WildView™

January 5, 2017

A Wily Coyote

- as seen by -

Jason M. Aloisio @TRUEcologyNYC

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Each summer, the Wildlife Conservation Society supports a team of 75 student researchers (high school, undergraduate, graduate) in their exploration of the wildlife and wild places of New York City through a program called Project TRUE (Teens Researching Urban Ecology).

In partnership with Fordham University, Project TRUE research projects focus on topics such as habitat assessments, green infrastructure, and wildlife tracking. This past summer, the Project TRUE team set-up and monitored motion-activated cameras in Manhattan and the Bronx to help understand the patterns of mammal movement in NYC, including coyotes [in partnership with Gotham Coyote].

During the scorching months of July and August, the Project TRUE camera team visited their 14 motion sensor cameras at seven different locations each week to download photographs in hopes of finding an elusive coyote. While they found chipmunks, deer, opossum, raccoons, and squirrels, the coyote evaded detection until August 15 – the final day of the Project TRUE summer program. The team was ecstatic to finally see the animal that they had spent the entire summer searching for and learned a valuable lesson in patience and persistence.

This image was captured in the often forgotten Pelham Bay Park, the largest public park in NYC at 2,772 acres.

EDITOR’S NOTES: Have you set up a trail camera, or camera trap, in your backyard, allowing an animal’s movements to trigger the camera as it passes by? Wild View has a new assignment When Animals Snap 2. Show us your best “species selfies.”

Enter Wild View Assignment

Sign up to receive our favorite camera trap shots from the field to share with your friends.

Reconyx RC55

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