The Noble Coyote

Every morning, K and I head out onto the trails together. We see the daily changes, and there's no doubt that summer has begun its slow wane into autumn. I have to admit that the subtle signs make me want to cling to summer and never let it go. Of course, we don't suffer from the heat up at our elevation like so many of you do. We have a short, sweet, and not-too-hot summer. Those of us who live here year around revel in this glorious all-too-short season.

I spotted the last wild Columbine blooming on the trails that we regularly travel (the ones in our garden are still blooming with lots of buds still to open).

So, I took K to visit it. I wanted to get a photo of her and the flower without letting her trample the flower. This was the best that we could do (the flower is in the upper left).

On our way home from visiting the Columbine, we passed Hug Hill where I let K choose how to pose. She chose the "usual" majestic stump.

On Hug Hill, it was clear to me that the late summer flowers are taking over. This aster is a favorite of mine even though it heralds the start of the slide into autumn.

This gorgeous yellow flower is actually called "Gumweed". It need a new PR person to rename it!

Not only are the late summer flowers emerging but the berry bushes are weighted down with a banner crop. K and I have changed our routes a bit to avoid the areas with lots of berry bushes so that the bears can eat in peace.

All over the forest, I see signs that the bears are busily eating, eating, and eating some more. A favorite bear food is the pupae of ants. Those are the white larvae that the adult ants tend to very carefully because they are the next generation of the ant colony. A bear had traveled the same trail as K and I did this morning, and he'd flipped at least a hundred rocks, undoubtedly licking up the baby ants that he found under the rocks.

I've moved a wildlife camera to a berry-laden slope. So far, I've captured no bear photos even though I know that they've been on the slope. The problem with the berry slope is that it's wide open so the bears can travel any route that catches their fancy. Wide open terrain makes it hard to place a camera with high odds of getting bear photos. However, I did capture two beautiful photos of a coyote gazing down from the berry slope toward a trail used by humans.

I think that someone was on the trail based on his obvious interest in watching the trail. I doubt that the person had any idea that a wild animal was watching her.

I think that he looks noble and intelligent. I'm glad that this coyote is watching over our forest.