Wildlife, landscape and weather photography
This little lady was absolutely gorgeous with a perfect coat that matched the fall grasses of the Great Plains. Unfortunately, many of the coyotes in the area where this one lives suffer from mange but thankfully, she has been spared. On this morning last month, she was quite unaffected by myself and my friends that were happily snapping pictures of her. She ignored us, going about looking for breakfast and occasionally chasing a rabbit or prairie dog.
Sometimes you just get lucky and that was the case with this awesome wildlife encounter.
Some friends and I were going around the wildlife loop at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge and just not having much luck. One of my friends says she thinks she saw a Coyote running across a hill nearby.
As we start to turn to go investigate, on the opposite side of the vehicle we find this gorgeous young one not 20 yards away. It was on the hunt looking for breakfast and kept its nose to the ground trying to pick up a trail of a potential meal.
For 45 minutes we photographed this pretty lady as she patrolled the fields. Unfortunately for her, she came up empty handed on her hunt but she sure gave us some nice captures.
Someone must have been listening to my thoughts. I was driving through Upper Beaver Meadows in Rocky Mountain National Park this past weekend thinking that of all the times I had been there this season, I had yet to see one coyote. That is unusual as they are oftentimes found in this spot.
No sooner had I completed the thought than what do I see? Not one, not two, but four of them marching along the hillside. They were a good ways away and seemingly on a mission, moving quite quickly.
I managed a few captures of them and while not particularly great quality given the distance and poor light, it was a fun encounter. Here, one of them had hopped up on a large, downed tree and was using the higher vantage point to look around.
I was on my way back from a trip to near timberline yesterday, somewhat disappointed in my captures that I had gotten thus far. This pretty lady changed my luck. She ran across the road in front of me and I naturally expected her to continue on into the forest. Instead, she stopped about 20 feet away and stood and posed. Then, much to my surprise, she actually laid down, giving me another batch of shots. Taken in Roosevelt National Forest.
I ran into a far less famous relative of Road Runner’s nemesis this past weekend. 😉
Out for my wildlife drive, I had stopped next to a field out on the plains and was scanning the area for raptors that might be on the ground. Seeing none, I turned back to start to drive off and I see movement out of the corner of my eye. Lo and behold, there is this gorgeous Coyote right on the other side of the road.
With the clouds and snow light was at a premium and those big snowflakes made focusing difficult. I managed a couple decent shots of it though before it headed off the other direction.
Not a technically great picture but I kind of like it. With light snow falling on a cold winter’s morning, I happened across this handsome creature as it walked across a field. In the background, a very large power distribution station to feed the power hungry suburbs. Kind of a nice contrast of the open plains and the growing encroachment of humankind on the Coyote’s territory.
As you can tell, once it saw me, its focus changed from hunting for breakfast to the guy with the camera. It was pretty well concealed and I had to work to get even these half-way clear captures. Still fun to see these guys and am always amazed at how well they have adapted to urban and suburban encroachment on their territory.
I saw this pretty lady and her mate on the prowl at Cherry Creek State Park, Colorado a few weeks ago. As they disappeared into some thick brush and trees, I ran around the other side anticipating them emerging. They did indeed pop out pretty much where I expected although I don’t think they were too thrilled to have been tailed. 😉 He headed right back into the brush and while she came out enough to at least give me a view, she soon did the same.
Coyotes are amazingly adaptable animals and have not been greatly impacted by human expansion. Here in the area I live, this has resulted in some human – coyote conflicts, mainly with the coyotes attacking domestic pets. They range across North America and some have even been seen into Central America and Panama.
This is one that almost got away. I saw it dart across the road about 50 yards in front of me early one morning. As fast as it was moving, I was sure it would be gone by the time I stopped to try to take a picture but, much to my surprise, he actually paused and gave me a couple nice poses. So, thank you, Wile E, for the pics! 😉 Taken in Adams County, Colorado.
“And this is what I think of wildlife photographers.” I recent happened across a Coyote that appeared to have a bit of a sense of humor. It ran across the road not far in front of me and as I came to a stop to take pictures of it, it seemed to want to give me a sense of how it felt about having its photograph taken. Thankfully most of my subjects don’t feel the same. 😉
