Larch Creek Birds

What the birds (and frogs) are saying at a creek in western Washington
Plate 42
Coyote
Mivart, St. George Jackson, 1890
Mammal

Coyote

Canis latrans
Canidae
Mammal
Winter visitor. Expected here roughly Sep to May.
Field marks
A lean, grey-brown wild dog with a bushy black-tipped tail carried low, pointed ears and the narrow, thoughtful face of something that has read the fine print.
Male & female
Males are slightly larger; otherwise alike.
Voice
Yips, barks and rising howls, usually from a group at dusk and before dawn. Two coyotes can sound like twelve; this is deliberate.
Diet
Rodents, rabbits, fruit, insects, carrion and, given the chance, small pets and poultry.
Habitat
Everywhere from wilderness to city parks. A creek corridor is a coyote highway.
Nesting
Pups are born in a den in April; the family group hunts together through autumn, which is when the chorus gets biggest.
Size
20–35 lb, about 4 ft nose to tail-tip: roughly the weight of a bag of dog food, which is ironic.

Group howling peaks in late winter, in the breeding season, and again in autumn when the year's pups join in and discover they can.

Season how expected it is here, week by week

50%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecheard at the creektoday
Fig. 1. BirdNET's range model for this location: the chance this species is present in each week of the year. Orange ticks mark weeks it has actually been heard at the creek; the dashed line is today.

At the creek 9 calls on 2 days, first Oct 30, last Oct 31

1200:00 — 0 calls001:00 — 0 calls02:00 — 0 calls03:00 — 0 calls304:00 — 0 calls05:00 — 0 calls06:00 — 0 calls607:00 — 0 calls08:00 — 0 calls09:00 — 0 calls910:00 — 0 calls11:00 — 1 calls12:00 — 2 calls1213:00 — 0 calls14:00 — 0 calls15:00 — 2 calls1516:00 — 1 calls17:00 — 0 calls18:00 — 1 calls1819:00 — 2 calls20:00 — 0 calls21:00 — 0 calls2122:00 — 0 calls23:00 — 0 callssunrisesunset
Fig. 2. When it calls: all detections by hour of day (today's sunrise and sunset shown).
47Oct 2 — 0 callsOct 3 — 0 callsOct 3Oct 4 — 0 callsOct 5 — 0 callsOct 6 — 0 callsOct 7 — 0 callsOct 8 — 0 callsOct 9 — 0 callsOct 10 — 0 callsOct 10Oct 11 — 0 callsOct 12 — 0 callsOct 13 — 0 callsOct 14 — 0 callsOct 15 — 0 callsOct 16 — 0 callsOct 17 — 0 callsOct 17Oct 18 — 0 callsOct 19 — 0 callsOct 20 — 0 callsOct 21 — 0 callsOct 22 — 0 callsOct 23 — 0 callsOct 24 — 0 callsOct 24Oct 25 — 0 callsOct 26 — 0 callsOct 27 — 0 callsOct 28 — 0 callsOct 29 — 0 callsOct 30 — 2 callsOct 31 — 7 callsOct 31
Fig. 3. Calls per day over the last 30 days.

From the encyclopedia

The coyote is a species of canine also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, and brush wolf. It is native to North America, and it is smaller than its close relative, the gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecological niche as the golden jackal does in Eurasia, but the coyote is generally larger.
From Wikipedia, "Coyote", CC BY-SA 4.0.