As everyone on the Eastern Shore knows, our region of forest, fields and marsh are home to an abundance of wildlife, and it’s been that way for tens of thousands of years. Long before European settlement in the 1600’s, this part of the Eastern Seaboard was a paradise of wildlife, on par with anything found on the Serengeti. Moose, elk, bear, wolves and numerous other big animals roamed this region. Included in that large family of fauna are the predator class known as Canids, doglike predator species that help keep nature in balance. This family of Canids includes wolves and foxes.
With European settlement in the 1600’s, wolves were a common species here on the Shore and the historical record indicates wolves were a fairly common sight. Over two and half centuries of misunderstanding and exaggerated threats, wolves were shot, poisoned, and trapped — it’s estimated that the last wolf on the Eastern Shore was extirpated by 1900.
While red and grey foxes are a common sight, there’s a relative newcomer here on the Eastern Shore, known as the coyote, and interestingly, the Delmarva Peninsula is the last territory in the lower 48 States to have received them.
Prior to the late 1800’s, coyotes were principally a western species, found in the desert areas west of the Mississippi. Sometime in the early 1900’s, the coyote crossed the Mississippi, and their range has greatly expanded over the last century. Field biologist have found at least 19 subspecies of coyote now roam North and Central America, from California to Newfoundland and Alaska to Panama, occupying a broad range of habitats.
Coyotes were first identified in Maryland in the 1970’s, and according to Maryland Department of Natural Resources, coyotes now inhabit all Maryland counties.
While coyotes are predators, they’re also scavengers and will take advantage of a meal wherever they can find it.
Coyotes are highly adaptable, and their clever skill has allowed them to mostly avoid human contact. Coyotes are so adaptable, they have been spotted in metropolitan areas like Chicago, Manhattan, and Los Angeles.
Coyotes are mostly nocturnal, but they like to travel and can sometimes trot along for 20 miles or more in search of food or new territory, so daytime observations happen occasionally.
Coyotes usually start howling and yelping in earnest in February as they search for a mate, and mating season runs from late January to mid-March. Gestation for a coyote is a quick one, and a litter is usually born about 60 days after successful mating. The average litter size for coyotes is 4-7 pups but can be higher or lower depending on surroundings. Den locations can be under tree stumps, culvert pipes, under sheds, but generally away from people and threats.
Due to their highly adaptable nature, coyote den sites could be just about anywhere, but most dens are in well concealed locations away from human activity.
While coyotes are predators, their diet consists mostly of mice, squirrels, birds, frogs, fish and other easy to catch food sources. To be sure, there are stories of coyotes being a threat to livestock, or attacking a family pet, but these encounters are not as common in Maryland like they are in ranch land areas of the west. Like most predators, coyotes are opportunists, and like easy meals, usually selecting prey that offer up much resistance.
Unlike their larger cousin the wolf, coyotes don’t generally run in packs. They might pack up during Winter months in the search for food, but coyotes are mostly solitary. Their size is generally overstated too — most coyotes weigh anywhere from about 20 to 40 lbs.
So, if you see a coyote anywhere on the Eastern Shore, or hear it howling in the night, consider yourself lucky, because most people don’t get to see or hear them.
To more learn more about coyotes, see the Maryland Department of Natural Resources website on coyotes, or read Dan Flores’ best-seller, “coyote America”.
Jay Falstad is a Maryland Master Naturalist and executive director of the Queen Anne’s Conservation Association. For comments, questions, or suggested topics about Eastern Shore nature, email him at jayfalstad@gmail.com
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