Pics from a coyote den

[cameratrapcodger]

I've been busy sorting through several thousand clips from a coyote den, and wanted to share a few screen shots. The den has 4 openings, and we set 2 cameras there, one about 7 feet up in a cottonwood (14 feet from one burrow); the other camera on a stake at another burrow after the pups started to emerge. High winds caused false triggers even though we were using a Browning set for early morning, night, and evening hours. Growing grass soon blocked the view of the 2nd camera. It'll take at least one more breeding season to fill the gaps. The mother was suspicious of the second camera, at least when the light was going on. None of them paid much attention to the tree camera. The mother always nursed the 9 pups with her back to the tree camera, but her daughter of last year went through all the motions of nursing with a good broadside view. She couldn't leave her mom's pups alone, always summoned them from the den with that whining dog sound, arched her back just like mom, but didn't have the teats and milk. Then she'd groom and "jaw" the pups. A half hour later the little dopes would be back in the den, but would fall for the ploy all over again. The mom presumably moved the litter to an unknown site when the pups were about 7 weeks old. Lots of interesting stuff happened, but there are a lot of challenges to think about for next year.

Mom-with-dumplings.jpg

Nine-pups.jpg

Big sis & pup.png

Mom nursing 2.png

[pastorjim08]

Those are some great photos@

[ghosthunters]

These are great


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[nrake]

cool! thats a lot of pups

[Woody Meristem]

Great stuff Chris. Hopefully they'll use the same den next year. I found one this year but the pups apparently had been moved just before I put the camera there or just afterwards -- tracks when the camera was put in place but then no images from the camera so it may have malfunctioned.

[cameratrapcodger]

Thanks guys, I didn't mention the magpies, which is another story. They often visit the den mound for food scraps. Because the camera was only taking 1-second clips at night, I missed the regurgitation scenes. Good luck Woody with that den next year. Maybe we should both put cams out over the winter so they can get used to them.

[skyhorse]

Great photos, very interesting. Thanks for sharing....

[Mcam]

Very cool! She must have plenty of resources to have 9 pups. It takes a lot of food to get them going. Looking forward to see what you capture next year!

[cameratrapcodger]

The pups look to be the same size -- no runts. But one is shy. Most clips are of 8 pups. Nursing time is basically a game of musical teats with growling and tumbling ejections. Everyone jockeys for access, because mom only has 8 teats.

[westcocanuck2]

Well done Chris,
How did you find the Coyote den, are they typically difficult to come across? Can't wait to see some of the videos of pups.