TALK STORY

Two-coyote morning at The Ponds!

POSTED BY: NIKI2
UPDATED: Monday, March 25, 2013 08:24
SHORT URL: http://bit.ly/14qFDzX
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Saturday, March 16, 2013 9:01 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


No, sorry, didn't get any video/pix, I was too busy hanging on for dear life and trying to stop the damned huskies! One of these days I'm gonna manage to get film of them, 'cuz they're so purty...

I posted a video back when Riona asked about Anthony's and my absence over in RWED of a trip around The Ponds; today it was totally socked in, the way we like it best and when we have our best shot of catching the local coyotes. And sure enough, we spotted 'em right where we usually do, crossing the big meadow out by the trail to the marsh. We ALMOST managed to intercept the second one, then got to chase 'em until they pulled off the berm, and the damned huskies pulled the sulky right off the berm after 'em. One of these days I'm gonna pay for my stupidity, but it's such FUN, and as always I was able to stop them right at the barbed wire, with only two wet feet to pay for it and having to pull all the blackberry vines off Kochyok.

Got the guys back up on the berm and started to continue the usual route when Tashi took a sharp left onto a dead-end...damned if the coyotes hadn't decided to try getting back to the ponds that way. So, as usual, they got about twenty feet away from us and then stood there staring at us (were I anthropomorphically inclined, I'd say "laughing at us"), waiting patiently for us to go away. Tashi was most displeased...he wanted to go PLAY!!

Great way to start the day...the migratories are in full swing now, we've got Shovelers, Canvasbacks, Cinnamon Teal aplenty, and my favorites, Mergansers--the Punk Rockers of the bird world. We did our first evening run of the year yesterday and I managed to get some film of the Mergansers, with the usual Cormorants and a shot of a Tern--which I've never seen out there before. I love it when the migratories are in, nice change from the inevitable Mallards.



Also got a pleasant surprise on yesterday's run. I run with two local groups, one of which has utilized The Ponds for years. Recently while packing up one of the employees wandered over and said I was no longer "legal" out there--there's now a sign with the rules, and it says 'no dog sledding' (??). Was quite upset, as we count on The Ponds, it's close, one of the few places the dogs really RUN (always hope of a coyote) and we love it out there at dawn.

The other urban mushers were upset too--certainly when we gather there to run together, it's a cacaphony of excited huskies, and the speeds we travel have probably brought complaints from some of the bird watchers (who I'm sure feel they "own" the Ponds!), but people bicycle, jog, walk, and walk their dogs out there all the time, so what the hell?

I called the GM out there and he said they were having problems with people stealing the solar panels, letting dogs off leash, photographers chasing the wildlife around (!) and getting off the paths, but I said what has that to do with us? He said we kick up dust, requiring more cleaning of the solar panels (oh, come ON!!!), that was all. I wrote him a letter explaining I wasn't "dog sledding" and that it's the only way I can get out to enjoy the Ponds, and I was going to go to one of their board meetings. Then we decided not to bother, and just started going again to see what happened. We go right before dawn, so there's virtually nobody there, and if necessary I would play the "disability card", since sulkies were originally created for the disabled, I AM disabled, and the sulky is the only way I can BE out there. Nobody has said a word.

So yesterday an Animal Control truck pulled in just after we did. Considered playing it safe and waiting for him to leave, but decided screw it and started harnessing the dogs. He wanders over and asks if that's a "dog sled" (for heaven's sake!) and I explained the above. He was real nice, said he'd never seen anything like it and how neat it was I was willing to go to all that trouble to get my dogs and myself out.

I couldn't resist--he mentioned "there's a guy and his wife who do the same thing up in Fairfax": That's the couple that heads up BAM (Bay Area Mushers), one of the groups I run with. They are real mushers in Winter, and run/train their pack with scooters and by bike jorring in off season. I started with them, but have discovered they have a really bad attitude about their dogs, let them go after other dogs they pass (!!!) and the guy even BRAGS that he can tell whether it was a local cat or a feral one his dog killed when it gets loose (not uncommon, apparently). Their problem dog badly injured a smaller dog once and he tried to avoid responsibility, so I've pretty much stopped running with them. So I just had to remark (smiling to myself), "Oh, yeah, that's the Schreibers...bet you've had a few run-ins with them". I won't quote him, suffice it to say he HAS, and had a few things to say about it--with all of which I fully agree!

Last thing he said before he left was that if anyone asked, as far as Animal Control is concerned I'm a responsible dog owner and there's no reason I shouldn't sulky on the Ponds. So I'm "officially kosher", which is neat. Can't do anything for BAM; I'm sorry for them that they've lost The Ponds, but not breaking my heart over it. Ever since I heard about how Ed behaves, I've lost respect for them. I'll still run with them, but I don't get the chance often anyway as they can run hills and I like to get my guys out at dawn when it's coolest. I learned all this from the new, splinter group I found who run up Sonoma way, and I'm enjoying running with them a lot, as they go out every weekend morning and I'm willing to drive up there to learn new trails and run with them.

Just 'cuz, here's day before yesterday's run over at Pt. Isabel. It's a giant dog park just above Oakland, and part of the S.F. Bay Trail runs right past it, so we do an hour or so's run on the Bay Trail, then I turn the guys loose at Pt. Isabel and they do what they do best: Hunt small helpless critters. Little interest in other dogs, playing, or (gawd forbid) paying any attention to ME, all they want to do over there is sniff, find holes and dig. What the hell, after a good run it's their time to do with as they please, so who am I to complain?



"My Husband the Puppy-Whipped":









They, of COURSE, do not run rough shod over ME like that... ;o)

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Saturday, March 16, 2013 1:17 PM

BYTEMITE


Wow, coyotes. But does it also make you nervous? Because coyotes can cause some problems so close to human settlements. Of course, they wouldn't be a problem if we weren't encroaching on their territory.

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Saturday, March 16, 2013 2:46 PM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Ahhh, Byte, there's no "close to"...coyotes ARE Urban Predators. They're everywhere, have become a serious problem in So. Ca. and, well, here:
Quote:

The world is undergoing the largest wave of urban growth in history. In 2008, for the first time in history, more than half of the world’s human population will be living in towns and cities.

Many new Urbanites have long, furry muzzles, piercing, yellow eyes and are very, very wily. They’re coyotes.


"A coyote (without a metrocard!) takes a ride on a light rail train in Portland, Oregon, in 2002."

Until recently, scientists who study wildlife thought coyotes couldn’t live in heavily populated areas. Wild carnivorous animals and humans don’t typically mix. But, as previously reported, those scientists were proven wrong. There have been coyote sightings in dozens of U.S. cities — Chicago, Portland, Seattle, even New York City. Like the fox, the skunk and the raccoon before it, the coyote is the latest predatory animal to make the city its home.

About 5 miles from Chicago O’Hare International Airport is the smallest coyote territory ever found, which takes up all of a third of a square mile. Coyotes surviving in such a small area means they have plenty of food on which to survive. “They’re finding everything they need right there, in the suburbs of Chicago,” Stan Gehrt, an Ohio State University researcher, said in a statement. “It amazes me.” Regular dumpster-divers might not find this so surprising, with edible non-consumer (that’s straight off the store shelf, into the dumpster) waste in America alone totaling about 9.3 billion pounds per year. (Factoring in “individual post-consumer”, some reports come out with annual US food waste closer to 25 million tons!)

Unlike in rural areas, urban coyotes are the top predator — there’s no animal above them on the local food chain. Gehrt said humans are the only animals that pose a threat to urban coyotes, and the wild canines have taken some remarkable steps to avoid encounters with us.

They’re doing things we didn’t think they could do,” he said. “They became totally nocturnal. They’ll eat human food. They became really good at finding natural prey, even in areas of concrete and steel.”

Gehrt said coyotes now have longer life expectancies in downtown Chicago than they do just 50 miles away in the cornfields of rural Illinois, where they have to dodge trappers and hunters to stay alive. His research has revealed some surprises: For example, unlike their rural kin, urban coyotes are monogamous, sticking with one mate for life. That’s pretty rare in the animal kingdom, he said. In comparing his findings about coyote survival in cities to research by another group on those living in rural areas, Gehrt has found that the urban coyote pup survival rate is five times higher than the rate for rural pups.


We've got tons of 'em, and we love seeing them. They're only a problem for people who have small dogs or cats and let them run loose (or, where coyotes are particularly prevalent, let their pets in the back yard at night--coyotes can get into just about ANY enclosed space, over, under, around or through). Tashi's met the locals up on the Divide--he ran up, everyone sniffed everyone, and that's that. Multiple coyotes could pose a problem for him alone, but then neither is allowed off leash 99% of the time anymore.

And ours appear to be monogomous too, the ones out on the Divide are a pair, sighted frequently, and a few months ago people started talking about seeing SIX--four pups. I counted four a few days ago out at the Ponds--too far away to be very exciting (the guys disagreed) and it looked like at least two were smaller than the others. So apparently we have a "family" out there.

Coyotes aren't dangerous for US--not now anyway. Given what I believe is coming...well, I won't get into that and hopefully I'll be long gone before climate change causes what I imagine is coming. For now, and around here where everything is protected, we've got mountain lions on The Mountain, coyotes, boar, and they're all quite happy because there's plenty to eat--the coyotes are the only ones who come into town after pets, and only because they're easy pickings. Who wouldn't rather hop a fence and grab a free meal rather than chase down a rabbit or something?

It's not just us encroaching, as it is with so much other wildlife. It's that they're good at what they do, they're smart and courageous enough to figure out how to invade OUR territory. Given they're good at it, they're propagating, and expanding. Just like we did everywhere. Sauce for the goose... ;o)

You won't like one sentence out of that article..."The animal’s presence in urban areas is an early indicator for what is to come: larger predators like wolves, mountain lions, and bears." Bears have already increased in places like Reno, Nev., Missoula, Mont., and Boulder, Colo. In some Eastern European cities, brown bears are foraging through trash at night, “acting like raccoons but hundreds of pounds heavier.” Eep. Now bears, no; they are one of the few animals I have NO interest in, thank you!


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Sunday, March 17, 2013 4:59 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!



Cool thread, but as I read the title, the Dr Who fan in me saw something completely different.



Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured... but not everyone must prove they are a citizen

Resident USA Freedom Fundie

" AU, that was great, LOL!! " - Chrisisall

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Sunday, March 17, 2013 8:45 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


I know, hee, hee, hee...the thought intrudes on MY brain from time to time as well. Whovians unite!

ETA: IT TAKES TOO LONG FOR NEW EPISODES TO APPEAR AND THERE AREN'T ENOUGH OF THEM EACH YEAR, dammit!


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Sunday, March 17, 2013 12:41 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!


Quote:

Originally posted by Niki2:

I know, hee, hee, hee...the thought intrudes on MY brain from time to time as well. Whovians unite!

ETA: IT TAKES TOO LONG FOR NEW EPISODES TO APPEAR AND THERE AREN'T ENOUGH OF THEM EACH YEAR, dammit!



Tell me about it! In 2 weeks, we'll get the " new " episodes on BBC America. Problem is, they aired 3 months ago, over the "pond", on BBC 1 ! Grrrr!

Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured... but not everyone must prove they are a citizen

Resident USA Freedom Fundie

" AU, that was great, LOL!! " - Chrisisall

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Thursday, March 21, 2013 12:25 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


Seen the first part of season 7, and waiting for the 2nd in a week or so.

Thanks for posting this Niki. Love the idea of you and your sulky and hope you can whizz around the ponds with no impediments of the beaurocratic kind.

Pond means something different here btw. It's somewhere you'd keep goldfish in your garden, basically. Anything else is usually a lake. I know in the UK, they also have 'tarns', which is a term I love.

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Monday, March 25, 2013 8:24 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Yeah, Magons, well, most bodies of water you guys have down there are bigger than ours around here, soooo... ;o)

Our problem appears to be solved; nobody's said "boo" to me out there since that one guy told us we were "illegal", and we're back to going several times a week. Now with Animal Control behind me, I'm guessing I've got no problems. Don't expect any, anyway; given I wrote to the G.M. and he never replied, I'm guessing he doesn't want to deal with it. What BAM does is up to them (and I'm guessing they're just staying away); me, they seem to have no problem with. Goodie!


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