Coyote Cam

What's the difference between coyotes and red foxes?

Red foxes have black coloration that extends further up their legs than coyotes, toward the joint. Coyotes also have a black tip on their tail, whereas red foxes have a white tip on their tail. Finally, red foxes have a distinctly red-orange coat. Although coyotes can be a variety of colors, from tan to a tawny red, the red fox's coat is significantly more vibrant.

Observe the differences between the foxes and coyotes below:

In this photo, you can see a coyote with dark spots on its feet. This could lead some to assume that this is a fox, especially when viewing dark photos like this. However, note that these spots only cover the toes. See how this differs from the red fox in the next picture.

Observe the red fox's feet. The black coloration goes much further up the leg and reaches the joint.

Coyotes come in many colors. The most common is tan with black, white and grey speckling on the shoulders. They can also be blonde, black, tawny (orange-brown), and rufus (red-brown). Rufus coyotes might also be confused with red foxes. The photos below can help you tell the difference.

This image of a tawny-colored, jogging coyote is blurry, but gives you an idea of how this coat color can look.

Compared to the coyote above, this red fox's coat color is much more vibrant and has a lighter orange hue.

Can we tell individual coyotes apart?

At the moment, we cannot tell individual coyotes apart. However, we are developing protocols to do so in the future.

Will wolves or mountain lions appear in this dataset?

This dataset comes from southeastern NY. There is no established population of wolves or mountain lions in this state.

Are the coyotes in this project coywolves?

"Coywolf" is a misleading term that implies that northeastern coyotes are a hybrid species. Although coyotes historically crossed with wolves when they migrated beyond the Mississippi River, they are still coyotes--not "coywolves."

Why do I have to draw a box around the animals in the photos?

These boxes, known as "bounding boxes," may help us automate the process of assigning distances to the animals in the photos. This is an important part of calculating how many animals there are in a specific area. The bounding boxes you draw will be compared to reference photos with distance markers. Then, with the right coding, we can streamline the lengthy process of recording distances.

An example of how our distance markers are placed in front of the cameras. Drawing bounding boxes around the animals may help us automate the process of matching their distances to these markers.