Who are the Narragansett Bay Study Coyotes?

by Numi Mitchell

Scientists at The Conservation Agency have been working since June 2005 capturing and collaring coyotes for the Narragansett Bay Coyote Study.  So far we have captured 11.  We follow their movements with the help of GPS/radio collars that tell us where each coyote has been and when.  

We are currently tracking six coyotes.  Below are some photos of  the individual coyotes we are currently tracking, some information about each and the packs they belong to.

We have been tracking C2, our Portsmouth coyote since last summer.  C2  is a male that was initially caught at Decastro's Farm, Portsmouth, RI on August 21, 2005.  He was a puppy, approximately six months old at the time, weighing 21 pounds.  Three months later we caught him again - this time at Chase Farm, Portsmouth. We replaced his collar with a new one.  To our surprise he  had gained 18 pounds and, as far as we know, is now our largest coyote. (48 lbs).

His pack is frequently seen at the Newport Country Club.  Since  December 25, 2005, Hazard has been spending more time outside of Newport Neck - up north in Middletown (not far from the Christmas Tree Shop).  It is breeding season and this may be part of the reason he is moving around.

C14 is a dark male caught at Peckham Brothers Quarry, Middletown, on a very snowyDecember 9, 2005.   He weighed close to 38 lbs. and was estimated to be less than one year old.  He is almost black.  Here he is seen patiently waiting to be collared at the capture site.  

The capture pole is used to hold coyotes still at a safe distance while we ready necessary gear:  anesthetic, scale, the PIT tag (passive internal transponders:  small sub-dermally implanted  rice-grain sized bar code tags that can be read with a scanner), and the GPS/radio collar.  

C11 (we call Valentine - because he was caught on Bill Hutchenson and Vivi Valentine's property) is  a very distinctive male coyote with two circular black patches on his forepaws.  He is a small coyote; at capture on September 23, 2005 he weighed only 22 lbs.  Valentine's collar is no longer transmitting but we recently collared a second member of his pack. 

C3, Valentine's packmember is, in contrast, quite large.   He weighed 46.5 lbs at capture on January 22, 2006, and was less than one year old. 

Like Valentine he has dark spots on his forepaws - though not as distinct as Valentine's.  He roams much more widely than Valentine did but uses the same daytime retreats and home range as his packmate.

The Center Island Pack (The Reservoir Dogs)

C13 (Chase - named for Gail and Harry Chase of Hodgekiss Farm, Jamestown) was caught on December 9, 2005, the same morning as our Peckham coyote (C14).  He weighed 39 lbs.  He is not our largest but  is our oldest coyote:  about 1.5 - 2 years.  

His nightly movements and daily refuge spots are very similar those of a young female we collared from the same pack early in the summer.  Chase seems a stickler about keeping to the same home range (before and after Christmas - unlike the young males we are following) most of whom wandered from their summer and fall ranges during the breeding season.

The North End Pack

C15 (White-tip - named for the distinctive snow-white tail tip) is our representative from the North End Pack.  Here he is shown collared and ready to go, sleeping off the anesthetic.  He was captured on December 1, 2005 weighing 43 lbs.  Before Christmas this coyote never ventured south of Rte 138 ("the Connecter" ).  Lately he has been seen advancing towards the center of Chase's pack's home range  to chew on a carcass of a cow that succumbed to the harshness of the past winter.   White-tip  has also been to the Beavertail!