Thursday, September 3, 2015

The Dog Days

As summer thankfully wanes, and the horizon hints that El Nino is on the way, a camera trap I just pulled nicely reminded me that the dog days do have their charms...

juvie coyote
Juvenile coyote trotting by the cam trap

juvie coyote
Giving it a glance on a foggy morning a week later

juvie coyote in fog
Fog dog at night (that's fog with a flash)

juvie coyote
Curiosity or annoyance?

juvie coyote

pair of juvie coyotes

The phrase "dog days of summer" dates back to early Greece, and now permeates many cultures & languages.

It's Astronomical. "The dog days" - roughly July & August - are the days when the Dog Star, Sirius, is visible in the night sky. But since that's summer in the northern hemisphere, and often a time of heat, drought, famine and sickness, poor ole Sirius was given a pretty tough rap. Even Homer harshed on the pup:

Sirius rises late in the dark, liquid sky on summer nights,
Star of stars, Orion's Dog they call it,
Brightest of all, but an evil portent,
Bringing heat and fevers to suffering humanity.

- Homer - The Iliad

juvie coyote
Stalking practice

pair of juvie coyotes
Definitely siblings

pair of juvie coyotes
Floating with only 1 paw on the ground - neat trick

pair of juvie coyotes
You can hear the play growls and snarls in your mind, huh?

juvie coyote

juvie coyote
Foggy fur with mom/dad in far background

I think it's just a pair of youngsters, and no more. The cam has caught mom and/or dad too, but only going by with no interest at all in the camera. Or in hanging out and playing. :)

The dog days are over
The dog days are done
Can you hear the horses??
Because here they come...

- Florence And The Machine - Dog Days Are Over

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5 comments:

  1. What a great batch of photos. The den must haVe been somewhere nearby for them to spend that much time in front of the camera.

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  2. So, so fabulous. Many thanks for this lovely documentation of puppies being puppies. =) Scoundrel-free, thank you very much. We're getting one big slug of heat this week, then I'm hoping it will return to normal--it'd be great if this was the last batch of >100F heat, but we'll see. Arf!

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  3. Yes, good stuff. Glad they picked that hilltop. And ya gotta love how much they are just like the canids we all enjoy as both pets and family.

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  4. I'm glad someone is getting photos of coyotes and their pups. I'm seeing and getting virtually no photos of coyotes in my usual locations.

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