Coyote, Canis Latrans, the Latin term for barking or singing dog, is usually more active at dawn or towards dusk, about the time predators to the colorful song birds awake for breakfast and retire in the evening after dinner. Why the connection? For the simple reason that our ancestral canine, and would-be foe, is a song bird’s best friend. By going after morsel meals like feral cats, skunks, raccoons, and other predators preying on the songful avians, less hatchlings have fallen prey and the populations are slowly making a comeback thanks to the nomadic pack animal. According to Kevin Crooks of the University of California at Santa Cruz and Michael Soule of the Wildlife Project in Hotchkiss, Colorado, in a survey done near the burgeoning metropolis of San Diego, there was a significant increase shown in native bird populations in the vicinity of several coyote packs. Next time people blame the “singing dog” for “Fifi’s” disappearance perhaps they should pay more attention to the song bird’s melodic chirp.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 8:12 pm and is filed under environmental stewardship. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.