Coyote Sighting

I just realized that I haven’t uploaded the photos from my “good camera” in the past year, and I found some great ones so I thought I’d share.

I’d forgotten just how much snow and ice we had last year and the year before… it was a lot for Western Washington – nothing for some parts of the country – including Eastern Washington. Our weather is generally on the mild side… rain, temperatures in the 40s and 50s. The last couple of years, though, we’ve had some long (for us) stretches in the 20s and 30s with snow and ice and then snow again.

I actually love how life slows down when it snows – schools are closed, lots of people stay home from work, kids run out and play, and come in tired and ready for hot chocolate… expectations are lowered, plans are cancelled, and schedules are less crazy! I’m not a great snow driver. Honestly, it’s more of a confidence thing than anything – I have a good snow vehicle, I just get nervous, especially on our country roads with ditches on both sides, and with kids in the car, I just don’t need to take that risk. So I usually stay home and enjoy how pretty and bright everything is – though, these days, it’s a more work because of checking on the animals and making sure their water doesn’t turn into an ice block.

Last year, I remember, there was snow on the ground for so long that the alpacas were really bored. Normally, they spend a good chunk of their days grazing (eating grass) and with the grass covered in snow and ice, they seemed really out of sorts! Here they are all hunkered down in their shelter wondering what to do with themselves!

They weren’t the only ones!

One day, in the middle of the morning, our dogs were looking out the window, and started barking like crazy. We looked outside, and there was a coyote… right in the middle of our yard, in broad daylight.

Carson wanted to let the dogs out to chase it away, but I made him wait until I could get some pictures.

He looked panicked! Like he was frantically looking for something. Probably something to eat.

But he’s beautiful, don’t you think?

After I got my pictures, we let the dogs out to chase him back into the woods.

There they go!

The alpacas were watching, too.

They are usually the first to alert us that there’s something in the yard. They have an alarm call, that they use when they see something (sometimes even a squirrel, but definitely a coyote or deer, and if there’s really a threat, they huddle up together like this.

We hear coyotes all the time around here, and we catch one (maybe this one!) on the trail cam in our woods almost every time we have it up, but thankfully (knock on wood) we’ve never had a problem with the coyotes going after our animals. No sign of them digging under the farm fence, or trying to get our chickens. I hope it’s because we’ve done a good job preparing the space for and protecting our animals. I think it also helps that there are enough bunnies, and squirrels and other smaller animals around in general. I’m grateful that I got to see this one and take these photos. I love that we get to see wildlife in our own backyard.