A pair of coyotes raised a family of 6 pups in High Pines this Spring and as a result there was significant predation of Piping Plovers and Least Tern chicks - a great disappointment. Today one of the Beach's Environmental Officers flagged me down to tell me that one of the pups was working the bayside shoreline at the north end of the High Pines marsh and coming right toward us. He went on to say that he'd recently seen all 6 at once sunning themselves! As you can see from these pictures they are pretty grown up at this point. One hopes the establishment will see fit to relocate them before there is a good sized pack foraging and preying upon the migrants coming through and depleting the food supply for the winter hawks and owls.

These pictures were taken over 20 minutes as the youngster came to the end of the marsh and then turned and headed back at a trot to High Pines. Apparently this one tends to go out on his own while the others stick close to each other and to the High Pines area itself - at least during the daylight hours. Perhaps the biggest surprise for me was the color - I've only seen adults who are gray.