Toronto Wildlife in the News

It's been some time since our last post. While it would be fun to go out and look at wildlife every day forever and ever, sadly sometimes other aspects of life intrude.

But it's worth mentioning that yours truly was featured (sort of) in a good article at Inside Toronto, part of a whole series on wildlife in Toronto. The article leads with my chance coyote meeting a few years back, and so I thought I'd throw up a couple of new heretofore unseen images from that day. Not sure why I didn't put these two shots up the first time.

The article also reveals the secret location of Area 51, something I vowed I'd never reveal. I did reveal it though, to the first reporter who asked! Not because I'm that desperate for attention, but because in the last couple of years the city, in its infinite wisdom, has 'improved' this park area and made it more accessible with a much bigger path and a connecting route to other parklands. The result is more people and less wildlife. It's nowhere near the treasure trove it used to be so there's no longer any reason to keep its location a secret. In the past you would have had to waterboard me to get me to tell.

Click to enlarge. The first image especially will show up much better.

Toronto Coyotes

Toronto Coyotes doesn't seem as obvious a connection, as, I don't know, say, Toronto Blue Jays, but there are coyotes in Toronto and I ran into a small pack of them recently in, yes, Area 51. Remember, this is a park area literally only a stone's throw from the intersection of a major highway and street, right in the middle of the city.

Here's the one I think was leader of the pack:


This was pretty early in the morning and it's interesting to note that while coyotes were originally diurnal, that is day animals, they've become nocturnal in response to living near humans. Coyotes are so good at adapting to human habitation in fact that they're one of the few animals whose population has increased when they've come in widespread contact with us. It's believed many major North American cities have as many as several thousand coyotes living within their borders, though I'm unaware of any study of this type with regard to Toronto.

I saw three coyotes in total. Here we see the straggler:


Like his or her pals, this coyote spent quite a while hovering close to see what I'd do next. When they saw that I was just going to take their picture, they went on their merry way.


And though this is pure speculation, I think you can tell which of these coyotes is the dominant one by looking at the eyes. Here's a closeup of the straggler:


Now check out the closeup of the coyote I think was the leader, excusing the poorer quality because he was farther away:


Again, it is pure speculation and perhaps it's my imagination, but while the eyes of the coyote straggler look worried and a little afraid, the eyes of this other coyote don't look scared at all. So I think that's the boss...

My best tip for spotting a coyote: go out very early in the morning.