Okay, I'm not quite in the desert. I'm in Crowley County, in SE Colorado. We're currently in week 5 or 6 or a mini draught.

This morning I was mowing out an area in my pasture that has quite tall weeds - maybe 4'. Mostly koshia and Russian Thistle. Out pops a coyote. I'd never seen a coyote pop out of an area where I'm mowing like that, although that part of my farm does have quite a lot of coyote activity (and lots of cottontails and jackrabbits). Anyway, it hung around watching me, and as I would drive away (long narrow field) it would go back into the weeds, then as I'd come back down, would run out and watch again.

From the behavior, I knew that there was something keeping that coyote bound to that patch of weeds. There's no prey around bigger than a rabbit, and surely it could grab that and run. So I'm thinking pups. Is that likely at this time of year? I wasn't wearing my glasses - so I couldn't tell whether it was a female with milk. I left the area it kept returning to unmowed... The thing is, I know my land pretty well, and I can't picture any den or burrow there. The land is completely flat and I ride it, walk it and mow it fairly often. It would have had to been recently dug. Either that or a very inexperienced female decided the tall weeds were enough cover??

Thanks to anybody who can tell me what is likely to be going on there.

I think there might be a litter of pups underground.

Agreed. Let us know what you find!


Guz

So are you both agreed that pups in mid Sept is not that unusual?

My OH, who is more knowledgeable about this stuff than I, thought she might have had pups in there feeding on a rabbit or something, as opposed to this being a den site.

I don't intend to go bothering them, will leave that patch of weeds for a few weeks...

Sounds entirely possible.

Mating January-late March, gestation 2 months= birth in May, pups emerge from den about 30 days later= June, males leave approx 6-9mos old= Sept/Oct, females stay with pack.

From Wikipedia:
"Female coyotes are monoestrous, and remain in estrus for two to five days between late January and late March, during which mating occurs. Once the female chooses a partner, the mated pair may remain temporarily monogamous for a number of years. Depending on geographic location, spermatogenesis in males takes around 54 days, and occurs between January and February. The gestation period lasts from 60 to 63 days. Litter size ranges from one to 19 pups; the average is six.[3] These large litters act as compensatory measures against the high juvenile mortality rate – about 50–70% of pups do not survive to adulthood.[26] The pups weigh approximately 250 grams at birth, and are initially blind and limp-eared.[3] Coyote growth rate is faster than that of wolves, being similar in length to that of the dhole.[27] The eyes open and ears become erect after 10 days. Around 21–28 days after birth, the young begin to emerge from the den, and by 35 days, they are fully weaned. Both parents feed the weaned pups with regurgitated food. Male pups will disperse from their dens between months six and 9, while females usually remain with the parents and form the basis of the pack. The pups attain full growth between 9 and 12 months old. Sexual maturity is reached by 12 months.[3] Unlike wolves, mother coyotes will tolerate other lactating females in their pack.[28]"