Category: Central Park Coyotes

927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks, Bats, Central Park Coyotes, Central Park Snowy Owl 2021, Eurasian Eagle-Owl, General News, Other Animals, Other Birds, Owls, Red-tailed Hawk Nest Updates

Central Park in the Dark Revisited

From about 2005 to about 2009, I had a wonderful time getting to know Maire Winn and her friends, affectionately known as “The Regulars”. During the daytime they mainly watched Pale Male, his mates and their offspring. After dark, I would join them on their nocturnal adventures, observing owls, insects, and mammals. They were passionate naturalists who were thrilled to learn about the natural world through field work and research.

My fondest memories of the gang were our owl-watching adventures. Each time we spotted an owl, we discovered something new about these fascinating creatures.

Shortly after the publication of her last book, Central Park in the Dark in 2008, Marie and her friends stopped visiting the park regularly. Two of “The Regulars” had passed away, others faced health challenges, and one happily fell in love and moved to Florida.

Marie Winn passed away at the end of 2024.

She updated her book about Pale Male, his mates, and their offspring, Red-tailed in Love, for a tenth anniversary edition. I’ve often wonder what a sequel to or a revised edition of Central Park in the Dark would have included, if Marie and her friends had been able to continue their nocturnal prowls in Central Park.

The subtitle of Central Park in the Dark was “More Mysteries of Urban Wildlife.” Marie Winn, an accomplished nature writer, described the park’s wildlife through captivating adventure stories that showcased both the observers and their discoveries. Without resorting to heavy-handed explanations, Winn imparted valuable lessons about how to be a naturalist. She demonstrated how to harness one’s innate curiosity and embark on a journey of discovery, exploration, and research. Winn also illustrated the iterative nature of scientific inquiry, where initial hypotheses are refined or discarded based on new discoveries.

Since the book’s publication, the park has welcomed a new wave of visitors. In the past 17 years, we’ve had two extraordinary owls: a rare Snowy Owl and a non-native Eurasian Eagle-Owl that was released from the Central Park Zoo. Additionally, we’ve had extended stays by Northern Saw-whet Owls, a Barred Owl, a Great Horned Owl, and most recently American Barn Owls. Each of these owls would have deserved its own chapter in a new or revised book.

Other nocturnal birds, such as Black-crowned Night-Herons (who regularly feast on the park’s buffet of Brown Rats), Nightjars, and American Woodcocks, are also being observed more closely at night. These birds would have been described as antidotes sprinkled throughout the new chapters.

The park has also seen some new mammals. Eastern Cottontail Rabbits have become common, appearing around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. After three brief visits by coyotes over a decade ago, we now have a pair of resident Eastern Coyotes. Southern Flying Squirrels are being seen regularly with the aid of thermal monoculars. In a revision edition or sequel of the book, I’m sure flying squirrels and rabbits would have each gotten a new chapter, while the coyotes might have required multiple chapters.

Since the book’s publication, technology advancements have greatly aided nocturnal observations.

  • Digital cameras now enable photographers to capture wildlife in extremely low light conditions.
  • High-resolution thermal monoculars have become available, enabling naturalists to locate and identify flying squirrels, owls and coyotes even in complete darkness.
  • Bat detectors have advanced significantly, with devices like the Wildlife Acoustics Echo Meter Touch 2 that plug into smartphones, allowing users to easily hear bat echolocations and automatically identifies the bat species.
  • Smartphone apps such as Merlin (sound and photo identification), iNaturalist (a peer-to-peer naturalist community), and Sky Guide (a star and planet guide) have simplified the process of identifying birds by sound or photographs, identifying plants, insects and animals, and observing the night sky.

I’m certain Marie and her friends would have been thrilled to embrace these new technologies. Any new stories or revisions of older ones would have included mentions of these innovative tools.

A revised edition of or a sequel to Central Park in the Dark would have most likely included the following updates to existing chapters or additional new chapters.

Marie’s first chapter, “Party-Crashers and Flying Mammals”, includes notes about the Red-tailed Hawks, Pale Male and Lola, along with antidotes about raccoons and bats. Each of these topics would have received updates.

  • While the nest was returned to 927 Fifth Avenue, due in large part to Marie Winn’s advocacy, Pale Male and Lola’s nests failed. Eggs were laid, but they did not hatch. It led to a lot of discussion and second guessing about the cradle that had been installed to support the new nest.
    In the end, it turned out Lola had become infertile. When Lola died and Pale Male mated again, there were eyasses (hawk chicks) once more. This resulted in several successful clutches before the nest was unproductive once again. Eventually Pale Male passed away. Marie would have written beautifully about this post-Lola era and published a wonderful obituary about Pale Male’s life.
  • Raccoons, which are written about benevolently, became a problem in 2009-2010 due to a rabies outbreak that ended up with two people being bitten, a person walking a dog, and hot dog vendor. Over one hundred raccoons were found dead, and others were euthanized. Thankfully, many were saved from infection through a vaccination program.
    Unfortunately, due to poor trash management and park patrons feeding the raccoons, raccoons and gray squirrels are overpopulated in the park, displacing birds and other animals that use tree cavities. Raccoons are a more complicated subject than the few pages they received in Marie’s book.
  • Studying the park’s bats became much easier with the introduction of Wildlife Acoustics Echo Meter Touch 2 device. The meter attaches to a smartphone and listens for a bat’s echolocation. Using software, the meters determine the species of bat based on its echolocation pitch and pulse rate. No longer is tagging along with a BioBlitz necessary; anyone can now easily identify the park’s bats.
    Since Marie’s book was published White-Nose Syndrome has decimated the Little-brown Bat population and reduced the number of Big-brown Bats. However, bats continue to be abundant during the warmer months and are easy to spot.
    At the Conservatory Water (also known as Model Boat Pond), on late summer evenings, Chimney swifts feed on insects and drink before roosting in a nearby Fifth Avenue Chimney. As darkness sets in, the swifts are replaced by feeding bats. The Eastern Red Bats are the first to arrive, followed by Silver-haired Bats, Big Brown Bats, and Tricolored Bats. It’s a delightful evening, and I’m certain Marie and her friends would have enjoyed adding this to their nocturnal activities in Central Park.

Marie’s second chapter, “The Ghost of Charles”, includes notes about numerous owl species, owl ethics, flying squirrels, and white-footed mice. (I regret to say that I started birding a year after Charles Kennedy passed away and never had the opportunity to meet him. From all accounts, he was an incredible person.)

  • Owls would have certainly warranted many new chapters. Numerous Northern Saw-whet Owls the Barred Owl that was named Barry and the Great Horned Owl, Gerald(ine) with a damaged leg, the once-in-a-century Snowy Owl visit during COVID-19, Flaco, the Eurasian-Eagle Owl released from the zoo, and the American Barn Owls of 2025-2026 are some of the notable owls that resided in Central Park over the recent years.
  • Owl ethics have become a challenging and divisive issue in Central Park. Social media facilitated the rapid sharing of owl locations, and social media influencers exploited owls to boost their feeds. The “celebrity bird” phenomenon led to crowds gathering around certain owls, leading to their harassment. When wild animals are used for entertainment, humans unfortunately often exploit them.
    Additionally, people often respond to wildlife as though they are pets, leading to unintended consequences such as feeding harmful food to the animals or the unwise protection of invasive species such as feral cats. It’s a complex issue.
    Central Park in the Dark was a lighthearted story. In a revision, discussing ethics wouldn’t be a lecture in a dedicated chapter. However, I suspect Marie would have added a few paragraphs here and there to illustrate the problems and challenge readers to reflect on their own ethics.
  • In this chapter, flying squirrels are described as almost mythical creatures in a few paragraphs. Thermal monoculars have made it possible to finally study them. The park is home to numerous Southern Flying Squirrels making them a subject worthy of a new chapter.

Chapters three through six primarily discuss moths and insects, but they also mention Black Skimmers, Astronomy, and Kingbirds.

  • Studying moths became easier in recent years. While used copies of Covell’s Moths guidebook can still be found for sale online, applications such as iNaturalist has made it much easier to network with other amateur Lepidopterists to identify moths.
  • Black Skimmers continued to appear, but more rarely. They used the Conservatory Water, also known as The Model Boat Pond, for a few years before the Central Park Conservancy began adding dye to the water annually. Most sightings are now on The Lake, often with the skimmers going under Bow Bridge.
  • Eastern Kingbirds continue to nest on the west side of Turtle Pond, usually having two or three offspring each year.
  • Astronomy remains an activity in Central Park, with notable events such as supermoons, planet convergences, comets, and eclipses. New smartphone apps, such as Sky Guide, make it easier to identify planets and constellations.

Chapter 7, “Birds Asleep,” details morning bird sounds, jokes about a rabbit (which would have been a chapter in a revised book), comets, and American Robin and Common Grackle roosts. Chapter 8, “Pale Male Asleep,” discusses the expansion of Red-tailed Hawk nests in New York City and the Woodland’s Committee.

  • Merlin, Cornell University’s sound and visual identification tool, would now be a central topic in this section about bird sounds. It’s a great tool for discovery, but like any A.I. tool it’s not always accurate, so it’s important to question its results.
  • In an era where tools like eBird, social media, and Merlin risk transforming birdwatching into a mere game akin to Pokémon Go, I’m certain Marie would have written about how to effectively utilize tools like Merlin, not as a crutch, but as a means to enhance observations.
  • After many Common Grackle roost trees were damaged in a winter storm, they were cut down and replaced with a different species. Consequently, there’s no longer a massive influx of birds at dusk at Grand Army Plaza.
  • Red-tailed Hawk nests, while experiencing a recent decline in Central Park, are still doing well throughout the city. A discussion of the history of the other Red-tailed Hawk nests in Central Park, over the last fifteen years would be an interesting update.
  • Regrettably, the Woodland’s Committee no longer exists. The Central Park Conservancy has ceased its interest in meeting with the naturalist community.

Chapter 9 through 12, are primarily about owl watching. The reintroduction of the Eastern Screech-Owl failed, and although Marie generally wrote positive accounts, a dedicated chapter would be necessary to detail the outcome of the project. When the reintroduction was first proposed, Peter Post Peter Post expressed concerns at a Woodlands Committee meeting that we shouldn’t reintroduce them if we don’t first understand why they died out. His concerns proved warranted. Factors such as rodenticides, car collisions, predation and cavity contention with over-fed squirrels resulted in most of the owls dying, with a few dispersing to areas outside of the park. By 2012, there were no longer any Eastern Screech-Owls in the park.

Marie Winn’s writing beautifully captured the joy of studying nature. While her tales occasionally contained anthropomorphic elements that some readers found excessive, she conveyed to her readers the immense pleasure derived from the process of discovery. She educated New Yorkers about the abundance of nature within the city that could be enjoyed and explored. Her books inspired many New Yorkers to embrace the natural world and become naturalists.

Central Park continues to be a magical place to study wildlife in both the day and at night.

It’s too bad she wasn’t able to revise or to have written a sequel to Central Park in the Dark. I bet Even More Mysteries of Urban Wildlife would have been a best seller.

Central Park Coyotes, General News

Central Park’s Trash Mismanagement and Rodent Control Issues

Using a thermal monocular at night in the park has opened up a window into the park’s nocutural wildlife. While it has let me discover the habits of our Coyotes and watch a Southern Flying Squirrel, it has also shown me some of the problems in the park. The worst is how bad the park’s trash management has become. I see scores of raccoons and rats around all of the park’s trash cans and restaurants. Not only has led to an overpopulation of rats and raccoons, but could also habituate the park’s coyotes to human food. This could cause them to become aggressive toward humans.

Let’s help keep our wildlife, wild and manage the park’s trash properly.

There are a number of factors involved:

  • The efficient collection of trash, which was optimized while Douglas Blonsky was president of the Central Park Conservancy to ensure trash was not left accessible to rodents, seems to have been abandoned.
  • The trash cans, a gift from Alcoa years ago, do not prevent animals for accessing the trash and are in a state of disrepair.
  • The transfer stations, where park employees aggregate trash leave the garbage accessible to animals, with trash often being left overnight.
  • The recycling refuse is not taken offsite, but stored in tractor trailer sized dumpsters at The Mount.
  • Ignoring NYC Department of Health regulations, many of the park’s restaurants leave their refuse in open trash cans or dumpsters.
  • The feeding of wildlife by park patrons either by not disposing of trash properly, or intentional feeding.

When Douglas Blonsky was President of Central Park, an effective progress for managing trash in the park was put into place to minimize consumption by Brown Rats and Raccoons. The park removed some trash cans in the Ramble and the North Woods, and developed a system of trash collection, that aggregated garbage and ensured that it was collected promptly rather than letting it sit overnight.

This system, while it could have been improved upon, allowed Chipmunks to make comeback in the north woods. Unfortunately, in other areas of the park, Brown Rats and Gray Squirrels still dominate and prevent the Chipmunks from reestablishing themselves.

Douglas Blonsky’s replacement, Betsy Smith was hired primarily to focus on fund raising in 2018. Betsy Smith has done a fantastic job raising funds for important captial projects, such as the refurbishment of Chess and Checkers and the Conservatory Garden, the replacement of the Lasker Rink/Pool with the fabulous Davis Center, and the soon to be completed North Meadow Recreation Center and Southern Grand Army Plaza renovations. However, basic operations of the park have declined since Douglas Blonsky’s departure. Some of this was caused by a reduction in city funding by Bill de Blasio, put I suspect it is also a change in focus from by the President and the Board to larger projects, ignoring day-to-day operations.

I would hope that once this round of capital projects is completed, the conservancy would focus on providing long term funding for staff positions and smaller projects. Universities have endowed professorships, and orchestras endowed performers. Isn’t it time to start raising funds to endow arborists, gardeners, a naturalist, and multiple maintenance positions?

Basic maintenance is lacking and smaller less glamourous projects that would have a huge impact on the park are being neglected. It seems as though if it can’t have a brass plaque attached to it, the project doesn’t get done. Sidewalks, fence repairs, signage, hand railings (a ramp with railings was recently installed in Shakespeare Garden, but railings which would have helped the majority of the park’s older patrons were not installed on the stairs going up to Belvedere Castle), wheelchair cutouts and ramps (only two steps prevent wheelchair users from viewing the wonderful ceiling tiles of the Bethesda Fountain arcade), and bathroom renovations all seem to be forgotten since they aren’t donor friendly.

But basic trash management and rodent control might be the worst failure of the current management team. This decline has allowed the park to become overrun with Brown Rats and Raccoons. There is also a serious risk our Eastern Coyotes could also become habituated to human food and loose their fear of humans.

Trash Cans
The park’s trash cans simply need to be replaced with more modern trash receptacles that prevent animals from accessing the trash and there need to be enough of them to prevent trash from overflowing on busy days. Walking through the park at night and you’ll see families of raccoons jumping in and out of the trash cans. The raccoons often pull out food containers, spilling the food and then feeding nearby rats. The receptacles don’t need to be “bear proof”, just raccoon and rat proof.

In addition to not being animal proof many of the current trashcans are in poor condition. Here is a picture of two without lids.

Depots and Collection Timing
The park’s trash is collected by employees driving electric carts and consolidated at depots along the drives. Originally, this was supposed to be timed, so trash wasn’t left unattended only briefly. But today, if you visit these depots in the early hours of the evening you’ll see raccoons ripping open trash bags, with rats cleaning up the scraps.

The problem is made worse by the recycling trash which often gets left at the depots. Because park patrons often put food waste or liquids in the can/bottle trash cans this trash attracts animals but is treated as though it contains only recyclables. This trash is often left for a longer period, which exacerbates the problem.

Liquids (and odors) leak out of the trash, but the depots are not cleaned, nor are they hosed down after the trash is collected. Some of the depots smell so bad, you can smell them from a block away. Walk into the park from Grand Army Plaza at 59th and Fifth Avenue and after you pass the Zoo and before you arrive at the Mall, you’ll be greeted by the worst smell you may ever encounter. That what greets NYC tourists daily.

Leaving the trash and recyclables out in the open just isn’t working. The trash needs to be stored in containers that are animal proof and the sites need to be hosed down after the trash is collected. The city is piloting large dumpsters to collect trash in city neighborhoods, and these might be a perfect fit for Central Park.

The Mount
The Mount, also known as the Compost Heap, has three large tractor trailer sized dumpsters where recycling is stored. (There are also two additional dumpsters on the bypass road that goes across the park around 103rd Street.)

The Mount which used to be free of debris have been left a complete mess by the contractors who worked on the Davis Center and Conservatory Garden. (This seams to be par for the course this season. In Shakespeare Garden, to meet an opening deadline, the lattice work for the new rustic fences was left unfinished and the lumber thrown behind some shrubs.) A cynic would say that it shows the lingering racism and classism of the Conservancy’s staff and board, that an acre of the park “uptown” has been left in such disrepair. Or it simply is incompetence. Either way, the site needs to be restored to a natural state and a better solution found for the dumpsters.

Every evening Brown Rats and Raccoons feed on the garbage in the dumpsters and often the coyotes come by at some point in the night to fed on the Brown Rats. The dumpsters would be fine if they contained only recyclable materials, but those bags often have mixed trash. Just like with the transfer stations, rodent proof dumpsters are needed to replace the tractor trailer sized dumpsters.

I’m including some pictures below, not only of the dumpsters, but of the leftover construciton materials at The Mount. The area truly is an embarrassment. The remaining construction material included a mountain of large boulders left over from the restoration of the stream from The Loch to The Meer.

Restaurants
Most of the park’s restaurants are not complying with NYC Health Department regulations requiring the use of lidded, rigid containers for all trash, including food waste. As a result, there is a feeding frenzy at most of the restaurants nightly.

Some of the restaurants, simply don’t have enough containers. This is the case with the Le Pain Quotidian at Mineral Springs (just north of Sheep Meadow). NYC law requires restaurants to have enough containers to handle 72 hours worth of waste.

Walk by the restaurant at night and you’ll see a collection of Raccoons and Brown Rats feasting on the garbage. One one night I saw over 20 Brown Rats and three Raccoons eating the trash.

At the Loeb Boathouse the situation is much worse. Here you have open dumpsters, filled with trash. Whole families of raccoons and armies of Brown Rats descend on the open dumpsters each night.

It’s a shame that the area north of the Loeb Boathouse continues to be just a parking lot filled with cars, dumpsters and shipping containers. With car traffic in the park having been banned years ago, why hasn’t this being redesigned? There must be a way to discreetly hide the trash and provide a more attractive way to store materials for the restaurant and the special Achilles’ Bikes. (The same goes for the Tavern on the Green’s unused parking lot, which could be reclaimed and turned into a garden, with a nice round driveway for taxis.)

Park Patrons Feeding Animals
Unfortunately park patrons are feeding animals either by littering or intentionally. Littering will always be a problem in a public park.

However, the intentional feeding of animals is a serious problem.

The feeding of birds, squirrels, and raccoons by park patrons has seriously increased the population of non-native birds, squirrels, and raccoons in the park, but also the rat population. This displaces native bird species and native animals such as chipmunks.

There are individuals feeding birds and raccoons regularly, and at these areas at night you will see scores of rats, and can find large established burrows of the rodents. The over population of raccoons has also led to two disease outbreaks in the Central Park population, both rabies and distemper.

Sadly, when the Park’s Department proposed restricting the feeding of animals in city parks, there was a public outcry, and new regulations were not approved. So, what I consider to be littering is still allowed by regulations. It’s sad to see how many people interact with wildlife as though the animals are their outdoor pets, rather than wild creatures.

For the coyotes, an individual who leaves high quality fish and meat out for raccoons, has meant that they visit a feeding location nightly. But also about 30 Brown Rats visit the same spot nightly! And this spot is right next to a children’s playground.

It’s time to prohibit the feeding of wildlife in city parks. The people doing it are doing it for their own enjoyment and not for the welfare of the animals. There needs to be a clear boundary between humans and wildlife.

In addition to banning the feeding of wildlife, I’ve always believed New York City Parks should also adopt the Canadian National Park’ s language prohibiting harassment of animals in for NYC park regulations. Their guidelines say, “It is against the law to touch, entice, disturb or otherwise harass any wild animals big or small.” I especially like the use of the word entice, as it would restrict the use of audio playback or the feeding of animals using bread or nuts to bring them closer.

Rodent Control
Even with the best management of waste disposal, there will always be some rats. While the Conservancy occasionally uses rodenticides, it does so on a very limited basis to protect the rodent predators in the park, such as Red-tailed Hawks. While this was the correct approach a decade ago, two new and effective methods of controlling rat populations have recently become available, CO2 and rodent contraceptive bait, and should be concidered.

The use of carbon dioxide as a method of fumigation for burrow systems, either by using dry ice or devices such as the IGI CO2 Liphatech, can be very effective at killing brown rats, without the risks of secondary poisoning of other animals. This method has been successfully used in smaller parks in Manhattan, including Washington Square Park and Tompkins Square Park.

Rodent contraceptive bait is being experimented with in NYC, and is available in both a liquid and solid form. The solid form is being used quite effectively in Bryant Park. The Conservancy should be encouraged to pilot the use of these baits, especially in infested areas, such as the shore of the Pond.

Moving Forward
The health code violations are the easiest to address. I’m going to start photographing the violations when I see them and report them to the health department. I would encourage everyone else to do the same. If you’re walking your dog at night, take a picture and make a complaint.

The Park’s Department also has a department that manages concessions and I’ll be writing a letter of complaint and copying the health department.

Pressuring the Conservancy to revised their trash collection and rodent control procedures will be much harder. I’m still trying to figure out how to influence them. Email me with any suggestions!

Lastly, I’m not sure how to mobilize naturalists to influence park regulations. The “animal lovers” who feed wildlife are a strong lobby. Fixing this issue might not be possible politically. But it’s time to give the Urban Park Rangers and P.E.P. (Park’s Enforcement Patrol) regulations that let them crack down on habitual feeders of animals, who bring so much food into the park that they end up feeding more than a few bids or squirrels but an army of rodents.

Central Park Coyotes

Central Park Coyotes and the Delacorte Theater

In general, I’ve tried to respect the coyotes privacy, and not publish any information about their locations or where to find them. However, two articles have made public that they’ve been using the Delacorte Theater, one in Smithsonian Magazine and today’s article in the New York Times. So, I’m comfortable sharing some information, now that the “cat’s out of the bag” for this one location.

(In the NYT article, Patrick Willingham is quoted as saying, “A friend sent me a picture from Smithsonian Magazine in late June by two photographers who had captured a pair of coyotes sunbathing in the new Delacorte’s bleachers.” The picture was taken at night, so “resting by moonlight” might have been a better description.)

The coyotes patrol the park at night but also rest in safe spaces free of humans and dogs. These refuges exist all throughout the park. I’ve found eight of them, but I’m sure there are more. They are “rest stops” as they explore the park at night.

This winter and spring, the coyotes most popular rest stop was the construction site of the Delacorte Theater. It was a huge area containing Shakespeare Garden, which was then closed to build an ADA compliant walkway, the theater, a large temporary construction area north of the theater, and is adjacent to Turtle Pond, which is fenced off at night. It was a safe place for them. Except for security guards (who rarely patrolled the construction site), it was a free of anything that could disturb them.

It was also a great spot to explore from and return to in case there was “trouble”. Before the park closes at 1am, the coyotes must deal with humans and dogs getting in their way. So, they also used the Delacorte as a “home base”, if their early evening explorations encountered too many people or dogs.

Now that the construction has been completed and rehearsals have started for the August production of Twelfth Night, the coyotes are avoiding the theater from what I can see. They are very shy. They used the theater when it was dark, and now stage lights keep the theater lit all night. The coyotes have plenty of other places to hang out in the park, and they’ll be just fine giving up their playground to the Public Theater for a few weeks!

There is a chance they might still be visiting after the park is closed at 1am. But there is almost no chance, they’ll join a performance onstage! (Although, they did join a performance of the New York Philharmonic.)

So don’t expect to see them if you are lucky enough to get tickets to Twelfth Night.

Although folks had been watching the coyotes in the theater this winter, (and in prior years when the park only had a single coyote,) I only started watching them in April. I had purchased a thermal monocular, and was finally able to track the coyotes at night.

My first encounter with them at the Delacorte was in early April.

This is a thermal image of them. Black is heat, and white is cold not snow. Here they are exploring the theater with most of the seats still to be installed.

While I got to see them on and off in the theater during April, it was difficult to photograph them. It is usually pitch black in the theater at night.

In May, I was able to take some pictures of them onstage. They both took a nap on top of a load of plywood.

The coyotes would also use a fenced in construction area just north of the theater at night to rest and relax. Below are photographs from May.

They continued to roam through the theater seats and play onstage. But by mid-May the trees had leafed out and it was becoming hard to see much of the theater from the terrace of Belvedere Castle.

In June and early July, much of the same behavior continued. A new highlight was watching one of them eat a Brown Rat on a lawn just north of the theater.

A firefly photobombs one of the coyotes in July.

The Public has a great cast for Twelfth Nigh to inaugurate the renovated theater this August. They should have a wonderful, if too brief of a season. New York City welcomes free theater back to Central Park.

However, I suspect the coyotes will be happy to celebrate the final curtain call, so they can return to using one of their safe havens during the theater’s off season. This pair of coyotes has already been giving some great performances in and around the theater this year! Here are some of them…

Central Park Coyotes

Water Doesn’t Limit The Central Park Coyotes

The coyote we had fifteen years ago, was very comfortable on the ice of both The Pool and The Pond, and there were many sightings of our current coyotes using the ice on The Lake and Turtle Pond this last winter. David Lei took a wonderful shot of a coyote on the Turtle Pond ice and included it in an article co-written with Jacqueline Emery for Smithsonian Magazine.

But I wasn’t expecting the coyotes to swim or walk in shallow water, but they do it all the time. I’m not sure why I didn’t think they would swim, as there are many breeds of domestic dog that love swimming. It turns out the park’s raccoons swim as well. I guess that’s why we don’t have any nesting ducks on the island of Turtle Pond.

The coyotes have also used one of the park’s islands to sleep on during the day. On the two occasions, I’ve seen them use an island to sleep on during the day. I was only able to hear some splashes as they left the island. Sadly, it’s almost impossible to photograph all of their behaviors. They really know how to stay out of sight and love to stay in the shadows.

I’ve only been able to take one thermal movie and extract some stills of the coyotes swimming. There isn’t snow in the image below, black is heat, and white is cold.

In this first photo a coyote swims to one of the park’s island, with a freshly caught Brown Rat in its mouth, with four ducks and geese to the right.
 

The wet coyote reaches one of the park’s islands.
 

The coyote shakes off the water on its coat.
 

Video of the coyote swimming to an island, eating a Brown Rat and exploring the island.
 

A coyote on one of the park’s islands. They will also walk in shallow water to get around dense vegetation.

Central Park Coyotes

Central Park’s Coyote Pair


Source: North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, 5/22/18

I’ve spent the last three months observing Central Park’s first pair of Eastern Coyotes. It has been a wonderful experience. While coyotes are relatively new to Manhattan, they’re been living and breeding in the Bronx and Westchester for decades. Coyotes gradually made their way east of the Mississippi River over the last 100 years. Coyotes now live in most North America’s cities and have adapted well to urban and suburban life.

In Manhattan, we’re seeing the first few “pioneer” coyotes, but we should expect to have more as time progresses. I suspect we’ll have breeding coyotes in Manhattan by the end of the decade.

While watching the coyotes in May, I had a nice conversation with a person who has an apartment on Fifth Avenue but also a house in Greenwich. He asked me what I was doing, and I said I was watching a pair of coyotes. We talked about how some folks fear them and he said something that stuck with me. He said “In Greenwich when the coyotes first came, the town was in a panic. But soon folks simply learned to manage their garbage and keep their pets inside at night, so now they’re just part of everyday life and no one worries about them.”

In Manhattan, folks are often still in the panic stage. Public policy has improved, and people are starting to know they’re here, but the public is often still frightened by them unnecessarily. Although in Central Park, I now run into many people who are excited to share their own sightings.

While I got to know a coyote about fifteen years ago, until this April, the sightings I’ve had over the last few years had been infrequent. I saw the current male a few times on the North Meadow while watching the Snowy Owl in 2021. Since then, each year in the late winter and early spring when he’s sleeping on a ledge during the day, I’ve been able to watch him sleep and then wake up at dusk. However, I was never able to track of him after he ventured out of his daytime resting spot.

Last year, while watching a pair of Long-eared Owl, I got to see that the single coyote had become a pair. I had some great but very brief looks at them in the northern end of the park. 

Except when the male coyote was sleeping, the sightings would be best called “glimpses”, and I only heard the coyotes howl once. This spring, aided by newly purchased thermal monocular, I have been able to spend many nights watching them and getting to know the pair. A handful of people had already been studying them for a few years, so I was a bit late to the party, but I quickly came up to speed.

Despite their reputation as being dangerous, coyotes generally do their best to stay under the radar in urban areas. This is the case with the pair of coyotes living in Central Park. They time their travels to avoid people and dogs, and they do their best to find areas of the park free of dogs and humans to sleep and relax during the day. To my knowledge there have been no reports of aggressive behavior towards humans or dogs by any coyote in Central Park, while there have been numerous dog attacks in Central Park. Park patrons and their pets are much more likely to be attacked by a domestic dog, than a coyote.

Urban coyotes can become aggressive if they lose their fear of humans, which is further worsened by people intentionally or unintentionally feeding coyotes. This could easily become an issue in Central Park due to the mismanagement of refuse by the restaurant concessions and the Conservancy, as well as the misguided feeding of wildlife, raccoons in particular. I write about this in a future post.

So, while my blog posts have been few and far between these last few months, I’ve been busy watching a fascinating pair of coyotes. The coyotes do their best to stay under the radar. They do their best to hide in plain sight and this pair unlike most coyotes are almost exclusively nocturnal. They’ve adapted to living in a crowded park. This flexibility is so much fun to study, just as I did with Red-tailed Hawks in small parks, such as Washington Square Park or Tompkins Square Park.

Over twenty years, I’ve had lots of great experiences watching a variety of species in Central Park at night including Bats (Eastern Red, Big Brown, Siver-haired and Tri-colored) and Owls (Eastern Screech, Barred, Barn, Long-eared, Great Horned, Snowy and a feral Eurasian Eagle-Owl). 

(I tried to get into moths with Marie Winn and her friends, but it never captivated me. I think I’m too much of a behaviorist, and not enough of a taxonomist to enjoy them.)

Observing these coyotes has been like observing owls. As with owls, it is more involved than simply observing a species and how it is adapting to an urban environment. There are complications due to the news media and individuals exploiting the animals, lots of false rumors, incorrect interpretations of their behavior, and areas of public policy that need improvement.

Earlier this year there was a possibility the pair would have pups. They were seen copulating, but in May it was clear they weren’t going to have offspring this year. However, they might in later years, so I’m going to be cautious about what details I report and what I don’t. So, I’ll be writing about what they do, and will often leave out where and when they’re doing it.

So, I’m going to start doing weekly posts covering a range of coyote topics. Some will be lighthearted, and some will be more serious. I have a lots to share after watching the coyotes for three months.

Central Park Coyotes

Wild About Classical Music

I’ve been following Central Park’s Eastern Coyote pair since April spending many nights watching them. I’ve been posting some photos and videos on Instagram, but haven’t been posting much on this blog. The coyotes are doing a great job of hiding in plain sight, so I don’t want to give away too many of their secrets.

But I do want to share something too fascinating to keep a secret. On Wednesday, they did something humorous and wonderful. The New York Philharmonic was playing on the Great Lawn, and responding to a police siren, the pair began howling at the end of the orchestra’s performance of Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite. They stopped howling just as the performance was ending with almost perfect timing.