While photographing the Long-Tailed Weasel in yesterday’s post, I was joined by a fellow weasel enthusiast. We all just sat together amidst the fields, keeping a watchful distance from each other, until the Coyote settled in for a mid-afternoon snooze.
Few things in wildlife make me happier than spending an afternoon in a field watching the tiny murder machines more commonly known as weasels pop in and out of their holes.
When I saw this Coyote napping on top of a knoll in Yellowstone, I knew I had to get a photo of it showing the off the incredible winter scenery. The only problem was that a napping Coyote looks somewhere between a rock and a lump. As I told a bunch of people who asked what I was watching, “Okay, you see that rock on top of the little hill? Yes? Okay, that rock is a Coyote.” Also, it was about 10 degrees Fahrenheit.
Fortunately, I had plenty of layers, so I picked the perfect spot, waited a couple of hours, and eventually was rewarded with this photo of a Coyote taking a big post-nap stretch in a winter wonderland. The weather really cooperated, with the sun casting just enough of a shadow to highlight the Coyote, but not so much that the photo was ruined.
On my first morning in Yellowstone, I didn’t quite have the hang of doing photography in gloves, which mean I lost most of my shots. For whatever reason, I managed to get the shutter all the way down for this composition. I really liked the wider version of this shot, but the silver lining to losing it is that I got forced to keep a different kind of composition than I usually go with.
Normally a photo this busy might not even survive my initial cull. But, this is my first time ever getting a portrait of a Gray Fox, so it stays. I’ve hiked or camped in these hills about a dozen times. In that whole time, I’ve only seen a fox twice, and one of those times was an encounter that only lasted a few seconds.
I barely made out this fox through some dense fog as it hunted near a trail. As I got closer, it bounded into the bushes, and I thought for sure I had spooked it. It turned out it was just hunting, and had decided to use a log as the base for its next attack. I got to spend 15 minutes watching the fox pounce, groom, and inspect the underbrush for signs of potential prey before it zoomed off into the forest.
This Coyote found a comfortable hillside from which to watch the sunset.
There’s a golf course in the Bay Area where it’s really easy to photograph Red Foxes. They’re very approachable because a community member feeds them. Trays of chicken parts distributed to the foxes on a regular basis. Apparently she thinks the foxes are vermin, and feeds them to keep them from eating the food she leaves out for a feral cat colony. It’s a very Bay Area scene. While I don’t judge the people who go to photograph them (it’s not like they’re doing the feeding), I’ve never felt like going to photograph a non-native Bay Area species that’s getting fed.
When I came upon this Red Fox in Yellowstone, I was briefly delighted to see it in its natural habitat before it walked right towards me and struck a classic calendar pose. It wandered off to clean up beneath a picnic table once it realized I wasn’t a paying customer. But when it struck a pose in front of snow-capped mountain as the sky popped off in the background, I admit I pressed the shutter button. Please don’t judge me.
Also please don’t feed wildlife, ever. After it got sick of me, the fox headed out onto the road to beg for food from an oncoming car.
An American Bison looking nonplussed as it stands in front of the iconic Beartooth Mountains.
