2330 Scary

Sunday, March 29, 2009

The storm is over, so at 11 pm I went outside to get something out of my car. It was very still, quiet, deep dark, and then I heard a strange sound unlike anything I'd ever heard before. It sounded like a long half-scream, half-howl, and it was just down the hill below the back of my house. Maybe a woman, maybe an animal.

That was followed by very loud racket. Very. At first it sounded like maybe a raucous teen party with too loud heavy metal music and a lot of shouting. I walked to the corner of the house, so I could hear it better, and then, clearer, without the house in the way, it sounded more like dogs barking, many many dogs, but not barking so much as yipping. Not a few, either. There had to be at least a dozen of them, all in full voice.

Coyotes? I know we have a lot of them. I've seen them crossing my back yard. I'm not afraid of one healthy coyote (Healthy. Rabid is a different story. I'd be afraid of a rabid mouse!) but a pack is a different story.

They scared me.

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Later. I did some reading. Coyotes have several vocalizations. Yipping is how they welcome other members of the pack. And they mate between February and April.

So I was right the first time - it WAS a raucous party. Probably two packs meeting.
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