For those that have enjoyed an early spring morning in Yellowstone’s Hayden Valley, you’ll know what I mean when I say that it is a remarkable place, where anything can happen.
A few years ago – right after I met Jill, but before she was my Yellowstone travelling companion – my parents and I went for a 6am drive through the freshly snow-covered valley in search of grizzlies. (Yes, my pursuit of bear photography is a little one-dimensional, what can I say?)
On this morning, bears took a back seat to a game of cat-and-mouse being put on display by a coyote and vole.
Now, if you’ve spent time watching predators hunt in the wild, you also know the lengths these animals must go to in order to eat, to survive. But while I’ve seen long chases lead to disappointing results (I suppose disappointment is in the eye of the beholder), I’ve never seen a coyote spend the time and energy that this one did in order to enjoy a breakfast of coyote champions.
Usually a coyote will wait patiently for the right moment to pounce and, maybe 40% of the time, it will catch its prey. If it fails, it will start the patient process again – sometimes in the same spot, but often with a different, less alert target.
Not this coyote.
Like it was determined to not be out, um, foxed (coyote-ed?) by this annoying vole, one failed pounce was not enough for it to quit and move on.
It pounced again…
And again…
And again…with determination!
Without really being patient, it started to try to out run the vole – which was like watching a sprinter try to win the 500m race on a 1m loop track. The vole was making a fool of the coyote.
But the coyote had no quit in him.
So he kept going…
And diving…
And missing…
Until finally…
What?! How did you miss that?! The vole was quite literally diving into your mouth!!
Somehow the coyote snatched defeat from (his own) jaws of victory, allowing the vole to somehow wiggle loose.
And the chase was on anew.
To the left…
To the right…
The agony of defeat…
And, yes, once more, the sweet joy of victory, made even sweeter because of perseverance.
This time, there was no mistaking the end result. The coyote got his vole.
I realize the ending you likely expected was to hear that the vole escaped. But there is no editing nature. And it was still a remarkable – and long – sequence.
I also learned three things that morning:
1. Sometimes missing a grizzly bear sighting isn’t the worst case scenario.
2. If you’re a coyote and you fail while hunting: try, try again. (If you’re a vole, no matter how agile you might be, you have a tough life at the low end of the food chain.)
3. Check to make sure your camera lenses work before you leave for a trip. My old, trusty Sigma 500mm lens bit the dust on day one, forcing me to shoot these shots on day two – and the balance of the trip – with a 200mm lens. To dream of having been able to magnify this action by just a bit more…
– D. Simon Jackson | GhostBearPhotography.com
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Great story Simon! I can hear your voice as I read your words. Thank you!
Great story. The coyote was determined to get that vole. Love the photo where the vole is out of the ground but the coyote missed it. Reminds me of my Labrador retriever many years ago found a vole or something in my backyard. My Labrador had it in his mouth and I said, “Scout out” and the vole became a snack in one gulp.