Coyote Party

Yesterday I posted about our neighborhood Tryst House. So today I thought I'd continue the neighborhood theme which is particularly relevant because it is the theme around which Katherine's first grade curriculum is built. Except I'm sure the first grade teacher won't cover Tryst Houses. But they might cover coyotes because coyotes live in a lot of neighborhoods in Los Angeles, including our neighborhood.

Coyotes are all around us. Literally. We see them trotting down the street. We see them hunting on the hill behind our house. We hear them crunching through the dry leaves on the hill behind our house every night. Apparently our hill is a popular coyote highway.

Occasionally we witness what everyone in the neighborhood refers to as "coyote parties." This is when every single coyote in the neighborhood gathers for, well, a party. This involves howling very loudly for a long time. This howling comes from all different directions. Once the party has been announced all the coyote party-goers gather for the party which means they all suddenly appear behind our house, in front of our house, on the street. Everywhere. And they're all running. No one is quite sure exactly what happens at the coyote party itself. Although we assume it involves eating an especially hearty and delicious meal. Hopefully not someone's beloved pet. A few doors down from us a bold coyote snatched a little Shih-Tzu dog right off its front lawn while it was relieving itself one evening. The coyote was gone before the appalled owner could even get up and start running after it. And don't even think about letting your cat out around here.

Los Angeles gets such a hard rap about so many things, but integrating with coyotes is one thing I think it does pretty well (as long as you keep a tight hold of your pets). I love living among coyotes and hearing them howl. I love that among all this urban grit wildlife still thrives. Sometimes I fantasize about living on a big horse ranch in Montana, or somewhere like that. And for a few minutes when I hear those coyotes howl and see them galloping by within an arm's reach I feel like I'm connected to nature in the same way I would be on a big ranch. And I've still got Trader Joe's and a fro-yo spot a stone's throw away.

And there's a lot more than just coyotes around here, let me tell you. There's a raccoon or a skunk or a bobcat or a something that likes to ride the girl's ride-on tractor sometimes. At least sometimes I hear the tractor moving all around the back patio. I wish I could get a picture of that for you. Or a picture of one of these big, brazen, glossy- coated- well- fed- coyotes that we see. But for now you'll have to be satisfied with this audio clip of the start of a coyote party. If you have pets you might want to send them out of the room. When Cooper hears this clip he gets a big poofy tail and hides.




ps: This is my first time including an audio clip. If it doesn't work please let me know, although I can't guarantee that I can fix it!

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