Whatever Weds. A Coyote Tale

Copyright ©2026 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Saturday morning after I’d finished Wordle and Strands I shared my results with my sister. We trade results and talk about where we struggled or where we felt it was easy. We talked for a bit and then I got up to make a second cup of tea this was about 7A.M. I just caught out the corner of my eye out back a Coyote streaking by. I moved to the backdoor to see where it was going and here came another one streaking by following the first one! That was neat. I thought they were probably heading back to the den since the sun was up already.

Fast forward 50 minutes and when I looked up from reading there out at the edge of the golf course was a Coyote with its back to me gazing out across the flood plain. Oh! I raced to get my camera that was in my retreat. I wished as I was racing that it would still be there when I got back. It was!

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com
Coyote Gazing across the field.

As I opened the sliding glass door and screen it heard me and turned to see what the noise was. It soon realized I was no threat so turned its gaze back to the field. Above is exactly what I saw that had me run for my camera.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com

Then I guess it decided there was nothing to worry about or going on so it laid down in the cold grass.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com
I think my neighbor came out to look and as it seems to be looking that way rather than at me.

After a few minutes something caught its attention out in the field and it got up to look. I looked too. Oh! There out in the field further west was another Coyote! Perhaps these two were the two I had seen running by an hour before?

Here’s Number Two out in the field looking back at Number One. This is cropped in a bit.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com

Next, Number One started making its way across the golf course closer to me! Curious perhaps or had it heard the birds?

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com
It kept coming closer then below me a Cooper’s Hawk swooped in low over the Sagebrush just behind my fence! The Sparrows and Quail all dove into the Sagebrush and got really quiet. The Hawk landed up on a branch in my neighbor’s tree. The Hawk was watching the approaching Coyote not the birds. I was watching them all.
©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com
Cooper’s Hawk

Coyote Number One got to the bottom of the hill below me but, I couldn’t see him anymore. Then he started up the golf cart path headed east and soon was out of sight.

Number Two couldn’t see Number One I think, so came up to the edge of the course. It spotted me. Our eyes met. Then it turned to look east after its buddy, and off it went after it head down on the scent.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com Image

I watched it until it was out of sight then looked up and there out in the distance were 3 Hot Air Balloons rising. I hoped they’d float my way, but they never do. Prevailing winds tend to head east. This morning was no different they all floated east behind the mountains out into the great Nevada desert.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com Image

I watched until the last balloon slid behind the mountains and out of view. It was my turn to turn away from the view. I went to get my forgotten cup of tea now cold then headed to the kitchen to make a fresh cup. Happy with the way my day started and counting my blessings. I was thinking how wonderful it is to have all this nature and wildlife here and I was very thankful to be home Saturday morning to see it all.

more to come…

Whatever Wednesday: Coyote

Copyright ©2019 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED!

Hello! I hope this finds you all doing well and the start of 2019 has been easy on you.

I started the year birding on January 1st with several friends. Upon entering one of our favorite wildlife refuges we spotted a Coyote and got some great looks at each other.

Isn’t it a beauty!

Coyote

The Coyote in Symbolism is the guide that can appear to you when you’ve lost your way or path.  It speaks to the path less traveled. The Coyote is the trusted guide that leads the way for those answers along this path.

It was a wonderful day of birding and wildlife seeing, and I knew when we spotted the Coyote first thing it was a good omen for the day.

Update on Baby Girl– The planned inducement date is January 28th! In just 19 days barring any changes, we’ll be seeing our newest member of the family! Our little man in the womb is doing great, and Baby Girl is hanging in there like a trooper.

Blogging this year– I thought about doing another weekly self-challenge, but didn’t want to limit myself, and I really like posting on Wednesdays-it works for me, but I don’t want to commit to Wordless Wednesday cause sometimes I like to talk or tell a story, so this year I’m going to be open to posting Whatever and mostly I’ll post on Wednesday, but I may pop in on a different day, but I won’t be loading up your email inbox with more than two posts a week.  Once a week works for me, but once in awhile, there might be two posts in a week.  So, I’m posting Whatever Wednesday this year.

Perhaps, this Coyote is a good omen for 2019 for me?  Odd years are usually better for me as strange as that sounds it’s true. I’m hoping it holds true this year too.

Happy Hump Day everyone, and here’s to a wonderful 2019!

Nikon D810| Nikkor 200-500mm| Hoodman Digital Film| PS CC 2019

more to come…

 

 

 

 

 

A day in the Wild

Copyright © 2014 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I spent Saturday at two Wildlife Refuges: Merced National Wildlife Refuge, and San Luis National Wildlife Refuge.

It’s takes just about 2 hours to get there from my house even with a stop for coffee along the way. It’s a fairly easy drive, and the only worrisome part of the drive is crossing Pacheco Pass, and only in the two lane windy section. Fortunately traffic was light going, and not much worse on the way home.

I was hoping to see Sandhill Cranes which my friend Judi shared were starting to return for the Winter.

With the drought being pretty severe here the Refuges have had their water allotments cut way back so, there’s not much water there. I suspect that will influence the number of birds that winter there, and the numbers will be a lot fewer than in past years.

At Merced National Wildlife Refuge there are a couple of observation decks, and a large auto-route with quite a few pull-outs. I arrived not long after the gate opened, and only saw one other car ahead of me. For two hours we were the only people in the refuge. It was really nice not having cars pass me and frighten the birds.

Here are the only Sandhill Cranes I saw. They were in the last field, and as always very skittish. They started moving deeper into the field when I stopped. While I was imaging the group I had the good luck to see two more fly in.

Sandhill Crane Fly-in

There was a flock of White-faced Ibis here, and they were so hungry they didn’t worry about me at all. There were a few quite close to the road. This one just yawned when I crept up. I love the colors in their feathers.

White-faced Ibis: Adult Winter

The White Crowned Sparrows are returning everywhere, even here.

White Crowned Sparrow

It was foggy when I left home, and there was haze around the countryside, and Refuge. I had hoped to meet my friend Judi here, but the air quality was really bad. There had been a report the night before that the air quality would be bad and people should not go out. I got Judi’s message about that too late; after I arrived at the Refuge. She’s on bottled air and didn’t dare leave the house. You can see the haze in several of the images, but especially in this image of a Great Egret I saw. He didn’t bat an eyelash at my presence! Their stillness and concentration are amazing. I liked the back lighting, and the haze gave the image a soft, dreamy look.

Backlit Great Egret

The Coots are back, as are the Shovelers, Mallards, and some Greater Yellowlegs.  While photographing the Greater Yellowlegs I put down my camera to take in the pond. You can see how much the water has already receded/evaporated.

Pond at MErced NWR

…a Greater Yellowlegs

Greater Yellowlegs

I have a lot of images to go through and can’t share them all in this post. I haven’t even got to the second refuge images yet.

Nikon D700| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4| AF-S Nikkor 14eII Teleconverter| braced with this beanbag.

More to come…