BIODIVERSITY
Coyote
Canis latrans
Photo Credit: Henry Zylstra
Video Credit: Biology Department Trail Cam
Audio Credit 1: Amanda Sparkman
Audio Credit 2: Meredith Whitnah
The eeriest shrieking across campus can be heard during first-year orientation, and on nights when the coyotes are abroad. These sociable canids are most often seen on the edges of campus and faculty housing, in open fields or dense brush.
This one is hunting gophers in the rain.
PAUL WILLIS
Housewarming
Coyotes wreathe their calls again
outside our bedroom, ululating
the sudden fugue. We wake
once more. You find the binoculars
and finally see them against the moon,
intertwining feet and fur to say
their place, to say their firm belonging
far beyond our stead, to say our sleep
is theirs by right, a dream of home
so broken by a moment's howling.
—from Visiting Home (Pecan Grove Press, 2008)
