Had a phone call this morning from RSPCA. Would we like to rehouse 2 hedgehogs? Absolutely so in the car to fetch them and now they are in our garden ready to be released now it is dark. Probably wont see them again. Have moved the trail camera near their boxes so hopefully will catch some sightings of them as they move about.
One of the coyotes has been cleaning up the crow food (soaked puppy kibble). On the nights that it's not there, a pair of fox have been doing cleanup duty. No decent photos of the foxes, but some great video. I also caught some video of the whole coyote pack playing in the pasture a few weeks ago.
New England, USA
Metacomet soil with hints of Woodbridge and Pillsbury
There was a coyote which hung around at the back of our hotel in Mammoth, California. I must admit that having never seen one before I thought it was a wolf!
@steephill most people hate coyotes, but I'm fascinated by predators. The coyotes in the western US are much smaller than the Eastern coyotes; genetic research has found that as the coyote moved into the northern US and southern Canada, then eastward, they mixed with the wolves. This resulted in a much larger coyote with amazing coat colors. Eastern coyotes range from 30-50 lbs, but there have been some taken that were in the 70 lb range. These are a few from the pack that lives in my area, all taken in my pasture.
I think this may be the same coyote that is in the previous photo.
The Beast; this animal is larger than it looks in the photo, and the first time I saw it from a distance I thought it was someone's Labrador retriever.
Li'l Beast, a smaller blonde coyote with no distinctive markings.
And one of the 2021 pups. Both were dark grey and rust colored.
They are sometimes referred to as song dogs - here's a great vocalization I captured at my previous house. Turn it up loud to really experience what it sounds like; it's wild music.
Apologies for the coyote spam, they are a subject I'm passionate about, so I get carried away!
New England, USA
Metacomet soil with hints of Woodbridge and Pillsbury
While peeling the potatoes this morning I watched a Great Tit rigorously inspecting the new nestbox on the trunk of the pollarded ash tree … spring is on the way folks! 😃
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
@Fire they can, but dogs rarely enter the equation unless there's human intervention. Coyote and wolf mating cycles are different from dog's, and domestic dogs don't stay with mates to help raise litters, so even rare occasions when that happens the pups usually don't make it. Most interbreeding with dogs has been done in captivity, but there have been cases of it happening in the wild. People around here insist on calling them coydogs, which drives me crazy. There is very little domestic dog in these canines. It's like listening to people talk about hinnies in relation to mules...hinnies are rare, and just because a mule looks more horse or donkey-like isn't a way to tell their parentage! Pet peeves, I got 'em.
New England, USA
Metacomet soil with hints of Woodbridge and Pillsbury
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I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.