sholio | (no subject)

Coyotes woke me up howling last night - well, I say "night", it was around 5 and the sun had been up for hours. They must have been pretty close to be that loud. I got up just on the off chance I could see anything from the window, but they weren't that close. I like listening to them; we had coyotes around where I grew up, so it's familiar, and this is the first year they've really been around here - Orion and I both spotted one along the highway a couple of years ago, but I think we must have had a pack move into the area just recently. Howling wolves are haunting and eerie - we have those too; it's a low, mournful wail that you usually hear at dusk in the winter - but coyotes just sound kind of cheerful and friendly to me with their high-pitched yipping voices.

Perusing wild coyote videos on Youtube (procrastination, thy name is me) I came across this hypnotically soothing video: One year on a game trail in Northern Minnesota. Game camera video footage of a very actively trafficked bear trail - lots of wild critters, very fun to watch!

ETA: From the department of "Nature, why are you like this," I give you ... rockhopper penguins. Especially the last half of the video where they're frantically and on the whole unsuccessfully trying to out-hop waves to reach their nesting grounds.

Anyway. Working now.

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We have coyotes in my very urban neighborhood in Florida! They occasionally kill pets, and there are people who think drastic measures must be taken against the coyotes (and who think small children will be next). I have not heard them. I saw one years ago, in the car with Brilliant Husband and progeny, and they did not see it and then didn't believe me for years—I must have seen a dog, they said—until the neighborhood Facebook group started erupting about what a terrible menace they are.

I'm with the people who note that the coyotes were here first, that they have not bothered any people, and that we'd do well to keep our pets inside at night.

No one has mentioned hearing them, now that I think about it. I wonder why?