Thursday, September 6, 2012

Look Closely

Enlarge the picture if need be, and look again.

Beautiful, and perhaps too habituated for its own good. But around here, we share the space. I think that makes us lucky. Us humans, at least.

Stay tuned. We're about to have a contest here on the ol' PDP! Everyone can enter and everyone can vote. There will be several winners and I will give actual prizes.

Tomorrow I'll announce the details.

28 comments:

dive said...

Ooooh! I see him/her (difficult to tell which as Blogger won't let me enlarge your photo, Petrea).
Awesome!
Where did you take the picture? How close to home did you find real wildlife?
Oh, and thanks for putting my favourite Joni song in my head; it can happily stay there all day.

Dina said...

Oh yeah!! I can't believe he is just sitting there waiting for you to see him and take his picture!
Lucky you, Petrea!

Kalei's Best Friend said...

They camouflage well don't they? Hope we don't have to track down one and snap a pic!. Last time I saw one it was trash night.. yep a pack was out.

Susan Campisi said...

They *do* camouflage well. What a great sighting. Is this a Hahamongna beauty?

Petrea Burchard said...

This beauty is one of a pair living in the lower arroyo. Others along the trail (it was busy!) said these two are regulars. They're comfortable being near the trail, which may not be a good thing.

Bummer. I'd forgotten about Blogger not enlarging. Dina, your photos always enlarge just fine. I wonder what I'm doing wrong?

We get a lot of coyotes around here. They're not hard to spot. Ordinarily I don't get one to pose for me, though.

Ann Erdman said...

Where's Waldo?! The coyote is getting some rest while being on the alert. It's the exquisite call of the wild.

Bellis said...

Oh, what a beauty! I wonder if the Lower Arroyo coyotes think they're invisible? They don't bother anyone walking along there. My dog sees them, but doesn't react at all - maybe because they don't have dog scent? Apart from neighborhood cats (including mine) their main food source is the homeless camps. Perhaps one day you'll discover them - there are many, but they're well hidden.

I'm already excited about tomorrow!

BettyS said...

Petrea - this reminds me of those 400-piece jigsaw puzzles I used to do, where 350 of the pieces looked alike. Life was slow growing up in the country and those filled many an hour. Love it!

LOLfromPasa said...

Aw......! Nice reward to looking a bit closer :).

John Sandel said...

There's an ant in the lower right corner, too.

Petrea Burchard said...

Boz didn't have the faintest idea there were coyotes a few yards away. The coyotes certainly saw us seeing them. One got up and left immediately, but this one stayed and made eye contact. That is a moment one doesn't forget.

Petrea Burchard said...

However, the ant refused to look at me.

Trish said...

The coyote is a gem, they don't often stand still for humans! I've shared moments with more than a few coyotes, but never gotten good pics of them since they always take off quickly!

The ant, I'm afraid, stomped off when P took the pic.

Gina said...

Oooo. Great picture. We actually get them in our neighborhood (Bungalow Heaven) quite often - but they are not nearly so well camouflaged amongst the bungalows.

Petrea Burchard said...

I p'd him off, Trish.

We get coyotes around here, too, Gina. More than we did before the Station Fire.

Katie said...

How lucky you are to get close enough to have real eye contact (and to take this great photo). Funny how similar this coyote is to a dog, but how different the reaction is to seeing a wild coyote.

Margaret said...

Oh! I want a prize.

Adele said...

So cool how he is blending in. I'm a chicken, though, and I'm not sure I would have liked to share that moment. Very glad you did, though, so I can enjoy it from the safety of my phone.

Oh, and what Margaret said!!!

Petrea Burchard said...

Katie, although I'd be interested to see his reaction I'm glad Boz didn't notice the coyote. Fierce hunter that he is, you know.

Ooh, contest interest! Yay! I love that people want prizes even though they don't know what the prizes are. Prizes are fun no matter what. We'll start that whole shebang at 12:01am tomorrow.

Bellis said...

I'm staying up past midnight.

Pasadena Adjacent said...

sweeeet - hope you have a big jpg file on this.

Petrea Burchard said...

Post is ready. 12:01.

I do, PA. I don't know how to make it show up bigger here, though. I give up.

Laura M said...

Gina, I lived in Bungalow Heaven 22 years ago and we had a lone coyote that would wander around. I've since learned that there are urban coyotes who don't live in the wild; they make dens in residential neighborhoods. That's probably what your coyotes are doing.

Bellis, I lost one of my cats to a coyote, too. He was orange, but my two black cats have gotten along fine in Altadena. Camoflage.

Ms M said...

Good catch on ones that are camouflaged so well. (I'm counting the ant)

When I was a kid I remembering hearing coyotes howl at night when the trains passed by.

Petrea Burchard said...

A gorgeous, chilling sound, Ms. M.

Dina said...

Petrea, I still use the old editor in Blogger which allows the photos to enlarge. You can revert to it under Settings/Global Settings.
They just put up a notice that it will be removed in a few days, though. Let's hope not.
I really don't grasp it--why would Blogger think that bloggers don't need to enlarge blog photos??

TheChieftess said...

I'm afraid I don't have any fondness for coyotes...
I've had cats all my life and have lived in the foothills for most of it... my little Sadie had a close encounter with a coyote when we were in Glendale. I was at my computer when I heard a noise and I ran out to check the back yard as I knew one or two of the cats was outside. I got to the back door and saw Sadie under the patio table in the classic cat arch with tail straight up and eyes bugging out...I opened the door, and within a few seconds Sadie realized the door was open and bolted in...running from one end of the house to the other and diving under our bed. In the meantime, I looked into the yard and there was a coyote, standing in the middle of the yard. Daisy came to the door and sauntered out...by the time she realized the coyote was there, he had turned and started back up the hill. Daisy did the good dog thing and chased it to the wall barking. Turns out, the coyote lived behind our neighbors house on the hill above us. The only reason both cats escaped any more confrontations with it is, I'm sure, because of Daisy!!!
I never hear coyotes up here, but I did see one in the yard awhile back...fortunately, the cats rarely get outside up here...and actually, Mountain Lions are more of a threat than coyotes!!!

Petrea Burchard said...

They're definitely a fact of life around here, Chieftess.