Coyote & Crane

So strange! On a detour from our grocery trip we came across 3 young coyotes in the road (leading from the stream up to our house). When I slowly drove up two of them hopped off into the corn field, but one sat and looked at us and then became distracted with chasing grasshoppers!

I'd stopped the car and he didn't run off so I became worried that he would sit around and a farmer would come by and shoot him. So I got out of the car and clapped my hands at him and tried to shoo him off..

He backed a couple of rows into the corn and sat down to look at me... Like I was just the most interesting and unusual thing he'd ever seen!

I then drove up the hill to our house, picked up my camera, and returned to the bridge and found the following...
One coyote was crossing the bridge and I tried to get a photo, but it vanished into the weeds at the opposite side. We drove on across to where he'd gone & when I looked back at the other side of the bridge there was another sitting at the edge of the corn field looking at me.

Then as I headed back to the car I saw a very LARGE bird. I snapped a few pictures of it, trying to figure out what it was... Probably a heron or crane.

Suddenly, another coyote scurried along beside the weeds at the edge of the stream, then dashed across behind the bird... The coyote was very focused on the bird and didn't notice me at all.

As I returned (again) to the car my daughter yelled out... "Another coyote!!" Sure enough here came another coyote running up from the creek toward the bean field, just like the one I'd already photographed. I wasn't as quick this time and couldn't catch him (her?) in action... But it stopped at the edge of the field to sit down and look at me. So I did manage to get a couple of pictures of it!

It wasn't until I loaded the images on the computer that I noticed that the coyotes weren't the only ones on the hunt today... The crane (heron?)

has a BIG snake in its beak!!!!

What an exciting day! - Joyce Brandon