Coyotes 101

On my Animal Sightings in Yellowstone post, I made mention of coyote sightings. We were likely enough to see 5 coyotes (or maybe 3, then 2 of that same party later on) all very busy doing coyote stuff, playing, fighting and eating. Adam got some great shots of them. Here are some scenes:

Coyote staring us down.

Walking around. I love this photo- untouched snow
except for the lone coyote's footprints.

Close up, he's paying attention to us and his fellow coyote now with his ears back.

Then his friend joins him.

After playtime, they get ready to rumble. Look at his stance!

They rolled around fighting for a while. At first we didn't know if it was
play-fighting or serious fighting. But what we saw next showed that
they were fighting to see who would get to eat first.....

The victor is gnawing on an elk carcass. You can see the outline of this vertebrae in the snow. Through the binoculars
we had a very clear view. It was like the Discovery Chanel or Planet Earth but live!

We had a great time watching these guys for a while. You never know what cool animal behaviors you'll see between skis in Yellowstone!