The Sandstone Amphitheater

Unusual or uncommon landscape features attract predators and curious naturalists.

A cut bank on an otherwise uniform prairie, a pile of flotsam on a river floodplain, a bluff feeding boulders, scree, and sand to an alluvial plain -- they all speak to the forces of  nature and allure the likes of us.

Here was a sandstone amphitheater in a bend of a dry wash.

When we saw it we knew it was the place for a camera trap. 

Bats had been using the overhang as a night roost,  owls had paused there long enough to litter the sand with fur-packed pellets, and a cougar had left a few tracks in the sand.

Since the rainy season was upon us, we found the high water mark and set the camera trap above it.

The only visitor, a coyote came 11 days later at 8:48AM.

After the picture above was taken, the animal approached the camera to check it out.

The smell of people didn't alarm it -- it was probably a transient.

No resident territory holder would be so bold or foolhardy.

 
It returned to investigate the rock that covered the can of rotten mackerel.

Then it scented the air and was gone.