January 9, 2013
For the past quarter century I have been trying to record a group of coyotes doing their screeching chorus. It's not like the movies where we hear a solo, cliche yippie-ay-yo. No, when you hear a pack of coyotes singing to each other and off of each other, it is more like The Beach Boys meet Marilyn Manson. It is very demonic, to me, at least. When I first heard it in the mid-eighties, when we moved out to Cave Creek, I told Kathy, "Is it just me or does that sound like coyotes ripping babies apart?" She agreed. Very unsettling.
Unfortunately, I could never get recording equipment in the right place to capture the sounds. Finally, this morning I was walking from the studio to the house and I heard the pack go off down the hill and across the creek. I realized I had my iPhone on me and I simply stepped to the edge of our back yard and pointed the phone to the sound. Halfway in, I realized I was looking right at two of the coyotes and stepped forward to see if I could capture them on video. Not sure you can see them (they're on the hillside between the clump of trees), but check out this demonic chorus:
Coyotes Ripping Babies Apart
"The lonesome howl of a coyote takes me home again."
—Marilyn Manson
