Observations by chapps

A single coyote was trotting up my street in the early to late morning. Back in April and May, a female coyote and her pup were hanging out at night on our front patio furniture and then settling in during the day amid the native grasses in a planter on top of our garage, observing cats and other prey.

This particular coyote looked healthy and I managed to scare it away from the road. On our street and immediate area, I see a coyote or two every few days.

I've been seeing these yellow hooden Orioles for a few weeks. They love to perch in the lemon tree that hangs over my wall - and they're quite striking. Very deep, bright yellow and black. I see up to two at a time, feeding on insects.

I see these Cooper's Hawks nearly every day on N. Benton Way, between Scott and Berkeley. It seems to be two adults and two adolescents. In fact, if the adolescents are present (they're smaller and had a wee bit of down feathers until last week), you'll get dive bombed by one of the adults if you're walking your dogs nearby. Twice in the last three weeks, I've seen one of the adults shredding a pigeon on top of a telephone pole, and I once observed an adult grab a pigeon out of mid-air.