Being it was a holiday, I slept in late this morning.
After I got up I peered out the window as I normally do. Some movement next to the beehives immediately caught my attention. “Probably just a deer,” I thought.
I watched it walk down the path in front of the beehives and into the manicured (cut grass) area of our yard. It was then that I noticed it wasn’t a deer - it was a coyote!
Once he was in the manicured area of our yard, the coyote turned around, lowered his head, froze, and intensely focused on the “scrub area” of our land. (The scrub area has high grass and a few trees.)
“I wonder what he’s looking at?” I thought.
Just then a small animal (I believe it was a cat) came ripping out of the scrub area at 90 MPH and ran directly toward the coyote. With lightning speed the coyote snatched the cat into its jaws and then gleefully walked back along the path adjacent to the beehives.
The speed at which the coyote snatched up the cat was amazing. It was a complete blur. Reminded me of a snake snatching a prey.
I then contemplated how lucky the coyote was… the cat ran directly to him! But a few seconds later I learned that luck had little to do with it. Because at that time I noticed another coyote trotting in the same direction the cat was running. Apparently one coyote was “pushing” the cat out of the scrub area while another coyote (the first one I saw) was waiting for it.
Smart animals, those coyotes are.
Anyway, it was an amazing sight. It is rare to even see a coyote during the day time, let alone watch them hunt.
Well glad you enjoyed the show, but I have to assume someone is heartbroken because their kittycat is missing. I live on a farm with a couple packs of coyotes just down the ridge at the coulee. I have 3 dogs to keep the bastards away from my animals, but they still have gotten 2 of my barn cats.
We see them quite frequently, and half heartly will shoot at them, but I know they keep the rodent, rabbit and when they get really lucky, the deer population down, so I guess the occasional kittycat is the price we pay.
While I admit I got a kick out of the show, I wish we didn’t have them (coyotes) around. They have decimated the rabbit population, which is a real bummer for those who enjoy rabbit hunting.
Perhaps, but then again it could have been a feral cat. We’ve got quite a few of those around here.
Wow, how cool for you! As for someone being heartbroken over missing kittycat? In an area with coyotes, I am placing bets on feral kitty. I love to watch animals in their natural habitats – especially the smart ones. Too bad you didn’t get video/pictures. We have a gorgeous little red fox that frequents our yard during the summer, and it is a thrill to watch him snatch up the mice and chomp them down. Of course, since he looks just like our long-haired chihuahua, I always have to do a double-take – the chihuahua is a housepet and wouldn’t know what to do with a mouse if he did see one!
I wonder how the waiting coyote knew where the cat was going to make it’s exit from the brush. Could it have positioned itself near a game trail, sniffed out the scent where the cat had passed before, or maybe the flushing coyote was altering it’s pursuit to steer the cat toward it’s stationary mate? Had to be one heck of a sight though, for sure.
I woke up late two Sundays ago and was in the kitchen making breakfast when I opened the shade to look into the back yard. A hawk had just taken up a perch on my fencepost (20 feet away) and pulled out a large mouse from his talon and proceeded to rip the flesh off in big bloody hunks.
Yeah, nature is cool, but sometimes it outs you off your appetite.
I’m not sure. My guess is that the waiting coyote was able to see the chasing coyote coming his way, and figured the cat was simply in front of him. And he might have been able to see the cat coming his way, too. But the grass is really thick and high in that area, so I have my doubts about it.
We have a local pack of coyote, and while I’m always afraid for the feral (and the not feral, just “allowed out”) cats around here, I have to admit I enjoy the nightly singing. Since our house backs up to forest preserve property and a creek, we get a lot of wildlife, and I’d rather listen to the coyote howls than whatever it is out there that murders ducks - it apparently doesn’t kill quickly, or the ducks just put up a hell of a (loud and sad) fight
