Coyote update

Coyote in the Cop Cot area--March 2, 2010 --Photo by Bruce Yolton

Since there was a widely-reported  encounter between a coyote and the NYC Police force in the Chelsea neighborhood two days ago [in which the wily critter eluded a large number of men armed with tranquilizing guns] ,  and since two coyote-trackers [myself and Melissa Cooper] failed to find the beast in Central Park on Wednesday evening , there were questions about whether the animal was still taking refuge in the park Not to worry: Bruce Yolton easily found the coyote at its usual location last night.

Bruce missed the coyote's actual exit at dusk from the Hallett Wildlife Sanctuary, a fenced-in preserve at the Southeast corner of the park where the nocturnal canid  seems to spend its  daytime hours. But he saw the coyote shortly thereafter, walking north on the path to the west of the sanctuary. Bruce was able to follow it up to the Chess and Checkers pavillion before losing track of it. This time, he writes on his latest blog entry, the coyote moved so quickly that there wasn't a moment for photography. The shot above was taken on Tuesday. Bruce raises some fascinating questions on his blog today. Check it out:
http://www.urbanhawks.blogs.com 

Also from Bruce's blog, here's a map showing the area where the photo above was taken, with the animal's route both last Tuesday, and last night.


Last week New York magazine had a short feature about the Central Park coyote, including a quick chat with Bruce. Here's a link to the story:

http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/64322/