Thursday morning, before sunrise, just before Lenape Park, I was fiddling with my Garmin, sipping my Gatorade out of my CleanBottle, getting ready to start my run. That’s when it happened. Just beneath the lamppost, in the shadow of the light that casts to the asphalt, I saw him. Hello Mr. Coyote!!!!
Oh, it could have been a Mrs., but I wasn’t going to get close enough to find out! I’ve got fairly large dogs, 2 Chocolate Labs. So seeing large dogs doesn’t bother me. I love ’em. At first I thought I was looking at a dog on a leash, on its early morning walk. But nope. No leash. No Walk. No Dog. This was a Coyote. He was big. Tall. On long skinny legs. Not as muscular as my dogs. Leaner. Not skinny. And its tail was down, with a slight curl at the tip. It hopped as it ran across the street, and into the park. Behind the park is a large open forest area, with a tributary of the South River running behind it. I imagine it’s a nice roadway for wildlife migration. We’ve seen alot of Deer in the park. Big Deer — young doe and even Bucks with antlers. Very large animals for such a residential area. I imagine they travel the river, it affords them access to fresh water, and open space void of humans to bother them.
We’ve seen a Coyote in our neighborhood before. It must have been 2 or 3 years ago. I remember because we still had our swing set up in the yard — and my daughter Erin was swinging out there around dusk one night in the summer….and she saw the Coyote scoot across the street, behind our neighbors’ house — which leads to another open area containing the soccer fields. Not that we didn’t believe Erin, but we were convinced she saw a fox. However, that same year, I was in my car heading to work very early (5am or so), and I saw him run across the street right in front of me with a dead rabbit in his mouth. THAT was no fox. I’ve seen fox in the field. This guy was much bigger. Coyote.
Growing up in New Jersey, we’ve seen wildlife. Racoon. Opossum. Skunk. Fox. Rabbit…lots and lots of rabbits. Adding Coyote to the list, feels……weird. If I had a little dog, I’d think twice before leaving it outside by itself. Predator and Prey. I think the Coyote wins. I had to think twice running up the road that morning. I mean. I “think” I was bigger than that fella….but I’m made of waayyy more Flight, than Fight! HA!
Ciao for now….Diane