![\"05-06-1\"](\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/05-06-1.jpg\" "\\"05-06-1\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nFull Moon Illuminates Pre-Dawn Low Tide<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I arrived\u00c2\u00a0on Lieutenant Island\u00c2\u00a0a little before 0430.\u00c2\u00a0 A nearly full moon hovered over Great Island in the west, while a dull rosy glow, about the strength of a 2.5 watt nightlight, simmered in the east.\u00c2\u00a0 The creek was cloaked in textured darkness, layers of ripples hinting at what lay beneath.\u00c2\u00a0 In chest-high waders I plunged across the channel.\u00c2\u00a0 Mating horseshoe crabs dotted the rapids like rocks on a Maine shore.\u00c2\u00a0 But terrapins?\u00c2\u00a0 None \u00e2\u20ac\u201d no heads snorkeling for air, no shells rippling the current, no turtles paddling through the rip.<\/p>\n Sunrise over Old Wharf Point<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n So, all for naught?\u00c2\u00a0 Hardly.\u00c2\u00a0 First, there was solid confirmation of my working hypothesis, namely: Terrapins are a lot smarter than terrapin researchers.\u00c2\u00a0 Secondly, as the moon set over Cape Cod Bay, a chorus of coyotes howled it down, echoing refrains from a pack somewhere south of Lieutenant Island to another high on the bluff of Old Wharf Point.\u00c2\u00a0 Then, moonset was quickly followed by a dazzling sunrise over Blackfish Creek.<\/p>\n And, to punctuate a morning well spent, I caught sight of my first daylight meteor.\u00c2\u00a0 It flashed over Indian Neck, an intense white tail trailing a bead of sparklers, whooshing silently across the northern sky and disappearing behind Griffin Island and The Gut.\u00c2\u00a0 All this and I still reached the donut shop two minutes before it opened and one minute before the Wellfleet Police patrol car.<\/p>\n Coyote in Salt Marsh of Old Wharf Peninsula<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n As the mutts and I jeeped over to check the Old Wharf marsh at high tide, we had a surprise encounter with a pair of coyotes.\u00c2\u00a0 This morning at dawn, I had heard howling from Old Wharf Point from what sounded like a pair and their offspring.\u00c2\u00a0 The behavior of these coyotes seemed to confirm the presence of a nearby den.<\/p>\n When we reached the turn-off to the town landing, we spotted a coyote patrolling the marsh wrack line.\u00c2\u00a0 Since I did not have a telephoto lens handy, all images represent actual distances.\u00c2\u00a0 Motor still running, I reached for my camera and unzipped the driver\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s window . . . fully expecting her to dash for cover.<\/p>\n Female Coyote Marks Her Territory<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Instead, she turned and approached the jeep, cutting the distance by about a half, then squatted to mark scent midway between us and the background hill.<\/p>\n Coyote’s Mate Approaches from Southwest<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n As she sprayed, her mate approached from the southwest and both remained alert, keeping themselves between the jeep and the hill.\u00c2\u00a0 They held their ground until we drove off toward Old Wharf Point, after which they slowly zigzagged into the cover of the background hill.<\/p>\n Now I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a cold-hearted reptilian type and know little about these warm-blooded critters.\u00c2\u00a0 But this behavior seemed in contrast to other encounters I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had with coyotes on the Cape.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only did I have the jeep\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s motor running, but she watched me as I frantically searched my backpack for my camera, hurriedly and noisily unzipped the window, pointed the camera in her direction, and tracked her movements with electronic shutter beeps.\u00c2\u00a0 She should have spooked.\u00c2\u00a0 If I did know more about coyotes, I might suspect that this undeveloped hill sheltered a den of whelps.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n