A coyote on the prowl (OST wildlife camera)

With the reintroduction of gray wolves to Colorado, coyotes and even foxes are attracting a lot of attention – mostly because some observers are mistaking them for wolves.

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A gray wolf in the snow. Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

They’re here.

Ten newly reintroduced gray wolves are on the ground in Colorado and up to five more are expected to be released by mid-March. With a reintroduction goal of 30 to 50 wolves within three to five years, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, it’s likely that Pitkin County will see gray wolves wandering its landscape for the first time in eight or so decades.

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Elk at Sky Mountain Park in December 2022.

Sometimes a swath of tracks through deep snow offers the only hint that a herd of elk was on the move in the darkness. Those paths, where each animal followed the same broken line of snow to minimize their effort, are a common sight on winter mornings in the Roaring Fork Valley. But it’s what happens in the trees, where the tracks disappear onto the hillside, that tells the rest of the story.

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