Coyote!

I took Thunderdog out for her morning walk a bit early today (around 7:15 am).  We headed down to the lake, despite a stiff wind coming off of it.

When we got to the Dragonfly Meadow, she stopped dead in her tracks. All the fur on her back stood straight up.  She was looking at a strange dog, about fifty feet from us.  It was trotting through the dead weeds, looking towards the lake.  Then it looked at us: when I saw it's face, I realized that it was not a tame dog.

It was a little smaller than Thunderdog, but about the same shape (tall and lean).  Standing-up ears.  Mottled grey fur with black legs.  Bushy tail.   "C'mon, Pigeon," I said.  "We'll go the other way today."  Last thing I want is her meeting a strange wild dog.  We headed off in the other direction, and I watched the strange dog zip away up over the ridge by the lake.

A few minutes later, a City Truck pulled up next to us as we walked down the street.  "Keep your dog on leash," he said.  "There's a couple of coyotes in town this morning."  I said that I had seen one of them, and pointed in the direction of the ridge.  The guy thanked me and zipped away.

I'm so excited!  This is the first (non-avian) predator that I've seen up here.  Not only that, but it was confirmed by the guy from the City.  When I first moved up here I thought I saw some otters in the water and told everyone about it.  Turns out they were probably muskrats.  Nobody's been mean about it, but I expect there was a bit of eye-rolling and "here comes the city girl". >.<

Note to self: buy camera.

Achievement unlocked: predator sighting: Coyote.  Leveling up to AWESOME.