Coyote On the Way to Coffee

I was rolling to town for coffee this morning, casually scoping fields as I do, and there it was — a large coyote feeding on something in the shallow swale of a cut-over wheat field.

I whipped the car around, rolled onto the shoulder, and very slowly rolled in the right direction.  And there he was — a dark grizzle coyote looking straight at me.  I reached over for the camera and fumbled with the lens cap while the coyote turned and slowly walked into the forested hedge between the field and the river.  It was past 9 o’clock in the morning, and this fellow was still out and looking. A big adult, probably still supplying food for kits.  I reminded myself to set out my game cameras on the knoll. 

Disappointed at missing the coyote, I rolled up the road a quarter mile and spotted one of the juvenile Bald Eagles preening itself on top of a dead tree near the nest where he or she had fledged a few weeks before. The throw was considerable, and I was standing on a slope without anything to brace against, so the pictures are crap, but they prove I got dressed this morning, which counts as an activity when you’re retired.