It wore a villainous look as a streak of light caught its face. Once in awhile a tree-camera finds one of these creatures, each more wolf-like than before. Be that as it may, the coyote’s countenance winds up on Facebook.

“It’s so cute”, go the comments from a browser who obviously doesn’t have a clue that this beast would dearly love to rip her to shreds.

Where was the photo taken ? Oh, less than a mile from my house, but they do a lot of wandering. Who knows where their constant troll for the next kill will take them, but I’d surely prefer that its ghastly howl not awake me in the middle of the night.

They compromise a curious phenom, these canines of the wild. Years ago they weren’t even close to here. Was Ontario not big enough that they had to make their way to Jersey ? Somehow that doesn’t compute.

It doesn’t seem to matter where they are, though. Night gets darker than black. Black gets darker than night . The coyotes let loose. Their dreadful decree defines the night, a harrowing howl that rends a restless repose.

We didn’t used to see coyotes. We didn’t see bears. Just how is it, in 2020, that the countryside has gotten wilder?