Coyote and Elk
It all started as I noticed some movement on the great flat meadow below us. I had watched the elk herd yesterday and walked to within a half mile or so of it. We were camped along a high road in western Montana on an open slope with copses of pine and aspen along the hill sides. Over looking us were the great rocky tops of mountains still patched with snow in places the sun rarely attended.
The evening left us serenaded by a variety of birds more common like White-crowned Sparrows, Lazuli Buntings, Vesper Sparrows and as the evening darkened the stranger call of the Common Poorwill and Common Nighthawk. And then the singular trill of the Sandhill Cranes. Amongst this were the various bugles of the elk down in the valley; softer and more modulated than the sound bull elk make in the fall rut.
On this morning I got out the glasses and looked at what was moving. The heat was up and the air was a swirl of currents and heat waves. I could hardly make out the shape but something was definitely moving out there.
I brought out the camera and tripod to try for a steadier shot and also to zoom in more. A few images revealed at first alone wolf, but on closer look, the bushy tail and foxy face says coyote to me.
I watch the coyote move across the plain. A pair of Sandhill Cranes further off did not sieze the coyote’s attention. It headed for a specific area and scared off a raven or perhaps a magpie. It bent down as if feeding and I guessed some carrion was there that animals fed off.
Further to the right at the edge of the meadow and alongside the creek grazed the Elk, all cows and calves, resting and grazing. Closer to the coyote on the edge of the same meadow was a lone cow elk, grazing and watching alternately. It watched the cranes and at some point spied the coyote and here is where it got more interesting.
The cow bugled and unexpectedly (to me and the coyote at least) a whole troop of cow elks was running toward the coyote. The young calves were running close behind the mothers as they ran up onto the rise where the coyote was now fleeing. The cow in the lead was clearly the matriarch; for once the coyote was chased into the streamside willows the other cows and calves turned heel and walked back to where they had been grazing.
The matriarch however was not content and stood standing overlooking the willows and stream where the coyote disappeared. Soon enough she was down there too and disappeared herself until she emerged apparently satisfied the coyote was gone for good. She then took herself back to the herd.
Below is the video I took of the incident. It was about 3/4 of a mile away and the heat makes the image unclear. It opens with coyote walking the meadow. In the upper right two Sandhill Cranes make an appearance. A Magpie flies into to feed off the suspected carion. Then the first cow appears. Soon the video cuts to the calvary…
