There You Are Red Hugh

I can get excited, not often, but sometimes, and some of those sometimes the excitement might relate to the smallest of things. Last night, for instance, I spotted Red Hugh; that is not a huge thing, I have seen him quite often over the past two or three years, but it has been a while since my last sighting, and with urban coyotes you just never know how long they will survive.

Anyway, while I make no claim to being any kind of a coyote expert, I have made enough observations of Red Hugh to notice an, apparent, pattern to our encounters. First though, and as often as not I see Red, who is a good-sized coyote, in the company of a smaller one. I have always assumed they are mates but, again, not an expert, so... who knows. So, the pattern I have noticed - when Red spots me riding towards him, he will make himself obvious, standing in the middle of the way, until I get a little too close, and only then moving off to the side. When he does move out of the way, he does not hide, but rather keeps himself visible, obvious, standing, watching from clearings. Red could easily disappear from view, while keeping an eye on me from his hiding spot. Instead, he seems to intentionally remain in view. Meanwhile, as I am watching him, taking photos, Mrs. Red Hugh is hightailing it up the road, not stopping, not looking back, until she is gone.

Well, anyway, the little game of distraction by one, allowing the other to "get away," is probably my imagination, a projection of human strategy onto a non-human, but it has happened enough to seem rather curious.Then again maybe Red is a special coyote.

The things you see while riding!

Red Hugh doesn't look as red standing in the shade