"Come here, look at this," urged my husband. It was bitterly cold Saturday when I rushed to his side at the patio door. "Is that somebody's dog... or is that a coyote?" I confirmed that it was, in fact, a coyote. Despite coyotes making their home in the nearby forest preserve, I hadn't seen one near my house in a long time. What made this sighting even more remarkable was that it was during the day and the coyote wasn't just passing through. Instead, we watched a small drama unfold.
The coyote circled the frozen pond on the neighboring common area,
then approached the drainage pipe.
After investigating the interior,
the disappointed coyote gave up and left around the other side of the pond.
I suspect that this coyote ventured this far into the neighborhood because the cold was keeping everyone inside. Coyotes generally stay away from people. Coyotes have adapted to suburban and urban environments, and have even been spotted on the streets of Chicago. Coyotes have spread across the country eastward, filling the niche created by the extermination of wolves. Most of the time, coyotes co-exist well with people, especially if people take reasonable precautions, such as not leaving food outside and supervising young children and small pets, even in a fenced yard. However, when coyotes become accustomed to people, they can become aggressive and even attack small dogs on leashes. It is only when they lose their fear of humans that they become a problem and need to be trapped and killed.
Fortunately, I don't have small pets or small children, so I welcome the presence of coyotes. They eat rabbits, voles, squirrels and even deer. Sadly, the Squirrelhaven squirrels were conspicuous by their absence on Saturday, and the coyote had to search elsewhere for its meal.