Coyote Eating Apples

“Coyotes don’t eat apples!” That’s the usually response when we tell anyone about the coyote eating apples in our small orchard. Finally, after a year of fruitless stalking, pure serendipity landed us in the right place at the right time to photograph the coyote eating our windfall apples.

Over a year ago the Farmer told me about “a dog eating apples” in our orchard. We have had gourmet dogs who picked asparagus, or strawberries, but never apples. Later, we stumbled across an article in a respected Nature magazine where the author mentioned that coyotes are omnivorous and will regularly be seen eating apples in the fall and winter.

After that initial encounter, the hunt was on! Last winter the Farmer would catch fleeting glimpses of our quarry, but never enough to clearly identify it as dog, wolf or coyote. I personally never saw a thing, except the dog-like tracks and signs of intense digging in the snow. Every fresh snowfall brought new tracks but never a clear sign of the animal.

About a week ago, we noticed fresh tracks around the apple trees. The tracks circled our trees, reminiscent of some animal on a scouting expedition. The coyote was back and by pure chance we managed to photograph him through the hazy breezeway windows at the back of the house.

The day these photographs were taken was sunny and cold with temperatures of -13 °C (8.6 ºF). The coyote quickly and warily crunched on a couple of apples, and then less than a minute later, trotted off and disappeared behind the barn. Yes, it is a coyote and coyotes eat apples.

Annie Rose

P.S. Our coyote is not the only one who eats fruit. Here’s an interesting video called Coyotes don't climb trees, of a coyote actually climbing a tree to access the fruit.