I inadvertently saved the life of a coyote today. I know that sounds a bit strange, however if you knew me, it might not sound so strange. As a naturalist and wildlife photographer I tend to get into some very interesting situations. This week I have returned to Yellowstone National Park for a second winter adventure. As always the landscape photography opportunities are amazing but I am here for the wildlife, in particular the wolves.
With this in mind my photo partner and I located a bison kill that a pack of wolves had made several days before. Figuring this was our best opportunity to get close enough to the wolves to get some images we decided to concentrate our efforts at this location. Every morning we would arrive at the break of day and begin the long process of waiting for something to happen. Sure, the wolves were there but they were to far away and the falling snow was making obtaining quality images very difficult. None-the-less we stayed put.
In the morning of the third day, while large fluffy snowflakes filled the air, all ten members of the pack got up and walked off single file, down the river bottom deep into the valley and well out of sight. Of course we were disappointed in this development but since there was nothing we could do we just waited.
We spent the rest of the day looking around for other wolves, returning back to the bison kill around 3 PM. Sitting in the car looking out at the snow was coming. A coyote had moved in on the kill since the wolves were absent. I am sure the coyote was happy to get a free meal courtesy of its larger cousin. It feed for several hours.
Around 4 PM we could see ten dark dots way out in the valley moving towards. It was the pack returning. We quickly set up our camera gear anticipating their return. Unfortunately for the coyote he couldn’t see the returning wolves from his vantage point. Knowing the rivalry between wolves and coyotes we knew this could be a very interesting encounter.
The wolves dropped into the river valley and thus out of site as they returned to their right-full kill. Suddenly the wolves popped up near the bison kill and caught the coyote red-handed. At first the coyote laid flat down in the snow and flattened its ears hoping he would go unnoticed, however these are wolves he was hiding from, not some near-sighted non-predator. The wolves spotted him right away. Knowing he was spotted the coyote sprung up to flee.
What I found amazing right away was the coyote didn’t run off to the right or left but instead turned and started running directly towards us without hesitation. All ten wolves start in hot pursuit. Five of the wolves in one line charged after the coyote, which meant they were running right at us. I thought this is amazing and I couldn’t believe our good luck.
The coyote ran directly up to us passing by to our right and then did something amazing, he laid down about 20 feet behind us and curled up into a ball as if to say, “tell the wolves I am not here”. The wolves wanted to get the coyote so bad they quickly surrounded us keeping back about 50 to 70 feet. This left us and the coyote completely surrounded by about 5 or six wolves. Again I thought that I couldn’t believe our luck. I was capturing one amazing image after another of wild wolves at point blank range. This is a wildlife photographers dream come true.
I also realized that we were being used by the coyote for protection. Somehow the coyote knew that if he got close enough to us and laid down the wolves wouldn’t come any closer and do you know what? He was right. The standoff lasted only about 5 or 6 minutes before the coyote got up. It moved closer to us drawing all the wolves over to our right side. Once all the wolves were concentrated on one side the coyote ran right in front of us to the opposite side and then really put on the speed leaving the wolves and us behind.
The wolves watched as the coyote ran as fast as it could away. The looks on the wolves faces said it all. “Ok you’ll get away this time Mr. Coyote but you won’t be so lucky next time”. About four of the wolves trotted up the mountain side while the remaining five or six returned to the kill. Shortly after visiting the kill the remaining wolves gathered together and started to howl allowing us to capture some amazing images. All total the event lasted about 15 or 20 minutes and I shot nearly 900 images. This was an amazing encounter that will be burned into my memory forever. Until next time…
Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels the US to study and photograph wildlife. He can be followed on twitter and facebook. He can also be found at www.naturesmart.com.