Coyote in the woodland: Capturing its essence
For two weeks I tramped through snow and ice in freezing conditions to capture an image of the elusive coyote. Then, like a ghost, it appeared. Seconds later it was gone.
When mere seconds make all the difference
About five seconds. That’s all this beautiful coyote gave me.
Then, it wandered off into the woods leaving me alone in a wintery woodland to contemplate what had just happened.
I’m sure many readers have experienced a similar encounter either with a coyote, fox or maybe just a favourite bird. They are often unforgettable moments – slivers of time that enable us to step into their world, if even for just a few fleeting seconds.
Having an unexpected wildlife encounter – while exciting and memorable –is quite different than going out with the prime purpose of capturing a successful image of an elusive animal.
This is the story of how I was able to capture, in a fleeting few seconds, a handful of images that I had been chasing for weeks.
Anyone who accepts the challenge of wildlife photography knows that it is often hours, even days, of boredom interspersed with just a few seconds of action. That certainly holds true with my recent coyote encounter.
Animals operate on their own schedules and, although we can sometimes predict their routines, we can never be sure of their specific movements on any given day.
For days I had been visiting an area in a nearby city where a group of coyotes were regularly seen travelling along a bike/walking path. They were quite habituated to seeing humans, so getting photographs of the elusive critters should have been easy. (I mean, everyone in the neighbourhood along the walking path told me they see the coyotes regularly.)
Unfortunately, days of walking the trails in freezing temperatures and sitting quietly into the evening waiting for them to appear proved fruitless.
Having an unexpected wildlife encounter – while exciting and memorable –is quite different than going out with the prime purpose of capturing a successful image of an elusive animal.
I spoke in a quiet, reassuring voice to catch her attention and convey that I meant no harm. She stared back as if to say, “I know you mean me no harm, but I will stay cautious and move on.”
Get more information about the urban coyote.
If you are interested in finding out more about the coyotes that live among us in urban environments, be sure to check out the book: Coyotes Among Us, Secrets of the City’s Top Predators.
Coyotes, foxes and other apex predators are on their own schedules and they rarely line up with ours. Seeing them in our yards at night, is not the same as getting useable images of them.
Wildlife, especially dominant predators, survive on instinct and that instinct warns them to stay away from human interaction as much as possible. As a result, they are not often out in the middle of the day. They thrive in the early morning light of dawn and the fading light of dusk when most humans are either in bed or at home having dinner or watching television.
Of course, these are the best times to pursue images of these elusive animals. However, low light makes this the most difficult time to capture good images of foxes, coyotes, owls and other predators that hunt mostly at night or during the fading hours at dawn and dusk.
February is the time coyotes begin to den up in preparation for puppy season. The timing is such that the puppies are often born in early spring when food is more plentiful. In the middle of winter going into spring, foxes and coyotes are more often seen hunting during daylight hours. Fewer people are out and the difficulty of finding food forces them to stay out longer.
This, of course, explains why there are more sightings during these times. It’s not that the animals are sick, (often misinterpreted) it is simply a matter of survival.
Keep your dogs leashed in coyote country
It’s extremely important to give coyotes their space. It’s even more important to keep your dogs on leash for their own protection and, even more importantly, so that they do not chase coyotes.
During these critical times, wildlife cannot afford to use energy trying to evade aggressive dogs whose owners are not acting responsibly and allow their dogs to chase and or harass wildlife, whether it is deer, foxes or coyotes.
And, when it comes to coyotes, these owners just might get more than what they bargained for.
Photographing these magnificent animals
Back to my quest of capturing useable coyote images.
After a week of chasing coyote images along the footpath in a city about a half hour from my home, a neighbour told me that a group of coyotes were living in a large woodlot not more than five to ten minutes away from our home. The location is surrounded by homes on one side and a fenced off highway on the other.
Sounded like it had potential. I first opened Google maps to check out the area and see if I could find easy access into the woodland. It is the middle of winter so the snow is high in the woodlot and getting around would not be easy.
It turned out that, much like my first location, this area also featured a paved walking path that allowed easy access into the area and gave the coyotes a corridor to move about. But, unlike the first area, this path was much more remote and I rarely encountered people along the pathway.
It proved to be a much more pleasant experience and one that offered a much better opportunity to get images in a more natural environment.
Scouting the location and scoring early
So off I went at around 2:30 in the afternoon on a cold winter’s day for my initial scout of the area.
I brought along two cameras. One was my trusty Pentax K5 digital SLR and my favourite wildlife lens, a 300mm, f4.5 prime telephoto mounted to a monopod. (Full post on this lens here.) On the K5 camera, (see full post here) with its smaller APS-C sensor, the 300mm lens becomes the equivalent of a relatively fast 420mm lens. Add a 1.4 converter and it jumps to close to a 600mm lens.
I also carried a more compact bridge camera, the Pentax X-5: a versatile, all-in-one superzoom camera with a 26x optical zoom, resulting in a rather impressive 22-580mm equivalent focal range. Although bridge cameras, which are available from most camera manufacturers, look like the perfect cameras on paper, they can be slow to use and, when it comes to wildlife, often result in a missed opportunity.
(For more on bridge cameras check out my earlier post here.)
And that’s exactly how my day started out.
Not 15 minutes at the new location and I came across something odd.
Too slow to zoom in
The bridge camera took too long to start up and zoom in to capture a good shot of the coyote way down at the end of the trail, barely visible.
Looking down the trail, I noticed something a little unusual, but not having been to the area before, I was not sure what I was seeing. It could have been an oddly shapd tree trunk or even a deer looking into the side yard of a home. A few seconds later and I realized it was actually the back end of a coyote looking through a cedar hedge.
Opportunity missed
I needed just a second or two more to zoom the bridge camera in to capture what would have been a nice image. Here is a cropped image of the photograph above to see what could have been. Unfortunately, when it comes to wildlife, a second or two might be too much time.
It stepped out, saw me, stared at me for a few seconds and disappeared into the woods. It was only enough time to turn on my bridge camera, wait for it to power up, grab a shot at the wide angle setting and begin zooming in only to miss the shot entirely.
Okay, a missed shot, but at least I knew there were coyotes in these woods and a very nice looking one from what I could tell. I was at least happy that my initial scouting visit paid off with a glimpse of a coyote.
Little did I know what would happen next.
So having seen the coyote in the area, I decided to set up at what appeared to be a crossroad of coyote tracks. By snuggling into the cedars against the fence, I could fade into the hedge while at the same time see the surrounding forest and watch for a coyote using the trail.
One side of the trail was more or less blinded by the tall cedar hedge and that’s exactly where the coyote came from, catching me totally off guard.
The coyote appeared, not more than 10-15 yards (9 meters) in front of me, on a slow trot.
The camera was not really ready for this sudden action and although I had pre-set it for the proper conditions, I needed to stop the coyote for a few seconds to catch a shot.
Although similar to other images, keen observers will notice that its one ear is actually bent over here.
“Well, hello their beautiful,” I softly spoke. That stopped her in her tracks and got her to look at me. My heart stopped, my breathing slowed as I brought the camera to my eye.
Put the focus on her eye as she stared at the camera and gently push the shutter down. The sound of the shutter did not seem to frighten the coyote.
I knew my time was short. This was not a tame animal from a game farm or even one that was so used to humans that it was approachable in any way.
While the images shown above have been cropped and cleaned up a little in post processing, the above image is closer to what the camera caught. The coyote actually stopped and posed in a relatively uncluttered area framed by a wild grape vine and a large tree. Branches across its face had to be meticulously removed digitally.
This was a wild, apex predator in its environment and seeing me for the first time.
I pressed the shutter, left it pressed as the motor drive fired off six or seven consecutive shots. I prayed that one – just one – would be in sharp focus and catch the coyote in a natural pose, eyes fixed on me.
It shook its head as If to shake off some snow, looked at me again and sauntered off through the brush to disappear over a hill into the valley below.
A few seconds was it gave me to capture its image before trotting back off into the wintery woodland.
The whole encounter lasted maybe seven to ten seconds, just enough time for me to raise my camera to my eye, fire off 15-20 images and be thankful that this wonderful animal and I were able to share a few wonderful moments in its environment.
It wasn’t until after I returned home and got the opportunity to review the images that I realized that the coyote picked the perfect frame for our encounter. It chose to stop in the centre of a wild grape vine encircling its entire body giving me a clear vision of its perfect self.
Like a ghost, the coyote disappeared as quickly as it appeared, sharing with me a small piece of its life in a handful of images and about ten seconds of its fascinating life story.
I left the area soon after and, although I have returned several times since the encounter, have yet to see or capture more images of the magnificent coyote.
I am sure we will meet again soon, but in the meantime, I have a handful of images to remember that special ten seconds we shared together.
Protecting Coyotes
Coyote watch works with residents to help protect coyotes and foxes in primarily urban environments.
If you are concerned about the future of coyotes, you may want to visit Coyote Watch’s informative website focusing on protecting these magnificent animals. To visit their website, click above or here.
