Piece of Mind: Coyote sightings and Twitter critter tips

August 22, 2012|By Carol Cormaci

My sharp-eyed husband has noticed the same young adult coyote traveling on our street at about 7 a.m. and again during the dinner hour at least several days a week this summer. Our guess is that he's literally doing circles on his search for food, as he's always moving in an easterly direction when we happen to see him around our neighborhood, between Angeles Crest Highway and Commonwealth Avenue.

While Gil has had the most encounters with the wild canine, I have seen him on a few occasions, most eerily one evening last week when I pulled into our driveway on returning home from the office. While, through the magic of remote control, the garage door was in the process of opening, I glanced in my rearview mirror and caught sight of the coyote.

He had paused at the apron of our driveway and seemed to be staring me down via the mirror. It felt a little like he was sizing up my Toyota for dinner, but of course it's far more likely he was hoping a smaller, tastier morsel would amble out from the garage and bring an end to that evening's hunt.

By the time my car was parked, the coyote, apparently having discounted the possibility that he would enjoy a good meal at chez Cormaci, had moved on. Nonetheless I quickly hit the remote to shut the garage door, clambered out of my carriage and entered the house.

Feeling slightly relieved that we'd dodged a potential family tragedy, I picked up the cat (who had been waiting in the kitchen in anticipation of his own dinner) to give him a hug.

He clearly hates to be held, but endures the experience for at least a few squirmy seconds when he senses a plate of food might be in the offing. Our cat is every bit as much an opportunist as the coyote is, but seems nearly oblivious to the possibility that he could ever be a predator's victim.

After having waxed on about local bear visits in my two most recent columns, I thought I'd give you a break this week and not bring up the same subject. So much for those good intentions: One of our photographers, Raul Roa, stopped by my desk today and pleaded with me to get the word out that he's on a La Cañada Flintridge bear hunt (photographically speaking, that is, no guns involved).

1 | 2 | Next

|

|

|