Antelope Island’s Coyotes on a bright winter day

Coyote on ice – Nikon D810, f8, 1/1000, ISO 400, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited or called in

Yesterday was a Coyote kind of day for me seeing two Coyotes fight, a pair chase off an intruding Coyote and another pair with an intruding Coyote following them.

I wish I could have gotten images of the Coyotes fighting but other photographers will know that timing is everything and in this case if we’d gotten to them a mere thirty seconds sooner, about the time it takes to read an email, that might have happened. I did get images of them after the fight and I will post some of those on another day. The second sighting of Coyotes happened near the turn off  to the Frary Peak Trail turn off where two Coyotes chased off a third but they were too far away for high quality images.

The images in this post are from the third encounter along the causeway that crosses the Great Salt Lake where a pair was near the causeway and an intruding Coyote followed them nearby. The lake is dryer than I have ever seen it but the Coyotes still walk the shoreline where there is vegetation to hunt for voles or falcon leftovers.

The intruding Coyote – Nikon D810, f8, 1/1000, ISO 400, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited or called in

The intruding Coyote appeared smaller than the two closest to the road and I wondered if it might be a young male trailing the pair that seemed to be mates. At times it just stood and watched the other two as they looked for prey.

Coyote close up – Nikon D810, f8, 1/1600, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited or called in

One of the Coyotes seemed to have no fear of the pickup and would get so close I could not focus on it. I could have picked up my backup camera with a shorter focal length but instead I tried to get portraits when it came in close. It looks like this Coyote has seen a few battles from the scars on its muzzle.

Coyote on the mudflats – Nikon D810, f8, 1/1250, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited or called in

The pair of Coyotes walked through the vegetation in search of voles bit would occasionally walk out onto the mudflats where I could get shots of them without any obstructions. This one was walking back to the vegetation after a mock charge towards the intruder further out on the flats.

Snarling Coyotes – Nikon D810, f10, 1/1250, ISO 400, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited or called in

One of the pair of Coyotes started to dig up a vole and when the second one came to investigate the first one let it know it needed to back off by snarling at it. Of course this all had to happen where the weathered bones of a bush got in the way. I really, really, really wish that the bush hadn’t been in front of the Coyote on the right.

Coyote keeping an eye on its mate – Nikon D810, f10, 1/1250, ISO 400, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited or called in

The Coyote that got snarled at slowly moved away from its mate and left it alone. It was the vole who was lucky because the Coyote didn’t catch it and soon the Coyote walked away.

An alert Coyote – Nikon D810, f10, 1/1000, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited or called in

When I saw this Coyote pose like this I was reminded instantly of my German Shepherd who used to stand just like this when she was on alert.

The Coyotes I saw and photographed yesterday seemed to be exhibiting territorial behaviors that I wouldn’t expect this early in the year and perhaps that is because it has been such a warm winter for northern Utah.

It was a busy, Coyote filled morning on Antelope Island yesterday.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to view more of my Coyote photos plus facts and information about this species.