So I did a 67-mile ride this morning that sent me from Silver Lake through downtown across the L.A. River and east across Whittier Boulevard to the San Gabriel River, then downstream to where it empties into the bay. Then I came up through Long Beach along the Shoreline Bikeway to the Los Angeles River and back up into downtown and home.
The highpoint was a rare treat. Some angelenos might go their lives not seeing a coyote in person, much less seeing a mother coyote defend her den and pups against a hungry rogue male. But that’s exactly what I saw on the San Gabriel River bed south of Washington Boulevard (click for the bigger picture):
You can’t tell much by this picture. seeing as the momma coyote is hunkered down and only her ear’s visible (in the center of the lightened circle an arrow indicates it). I have some video of the clashing standoff and a timelapse of chunks of the the long ride that I’ll link to tomorrow.
UPDATED (7.19): OK, here’s the timelapse vid of most of the ride. The cam was stop-n-go but finally recorded at length from the 2nd Street tunnel down to Seal Beach. Then got hinky again along the Shoreline Bikeway before staying on up the L.A. River where the battery finally pooped out just after crossing Imperial Highway. If it seems exceptionally speedy it’s because I recorded at one frame every two seconds, instead of every one second:
And here’s the regular real-time vid I got of the two coyotes. It was quite fascinating to watch, not just because it was like stumbling on to a scene playing out on the plain of the wild wide-open west instead of the concreted banks of a channelized and urbanized realm, but also because of the inherent drama of both creatures attempting to survive at the expense of the other:
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