A quick visit before the snow…

I wasn’t even sure I wanted to bother heading out this morning with the way the wind was howling, so I didn’t expect to see much when I did go, but you never know, right?

Wonders never cease, however, and look who finally decided to make an appearance! I first spotted it right on the trail along the river, but Icouldn’t get my camera on it before it scampered up the bank. Luckily, as I continued north, it gave me another chance and looked down upon me from the top of the bluff. As you can see, I couldn’t get my autofocus to pick a path through the twigs between us, but I believe you can still clearly recognize a coyote (Canis latrans) when you see one. Somewhere, Mike De Sisti is laughing out loud, I’m sure.

I know these are commonly sighted in Shorewood, and I have heard many reports of sightings in the park, but this is the first photographic evidence I’ve been able to produce, and not for lack of trying.

After it opted to continue east and out of sight, I continued north and only saw mallards, geese, and a few gulls. With all the rain we had last night, the river was up at least a foot, and most of the ice was either melted or washed downstream.

I kept my eyes peeled, nevertheless, and was finally rewarded on my way back south, soon after the abandoned bridge abutments, when I glimpsed this blue heron fishing just off our side of the river. The snow was coming down pretty good at that point, as you can see, so my autofocus was even more useless than before, and I finally reverted to manual focus. Oh, the humanity, I know, but a crutch is hard to let go once you get used to it. At least I’ll be better prepared for my next coyote sighting, which I hope doesn’t take another 20 months to materialize.

Anyway, this brings our list of mammals photographed up to 12, at long last. I think all that’s left that we might expect to see are foxes, possums, mice, bats, and maybe even a skunk, if we’re lucky. How great would that be, eh?