Yes, this is just what it looks like. The large boulder is one of those that are supposed to be under ten feet of water in the lake. That may happen some day, but most of the year, this boulder enjoys the Ozark sunlight. This is the rock into which I carved my initials some years back. Obviously, I've had a series of guests who have come to admire my carving, and they've left their calling cards. I'd read somewhere the coyotes will leave their droppings in obvious places as a way to claim territory. I see their scat in the middle of the road often, for example. I guess this makes sense. I make no claim to understanding coyote psychology. I wonder, though, if you can see the droppings in obvious places because they are, um, obvious. You don't see it lost in the leaf litter or the tall grass, but maybe it's there too. So you only see it where it can be seen, and thus you conclude that it is only left where it can be seen. I've been told more than once that I think too much, so you can disregard that whole preceding paragraph if you want. I don't know why the coyotes have picked this boulder to stake out their territory though. I guess it is somewhat prominent, and the white stone gives a nice color contrast (do you think coyotes appreciate that kind of thing?). Maybe they just want to out do my carved initials, which are, in their way, a sort of claim to territory as well. I've never seen a coyote at Roundrock, but I'm sure they've seen me. I wonder what they've seen me doing. Missouri calendar:

• Red foxes begin mating; listen for their barks and squalls.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 19th, 2007 at 1:01 am and is filed under Critters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.