Coyote Calls At Night

by Jim and Melanie

Chuck Jones

Our View From Iowa is not only about what we see. It is also about what we hear. Last night, while settling into bed, a distant emergency siren started to wail. Not far from our house is an interstate highway, fire and police stations, and a major university hospital system. The siren is a common sound. This time it was different.

Within seconds of the siren, a group of coyotes started to wail. There is a wooded area and open fields behind our house. Deer and turkey are common visitors. The coyote are less frequent visitors. But, we have heard them on several previous occasions. Sometimes, they run through within one or two hundred feet of our house yelping and whining to each other. It is always a treat to hear them. This audio sample is almost exactly as they sounded.

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Out the Back Window: Survival

We go for walks several times a week. There are often interesting things to note along the way. Sometimes we bring the camera. This time, we are glad we did. Nature is always showing scenes of the struggle for survival. The most fit or adapted will usually succeed. Here are a few examples of this principle.

We had to study this scene up close for a minute before we really grasped what we saw. The half-mouse was strange enough to see. But, the Brown Harvestman feeding on it was an odd sight. It looks like it has eaten half a mouse. Something had killed the mouse and eaten the front half. The Harvestman was an opportunist in the right place at the right time. It was getting some nourishment. By the way, the Brown Harvestman is not a spider and does not have very deadly venom.