldn’t even see the road. This also meant that we didn’t see that much wildlife. Still no sightings of wolves but we saw plenty of other animals. There were a lot of buffalos hanging out in the snow, hunkering down for the storm.

We also had a couple of coyotes run across the road in front of us.

The big horn sheep were out again in their usual spot by the rocky outcroppings. We saw some bulls and some juveniles.

We also we able to get some shots of the pronghorn antelopes as we were leaving the park. They are one of my favorite animals in the park because of their majestic beauty. They are beautiful animals with good markings, ig black eyes, and little horns. There is something so beautiful about them that I find so enticing.

It was too windy and snowy to go snow shoeing but it was still a good day. We are hoping for better weather and always more wolves. Hoping for a better tomorrow.

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Sneak Peak: Yellowstone Coyotes

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Sneak peek of lots more photos of coyotes coming up, because I didn’t get any great wolf photos I am making it up with great coyote shots. I know what people think,

Oh great coyotes, the lesser more whinny wolf.

Yes admit, I too have spent many hours yelling at the coyote out my window to shut up as you all know. This trip however changed that thinking. I always thought coyotes as pests but in Yellowstone they were still just such majestic beasts. They like everyone else there would have to fight for their life and had earned their living out there in Lamar Valley. Yellowstone definitely gave me a whole new light on coyotes.

There will be more to come.

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Knock Knock, it’s your Neighbor!

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

I think a lovely neighbor of mine needs a little mentioning currently. This neighbor is a terror in my life and last night was horrible! You may be asking who this neighbor is and can we go egg his house. The answer is no… because egging is bad, and because this neighbor is in fact a coyote. Or several coyotes I suppose. Let me lay out my night in detail for you:

  • I didnt want to do my homework (what self-respecting kid does?) so I had found everything in life to do besides sit down and concentrate on math. (Which is what I am doing right now… don’t tell anyone) So I had done everything in existence by, oh lets say, ten o’clock about. So I finally am faced with the inevitable fact that I must do my homework. I realize now is that one golden moment a day when I actually feel like doing my homework finally. I sit down and begin. The moment I am ready to start the second point of my night begins.
  • The coyotes. Our outdoor neighbors come a knock knock knocking on our door step. None to quietly either. I look up, my mom looks up, my dog freaks out, and the whole homework zen mood dissipates in a flash with my moms words, “What the heck is that?” So we scramble up leaving behind everything we had been doing to go outside and stand on our porch for a moment. We are standing there when we hear it. The most god awful noise in existence. I swear it was like a mix of the noise of a cat being strangled, a goat with a chicken bone stuck in its throat, and a horror films clique scream. YES IT WAS THAT BAD. It seriously gave me chills, that was a noise no living creature should make.  And the worst part, it didn’t stop. Routinely every two or so minutes it would do it again.
  • We head back inside knowing that the hideous sound outside is not Satan rising up from our canyon and wait for it to stop. IT DIDN”T. I was just trying to do my math and it won’t shut up! Seriously it was creepy and annoying, a perfect combination typically reserved for little brothers. I couldn’t concentrate so I give up after a half hour and resign to my room.
  • Lying in bed, trying to sleep, our wonderfully courteous neighbors, still won’t shut up. Even a pillow, three comforters, two fleece blankets, my dog, and a mini buffalo couldn’t block out that noise. So I am lying awake for easily an hour listening to the embodiment of Satan in our backyard, and hating every ounce of its being.

That pretty much was my whole night. A little recap, 1. no homework done because of coyotes, 2. totally disrupted life because of coyotes, 3. totally irritated because of coyotes 4. no sleep because of coyotes and finally 5. wishing to kill every coyote in existence because OF COYOTES.

As I lay awake all night I had time to think about this damned creature and asked myself finally, What on earth is making that coyote so pissed off it is making that noise?

I mean really, what would prompt suck a ruckus out of these mangy creatures that I have grown to despise. It really makes me wonder, and I know some people instantly went to this option

Mating

If that was your thought, and it is true… i fear for the coyote’s race. If that is the mating call of a coyote, I am baffled. How could anything find that attractive. That is like saying I can get a boyfriend by screaming bloody murder at them for five hours straight. Which believe me, doesn’t work.  And if that isn’t the reason, only god knows what is.

Just a side note…. coyotes are just ugly dogs, trying to act like wolves but can’t because dogs and wolves hate them. There I said it, but I digress.

Coyotes are like, ticks, wasps, and mosquitos. Why you ask? Because they have absolutely no purpose. Their sole purpose in life is to make other creatures lives miserable. They do nothing but bite, scream, and put you in a generally irritated mood. So yes I would do just fine without those things, that doesn’t make me cruel or heartless, just honest.


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