The song of
coyotes is probably one of the most poignant and beautiful things about the deserts of
North America. Their song includes a variety of highly vocal yips and howls which is pretty much undescribable if you haven't heard it. No one is really sure why they howl. Some theorize that it is a way to mark
territory, but i don't believe this. I have seen groups of several coyotes howl together. Others believe it is just a location beacon, but I don't believe this either. Why create such
intricate songs just to locate other coyotes? There are a few people who think the coyotes are just
lonely. I think this is the least likely of all. Coyotes aren't lonely wanderers of the
desert. They ARE the desert. They are everything that makes the desert amazing - their song reveals
independence,
hardiness,
beauty, the amazing hugeness of the desert. I think the coyotes sing because they are overwhelmed with
the mystery and beauty of the world.
The desert at night is an amazing thing, especially under a full moon. Everything glows silver, and hills 20 miles down the valley seem like a step away, while bushes a few feet away seem like towering trees on the horizon. Some dark nights there are so many stars you can see the dark swirls of 'dark matter' far out in space where they blot out the stars in the Milky Way. Other nights, there is so much lightning in the distance the desert flickers like it is under a golden fire. The plants do much of their metabolizing at night, using energy stored from the harsh desert sun, because in the daytime they would be scorched by the heat and shrivel and die. The result of this is a strong smell of living, growing plants at night. All these sensations are simply those witnessed by a human. People wonder why the coyotes choose to sing at night. But imagine looking at the nighttime world as a coyote. Sights, smells, and sounds would be many times more intense than those seen by a human. If i could see the world this way i would be singing too. As it is, there have been times when i had no means of expression of the desert other than to sit facing the mountains at night a little drunk, play guitar as best i can, and sing.
I've seen a lot of dead animals in my time, and I'm not that sensitive to it. I've seen animals cooked in wildfires, animals eaten by hawks, animals run over, animals died of old age. It is sad, but it is life. Life ends. But the other day i saw a coyote dead by the side of the road, curled up into a little fuzzy ball, and I almost cried. It was in the suburbs, a quickly growing place, where there was nothing left of the once beautiful hills. I don't even know how the coyote got this far from the mountains to the north or south it could have survived in. But i do know this: a coyote is far too smart to simply walk into a car. It is possible he was confused, or disoriented, or sick. But i think that is far underestimating the poor coyote. I personally believe he saw the world ending for him - the beauty gone, covered in houses and roads. I think this coyote WAS lonely, unbearably lonely, because he was without the beauty which once surrounded him; he had no reason to even sing. I think he knew exactly what the highway was, and he dragged himself in front of a car and let his life go, into the cold night air of Ventura Highway, alone.