For those of us old enough to remember when Looney Tunes ruled the afternoon cartoon television slot, the name Wile E. Coyote holds fond memories of a scrappy canine and his many failed attempts at catching the infamous and speedy Road Runner. To many children this was their first exposure to Canis latrans, who, next to the Gray Wolf, is North America’s other well-known and often misunderstood wild.

While Wile E. Coyote is known to prowl about on the flat, long desert highways of the American West, our Eastern coyote here in Virginia inhabits a different kind of backdrop. Coyotes are found in almost every environment in our state: forests, fields, suburbs, and city alleys. They are a notoriously secretive and seldom seen species. If you do happen to see a coyote, it is most likely due to chance, illness (such as rabies, mange, canine distemper, etc.), or because the animal has become desensitized to humans, which is often the result of either intentional or unintentional feeding.

I hope you’re enjoying the delightfully cool spring. Personally, I’ll take all the cool weather I can get before the dog days of summer hit. Any cicadas in your neck of the woods? We'll see if the cool weather means that Brood 2 Cicadas will persist longer than usual. Check out this wonderful video on the life cycle of these fascinating creatures. This text was taken from an email sent out on June 6th, 2013:

Just like humans, wildlife species have four primary needs to survive: food, water, shelter and space. These four components form the basis of wildlife habitat, and each species fulfills these needs differently. Yet, for all species, if one of these four components is missing in a given area, it can affect the species’ population. In this article, I’ll be focusing on one of these needs – cover (the wildlife term for “shelter”) — and what are potential solutions when it’s a limiting factor in an environment. Specifically, how we can use man-made cover to help out wildlife.