Last week Angie and I were on vacation. I put my camera to use despite my 500 mm lens isn't always working properly as the image stabilizer konks out periodically making for some crappy photos. The lens is almost 12 years old now and probably needs to be retired. I've got some saving to do before I can get a replacement. Poor man problems, you know...
Anyway, we saw "nature" a fair amount last week while off and it has made for some good short blogs like the one I am about to key in here if I can stop rambling.
We went for a walk in an area down the Humber River from us one morning. There was quite a few dog walkers around which didn't make great for seeing birds and wildlife, especially when the dogs are off leash. A couple of woman with 2 off leash dogs came up from behind us on a path, we let them pass and get well ahead of us so we could hopefully stay on a peaceful path.
At some point we ended up catching up with them and they were back tracking. The one woman said to watch out as there was a coyote up around the bend, not moving and just watching them. They were backing away but this obviously got our curiosity. We don't see coyotes very often and here we are in the woods with a lot of colorful leaves on the ground. Maybe I could get a nice photo for our next year's calendar that we make for us, as well as family and friends. We get around the bend and the coyote is no where to be seen. We continue along this lovely forested path and hear angry blue jays and crying squirrels. The coyote probably came through here.
We got out of the wooded area and into a small field of tall grass. There was a man going through the field with his dog off leash. Then for a split second I saw the coyote come up from a spot near them and then quickly moved along and away from this human and dog duo. It disappeared as fast as it appeared. Angie and I stayed on the paths and headed out to the driveway before going to check out another area for wild ones. The coyote came out on the driveway just ahead of me, had a quick look in both directions, before continuing forward to the next field.
We didn't see the animal again and hoped it had found a good place to rest for the remainder of the day and not be disturbed by people and or dogs.
I don't think the woman in the background of the photo had any idea about the coyote racing by behind her. It wanted nothing to do with her little dog either. Thankfully she kept it on leash while visiting the park, unlike so many others.
Too often when I hear people in the parks telling others about the sighting of a coyote, it's seldom in a positive way. Like one of my friends said, it is like it is the big bad wolf. This coyote really wanted nothing to do with any body, human or dog, and was just trying to stay out of sight and rest. I'd hate to think what would have happened if someone's dog got in the coyote's face, in an aggressive manner, what could have come from that, and in the end it would be the coyote who got the blame for everything.
I always say that we live in our houses but the outdoors belongs to them. We need to understand, accept and respect that.
