We live on a residential street in a built-up neighbourhood that some would consider downtown Toronto, but not far from a large cemetery and the Humber river valley.
Here’s our local coyote (one of them) making his rounds, 10:00am yesterday and the day before. Both days he strolled up the block, politely stepping aside onto front lawns to let traffic go by. He stopped about half way, went up on someone’s lawn, then came back down the street. I hope no one is leaving food out.
About a hundred metres from where he stopped is the local primary school (JK-5) and day care.
The closest park to our new location, 2 blocks away and in a built-up area of Chicago, has a regular coyote like that. Many times my daughter has walked her tiny dog there but then picked her up to bring her back. Too much like a tasty tidbit to be walking on leash when the coyote is there.
My wife teaches at a local university and during their departmental walk in the woods on Tuesday saw a big, well fed coyote with thick winter fur.
Foxes are the usual canine trouble makers around my neighbourhood, and two took up residence in a nearby, unmaintained back yard this summer. Our little black cat Vanta decided to try enforcing turf boundaries, picking on the kit, and got chased off by mummy fox.
I’ve long assumed that we have them in our neighborhood, & the other day a neighbor confirmed seeing one in our yard… I’d seen one a couple of miles from home, but in broad daylight (which seemed weird to me, so I reported it to animal control, & they set me straight).
We had a litter of kits under our porch this past spring (as shared at TOS):
The foxes moving on is why there are now coyotes. The two species are usually not found together unless there is a vast supply of prey, because they basically eat the same stuff. And by stuff, I mean cute little critters. So you’ll have one or the other in a habitat, usually not both.
We have at least one fox in our pretty suburban neighborhood. I saw her slip into the storm drain. I worry about the local outside kitty. Her humans have tried very hard to keep her inside, but she started out as an abandoned kitten gone feral and is not having an indoor life. She’s a Houdini for getting out and the fox might decide she’s worth eating
Even though we’ve had the foxes for years, it was only after the kitty moved in that I noticed fewer birds visiting our bird/bee/anyone thirsty water bowl.
We also had a bobcat and her kitten here a few years ago. Though I think the local wildlife rescue trapped them and relocated them somewhere more appropriate with better survival odds
The Gavião Carijó, AKA roadside hawk, was there, perched on the satellite dish, taking care of his business, thinking about life, the universe and everything else, when a Kiskadee appeared out of nowhere and chased him away with pecks on his head.
This is Lillian on our back porch. She’s a little timid, but not too timid to come up every night even if the neighborhood cats are there. (They just sit and watch her.)
