2110_1418 Grasshoppers!
The Coyote pack - presumably a family group - I've been following for the past week have been feeding heavily on grasshoppers. It makes sense. These little predators are omnivorous: they will eat just about anything. To survive in a harsh environment such as the northern prairie, they will make use of any protein available, and prefer to obtain the most calories possible with the least expenditure of energy.
Grasshoppers are an easy meal for them. They are quickly flushed out of their hiding places in the grass and sagebrush, and the Coyotes are quick enough to snatch them out of the air. I've spent many hours observing them; they are eating well. If I were a scientist rather than a photographer, I would be timing them and assessing their rate of success, but I'm not so all I can offer is an estimate: each Coyote appears to be catching 5-10 grasshoppers per minute. Even allowing for a huge margin of error, this is still a high success rate.
Of course, the season is brief. A couple of hard frosts will kill off the last hoppers, and the Coyotes will turn to other food sources, mainly rodents, to get through the winter. For now, it's fat city on the wild prairie. And as everyone knows, grasshoppers are delicious!
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2021 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
2110_1418 Grasshoppers!
The Coyote pack - presumably a family group - I've been following for the past week have been feeding heavily on grasshoppers. It makes sense. These little predators are omnivorous: they will eat just about anything. To survive in a harsh environment such as the northern prairie, they will make use of any protein available, and prefer to obtain the most calories possible with the least expenditure of energy.
Grasshoppers are an easy meal for them. They are quickly flushed out of their hiding places in the grass and sagebrush, and the Coyotes are quick enough to snatch them out of the air. I've spent many hours observing them; they are eating well. If I were a scientist rather than a photographer, I would be timing them and assessing their rate of success, but I'm not so all I can offer is an estimate: each Coyote appears to be catching 5-10 grasshoppers per minute. Even allowing for a huge margin of error, this is still a high success rate.
Of course, the season is brief. A couple of hard frosts will kill off the last hoppers, and the Coyotes will turn to other food sources, mainly rodents, to get through the winter. For now, it's fat city on the wild prairie. And as everyone knows, grasshoppers are delicious!
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2021 James R. Page - all rights reserved.