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Coyote: Seeking the Hunter in Our Midst – A Graceful Ecological Memoir of an Intelligent Species
"Alive with terror, charm, and mystery." -- Madeleine Blais, author of Uphill Walkers
When Catherine Reid returned to the Berkshires to live after decades away, she became fascinated by another recent the eastern coyote. This tenacious species, which shares some lineage with the wolf, exhibits remarkable adaptability and awe-inspiring survival skills. Coyotes have been spotted in nearly every habitable area available, including urban streets, Central Park, and suburban backyards.
Settling into an old farmhouse with her partner, Reid felt compelled to learn more about this outlaw animal. Her beautifully grounded memoir interweaves personal and natural history to comment on one of the most dramatic wildlife stories of our time. With great appreciation for this scrappy outsider and the ecological concerns its presence brings to light, Reid suggests that we all need to forge a new relationship with this uncannily intelligent species in our midst.
"A captivating read, worthy of joining the pantheon of literary ecological writing." -- Booklist
"Enlightening . . . a heartfelt, often poetic case for coexistence between humans and the wild." -- Publishers Weekly
"Graceful, intimate, and vibrant prose . . . an important, beautiful book." -- Jane Brox, author of Clearing Land
Catherine Reid is a naturalist, teacher, editor, and poet. She lives in an old farmhouse in western Massachusetts.
When Catherine Reid returned to the Berkshires to live after decades away, she became fascinated by another recent the eastern coyote. This tenacious species, which shares some lineage with the wolf, exhibits remarkable adaptability and awe-inspiring survival skills. Coyotes have been spotted in nearly every habitable area available, including urban streets, Central Park, and suburban backyards.
Settling into an old farmhouse with her partner, Reid felt compelled to learn more about this outlaw animal. Her beautifully grounded memoir interweaves personal and natural history to comment on one of the most dramatic wildlife stories of our time. With great appreciation for this scrappy outsider and the ecological concerns its presence brings to light, Reid suggests that we all need to forge a new relationship with this uncannily intelligent species in our midst.
"A captivating read, worthy of joining the pantheon of literary ecological writing." -- Booklist
"Enlightening . . . a heartfelt, often poetic case for coexistence between humans and the wild." -- Publishers Weekly
"Graceful, intimate, and vibrant prose . . . an important, beautiful book." -- Jane Brox, author of Clearing Land
Catherine Reid is a naturalist, teacher, editor, and poet. She lives in an old farmhouse in western Massachusetts.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 14, 2014
I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. The Eastern Coyote is a fascinating creature, and one well worth deeper study. This book, while portending to be about just that, in truth was more about the symbolic nature of the creature than anything else.
The book spent far too much time focusing on Catherine Reid and why she wanted to see a coyote, than what the actual coyotes were like. While, yes, she was an interesting person and the symbolic value of an animal is a beautiful thing... I would have much preferred a more scientific or anthropological study of the animal in question. In short, I wanted this book to be to coyotes what Barry Lopez's Of Wolves and Men was to wolves.
This book did manage a fair bit, though. Though in a less interesting way than Daily Coyote did. Catherine Reid did a good job of talking about the designation of Eastern Coyote as a species, and how wolves and coyotes have interbred to a degree in the past. She explained how they managed to carve out a niche and maintain it even in the territory of bigger better predators. I wish it had been a bigger bit of the book.
The book spent far too much time focusing on Catherine Reid and why she wanted to see a coyote, than what the actual coyotes were like. While, yes, she was an interesting person and the symbolic value of an animal is a beautiful thing... I would have much preferred a more scientific or anthropological study of the animal in question. In short, I wanted this book to be to coyotes what Barry Lopez's Of Wolves and Men was to wolves.
This book did manage a fair bit, though. Though in a less interesting way than Daily Coyote did. Catherine Reid did a good job of talking about the designation of Eastern Coyote as a species, and how wolves and coyotes have interbred to a degree in the past. She explained how they managed to carve out a niche and maintain it even in the territory of bigger better predators. I wish it had been a bigger bit of the book.
February 6, 2025
It's hard to imagine a poetic book about Coyotes, but here it is. The author and the coyotes seem to be on a similar journey: trying to find and make a home, feeling like an outsider, and changing who they are in order to survive. There is a mystery as to what are the genetics of coyotes east of the Mississippi River, especially now with the Nature documentary called Meet The Coywolf.
January 6, 2021
This book is not good. It isn't entertaining. The book jacket is definitely misleading, as was the location of the book on the shelf at the library regarding what I wanted to read. Even after I knew it wasn't what I wanted, I thought I might still find some kind of enjoyment in it...sadly, I was mistaken. Reid doesn't write poorly by any means in terms of bare-bone sentences. What goes wrong is the lack of focus, contradictory thoughts and presentation of those thoughts, and an inability to decide what this book is about. Hands down, the worst book I have read so far this year, and it is VERY early in the year.
April 23, 2011
I first got interested in this subject after seeing a coyote right outside our development a couple of years ago and then finding hundreds of their tracks, (and hearing them yipping and yelping at twilight). This is a book about the "eastern coyote" which appears to be a hybrid species between coyote and wolf that has colonized the eastern states since the 1940s. Many of the coyotes have become "urbanized" and live exclusively around human developments, which means that they attack pets and sometimes even people. The eastern encroachment of the coyote only occurred when their arch-enemy, the wolf, was largely eradicated, (and no one knows how when exactly the hybridization occurred). Reid is good when she sticks to the facts and a little bit less so when she includes her personal story.
December 26, 2020
What an interesting read. I so enjoy hearing the coyote calls at my house. I know there is a small pack nearby. I have seen single coyotes, but never more than one at a time. I hadn't really thought about the fact that I never used to see them at all when I was young and that they are much more prevalent now.
The book is part memoir about moving back to Massachusetts and part facts and lore about coyotes. It is most interesting to note how adaptable they are to human civilization encroaching on their turf. How quickly they learn and pass the knowledge on to others not to get caught in snares, traps and how to avoid poison's set for them.
What I found most interesting is that the DNA testing they have done indicates that the male wolf will mate with the female coyote. Making a full pure blood hard to find.
The book is part memoir about moving back to Massachusetts and part facts and lore about coyotes. It is most interesting to note how adaptable they are to human civilization encroaching on their turf. How quickly they learn and pass the knowledge on to others not to get caught in snares, traps and how to avoid poison's set for them.
What I found most interesting is that the DNA testing they have done indicates that the male wolf will mate with the female coyote. Making a full pure blood hard to find.
August 25, 2018
In the beginning, I loved it, but as I read on, it got a little disjointed and repetitive. I absolutely liked all the info about the eastern coyotes - where they came from, how they got here, did they interbreed with wolves, or what? We have an issue with them here in GA (Atlanta) suburbia. I think we should just tolerate them, but others think all across the spectrum - kill them, re-locate them, leave them alone and take proper precautions re you cats, puppies and toddlers. No question, though - coyotes are a smart animal determined to exist.
June 7, 2017
A combination of back yard nature and summaries of coyote/ wolf research. The actual data about coyotes doesn't appear until the last fourth of the book and unfortunately, by the time of this reading. Is most likely outdated. Most thought provoking are the ideas that evolution may not happen as slowly as we have been lead to believe and that animals, especially coyote, have an amazing ability to adapt to change and survive.
February 15, 2018
I started this book a little over 4 months ago. I was very interested in the subject matter and I love a good novel. It started slowly and didn’t grab me right off, but after a couple of months, I picked it back up and ended up loving it. Start the book, stick with it, and you will be pleasantly surprised. And you will learn stuff!!
August 4, 2009
Catherine Reid offers an amazing narrative of a species that has made its home in the East mixed in with ever changing human landscape. The author is subtle, elegant and wonderfully calm in handling a passionate obsession with her subject. The vivid details stay with you. I remain haunted, impressed by the feeling evoked in the passages about the trackers being led in a circle, to become the hunted.
November 5, 2013
This book for the most part was beautifully written and very insightful. She kind of ran out of coyote information and started repeating herself a lot toward the end, but I like how she intertwined what was going on in her life with her search for wildlife.
She has a life partner, you guys, so if you're going to be upset by the "L" word, take yourself somewhere else. She was subtle and delicate in her handling of it.
She has a life partner, you guys, so if you're going to be upset by the "L" word, take yourself somewhere else. She was subtle and delicate in her handling of it.
August 20, 2008
I would really like to give this 2.5. Some of it I liked, and some was just okay. A little bit of this was biographical, and I wasn't really into that, I wanted Coyotes. And to an extent, it was amateur scientific data about Coyotes presented by the author.
April 15, 2009
Interesting facts about coyotes wrapped around a woman's return to her home town. Not much of a story on its own, but I think that this is how I would like my non-fiction to be delivered in the future; thinly disguised as a narrative.
July 10, 2017
A pleasure to read. An observation of the subject and an observation of a morsel of life.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews