13 June 2009

The opportunity is so great to sit by a reliable food source that I return to the same area this morning. Shortly after becoming situated, a fire station siren wails off in the distance. Just like most any other time, a reply is heard in the distance.

I can pinpoint exactly where they are. But there are no pup voices to be heard. Two adults, probably. I only wonder where they have gone, and hope to see them before they're full grown.

Again, I expect to see loads of skunks, raccoons and opossums. No show. I wonder, now, if my timing should change. 

Carrie and I meet shortly after I have finished accomplishing nothing for this morning. We gather one of the game cameras and head back to where my post has been for the past two mornings. We hope that perhaps we will discover who is robbing the turtle nests. Any photos would be exciting.

We've chosen to use game cameras with this research for many reasons. They are fairly unobtrusive and may help us asses the park's coyote population. Up until this point, it was anyone's guess. Now, all we can say for sure is that there are at least nine: an alpha pair on one end of the park with or without pups, this has to be confirmed yet; and an alpha pair, a subadult and four pups at the other end. So far, I've seen two, and the positioning of the game cameras hasn't yielded as much information as we'd hoped. So, once again taking advantage of a food source could be the key. It's now eight hours since I've had breakfast and certainly lunchtime. Eggs, anyone?