Two COYOTES and One MEADOW VOLE

"Three Is Company!" 

Really? Let's see.

It is the end of January.
Most of British Columbia is covered by snow and the temperatures are well below zero Celsius.

Pacing the hard crust of the snow-covered meadow there is a lonely coyote. Its empty stomach is growling the hunger song.

That's ONE.






But the seemingly lonely coyote is not alone!


Underneath the white blanket of hard snow grow grasses and many other plants. And hidden among the roots are grubs, bugs and all kinds of other edibles - perhaps not yummy to us but definitely tasty to an army of mice and voles. Their tunnels and travel trails, well covered and insulated by the snow, have transformed the meadow into a secret maze.




Much is going on underneath that cold, shimmering cover.

And the coyote knows it.

Its super sensitive ears, its nose and the sharp eyes allow it to sense what and where is going on under there. It has spied a sign of life, warm-blooded life, a busy mouse or a distracted meadow vole. That could appease its empty stomach!

The coyote knows exactly what to do! Listen, pounce, dig, grab, toss! Be fast!



Now there are TWO. Coyote and a Meadow Vole.

The vole knows that it is in trouble. It bites and it tries to dig under the snow and it nearly succeeds. But the crust is just too hard and the coyote too hungry and too powerful. The vole finds itself being grabbed by the tail and, over and over again, tossed up into the air. 

Did they not tell us all NOT TO PLAY WITH FOOD?!?
But this is not a game.

It is an effort not to get hurt by the sharp little teeth and the already bleeding vole is loosing its stamina to fight. But just as the coyote seems to be ready for lunch there is another, larger animal, charging onto the scene.

THREE is company!

The vole is allowed to fall and so is the first coyote's tail. That looks like a sign of submission, 

The second one rushes forward, grabs the rodent and ....the game is ending.

 The vole is on its journey to become a coyote!

Now there are only TWO.

They part their ways leaving us with ONE. After a while it too walks away.

The meadows are silent, the dusk is setting in and the temperature is crawling to minus ten.

One fed, one hungry, one dead. Three was a company. If only for a very short while.

It is end of January, the beginning of the coyote mating season (February - April). We could not tell if the two animals were of the same or opposite sex and/or if their behavior was somehow related to the season.Two days after our sighting we saw another pair in a different location.