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Coyote sightings seem to be more frequent this time of year, including on Nashua Street in Somerville in late December or in Cambridgeport in mid-January. You can find coyotes in nearly every city and town in Massachusetts from Boston to the Berkshires. They are smart and adaptable creatures, so they can live in urban, suburban and rural places. You can find coyotes in deserts, in swamp lands, on the tundra and in dense forests. In other words, they are almost everywhere in North and Central America, from Panama to Alaska.
Some people think that if you see a coyote during the daytime there must be something wrong with the animal. But although coyotes are most active near dawn and dusk, they can be active at any time. You are more likely to see daytime coyotes during breeding season (January to March) or in cold weather, since it is warmer during daylight hours.
Coyotes feed on whatever they can find. These intelligent canine omnivores are remarkably adaptable. In one analysis of 1,429 coyote scats, rodents made up 42 percent of the coyote diet, followed by fruit (23 percent), deer (22 percent) and rabbits (18 percent). In urban areas, such as ours, coyotes might also eat roadkill, garbage, pet food, rats or geese. They also eat birdseed and animals that visit bird feeders. Just recently a pack of Boston coyotes worked together to kill a deer on the frozen Charles River near West Roxbury.
Coyote families live together in a pack, and they communicate with one another by howling. They might howl to warn other coyotes to stay out of their territory. They might howl to find other members of their family. In the summer, young coyotes might howl just to practice howling. A small family of coyotes can sound like a much larger band when they are all howling! During breeding season, which is now, young coyotes can be quite vocal as they try to find a mate and establish a territory.
Each coyote family stakes out its own territory. The parents are the alpha male and female. The family group might also include one or two adolescents (usually females) who help raise the pups. A coyote patrolling its territory might travel 2 to 30 miles in a day. If an intruder is sensed in its territory, the coyote might place itself in front of the den until it is ascertained that the intruder has moved away and is not a threat to the pups. One spring, a photographer told me about a coyote that followed a couple in MacDonald park in Medford. This photographer thought the coyote was stalking the pair. In all likelihood, the coyote was exhibiting escorting behavior – keeping an eye on the two to ensure they did not go near its pups.
Coyote populations are self-regulating – the population in a territory remains steady, because coyotes produce only as many offspring as a location can support. The alpha male and female are the only reproducing pair in a pack. If something happens to one or both, other coyotes replace them or move into the territory, keeping the population stable.
Coyotes mate during January, February or March. The females give birth in the spring (April or May) to four to eight pups. The parents and older offspring raise and protect the pups. After about nine months, the pups either leave the pack to find a mate and their own territory or stay with the parents to help raise the next generation. Adult coyotes can live in captivity for about 14 years but have a much shorter lifespan in the wild.
Because coyotes have a great deal of fur, including a thick undercoat, they look larger than they are. A typical adult eastern coyote weighs 30 to 35 pounds. They are often grayish-brown but can also be reddish or blackish. The tail is often black-tipped.
Coyotes sit atop the food chain, with few enemies except people. Coyotes help control rodent and deer populations, and in places coyotes have been exterminated, rodent populations increase greatly. Because of its size, if a coyote eats a poisoned rodent, it will probably not die. But rat poison makes a coyote less healthy and more susceptible to other illnesses, especially mange – a skin disease transmitted by a type of burrowing mite.
In mange, mites dig into the skin and cause itching from an allergic reaction to their feces. Crusts from infections on eyelids or inside ears can lead to vision or hearing difficulties. Infections on other parts of the body cause a coyote to lose its fur. The animal can then die of exposure to the cold. Mange tends to run in families, since coyotes sleep together during breeding season, and the mites can crawl from one animal to the next.
To help coyotes (and other canines such as foxes) stay healthy, do not use rat poison, which also affects animals that eat rodents including owls, hawks and eagles. Rodents are a problem in the city, but poisoning rat predators only makes the rodent problem worse.
Coyotes are fearful of humans and tend to avoid them. They can become habituated if people feed them, though. If you encounter a coyote in your yard, you can reinforce its fear of people by making loud noises, spraying it with a hose or tossing objects in its direction. Do not unintentionally feed coyotes: Remove food and water from outside your house, including spilled bird seed and pet food. Secure your trash. Close off places for coyotes to rest, such as spaces under porches or decks.
Answer to reader question
Rob V. asks: Where do bunnies and squirrels shelter during a snowstorm?
Good question. Our eastern cottontail rabbits are solitary and shelter in an existing burrow, a dense thicket or other cavity. In general, rabbits do better in the cold than in the heat because they have a layer of brown fat that generates heat on cold days.
On the other hand, snowstorms can be fatal to squirrels. During a storm, they conserve energy by remaining in their tree nests and wrapping their tails around their body. During a severe multiday storm, 30 percent to 40 percent of squirrels may perish. Once a storm passes, squirrels venture out again in search of food.
Have you taken photos of our urban wild things? Send your images to Cambridge Day, and we may use them as part of a future feature. Include the photographer’s name and the general location where the photo was taken.
Jeanine Farley is an educational writer who has lived in the Boston area for more than 30 years. She enjoys taking photos of our urban wild things.
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