Titus and the Coyotes

This is a video of a great blue heron doing a mating dance at Lake Balboa. This is not what I saw today but I took this about a month ago.. just at the spot where I was today... (note this is google video-- let's see how it looks)



I got to Lake Balboa early-- really early-- and the gate was closed so I parked outside and walked in. Molly was with me. We walk for an hour and play "chuckit"-- with a purple tennis ball launcher.

A killdeer ran in front of me making great noises-- a neat bird I haven't seen in years. Then Molly stood very still and I looked up. I spotted a large animal standing a short distance off, also still. Right by the pine tree in the video. Is that a deer I thought?

It was a coyote nearly as big as Molly, and she's a big German Shepherd. It started stalking towards us, which is so unexpected, because usually coyotes run off. I stuck my arms out and made weird noises. It stopped for a moment, then kept coming towards us. It was about fifty feet away.

I threw my tennis ball at him. He stopped, and looked at it and at me. Molly was thrashing on her leash but not barking. I turned to walk away as a test, and he was still coming on.

Just then the gate must have opened and a big black SUV came down the road. The coyote ran in front of the car, past us. The car stopped. I looked across the road and saw several coyotes over there. It was thrilling to see but scary. We headed quickly into the park, to walk the lake.

Near the end of the walk, I chose to take the path that goes over a hill and near a lot of brush. Usually I see hawks there, and I figured I'd had my excitement for the day. Suddenly I heard a dog barking uproar in the bushes and a man screaming, "NO TITUS! NO!"

That did it. I turned around and ran all the way out of the park, or at least to the concrete sidewalk!