It is a coyote. Not certain what is in mouth but from the shape of the ears either a squirrel or a cat.

Looks like a cat to me from the tail, but it is hard to tell. Coyotes have been sighted here in the DC area as well, although I haven't seen or heard of any in northern VA. It's amazing how adaptable these animals are when their habitat is invaded by the human animal-they come into ours. From your pictures, I always pictured you out in the country!

My backyard only looks like the country in the pictures. Around the Western Chicago area, they often build houses around various man-made ponds. In my case, they decided to use a football field size wetland looking pond instead of the usual one with fountain. As a result, there's a fair amount of wildlife even though it's not even remotely country.

Various neighbors said they had saw coyotes. My neighbor said it used to come near his yard more often when he had a small dog (my other neighbor has 2 large dogs, bigger than coyotes, so he or she doesn't bother them). I guess this confirmed the sighting.

These guys generally avoid humans right? I generally don't see anything except for mice when I refill the feeders early in the morning. Would suck to have to tangle with one :-)

Paul

Coyotes normally will not bother you but I have sometimes came upon one and we looked each other over for a while. We both sort of smiled at each other and left in different directions.

Although it would probably bring on a witch hunt for the coyote you might want to post a caution if you have a community center for people to watch their smaller pets and not let Fifi and Fido out with out a human with them. Especially tell your immediate neighbors if they have small pets. If the coyote is hungry or with pups even being with a small pet might not stop a snatching.

Although it is just supposition on my part removal of feral cat colonies and keeping cats inside can increase the amount of rodents in neighborhoods since the cats generally feed on the mice and rats keeping the population small. A larger population of these will draw other creatures such as coyotes in to feed creating a problem for small pets.
In bad weather any food to keep an animal alive is better than none.

Coyotes will breed with dogs sometimes creating larger or smaller animals.

Even with a human present a coyote might nab a small dog. It happened in my area recently, the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. A lady took her small dog out at 4 a.m. and a coyote was in her shrubs. It came out and took off with the small dog. The poor lady chased after the coyote to no avail.

I recently saw a coyote amble up the street across from my house (suburban Boston) in the evening. He wasn't in any hurry. We have a reservation not far from our house so I am assuming he had come from that area.

On the other hand, a friend of the family's who lives in this area was chased up the street by a coyote when he was with his dog, walking, at night. A very unusual and scary experience. The coyote actually nipped at his heels as they were running.

I guess some of these animals are getting bolder, being around people more and having to move farther out looking for food in the winter.

I have to say, the coyote I saw near my house didn't look nearly as healthy as the one in Paul's photo, he was pretty thin.

I think your visitor looks more like a red fox. In pix 2,
the tail looks really bushy, and foxes are more common to city dwellings than coyotes. I used to run into coyotes when we lived in the country, and they look almost like a
german shepard. They DO interbreed with dogs and wolves
however, so its hard to know.
I've had foxes in my yard often, and have seen them only
4 times, but I recognize the rusty coat and small size.

I think you should tell neighbors, but urge everyone to
leave the predator alone. Pondy

After looking at some pages on both red foxes and coyotes I can certainly see resemblances but still think the animal in the photo is a coyote. I believe the coyote is larger in build (length and weight) than the fox.

Personally, I have not see a coyote before, but my wife said she saw them a lot when she lived out in the Badlands. She saw my photo and think it's probably a coyote.

One possible clue is the size. It was roughly the size of my old dog, and he weighted about 60-70 lbs. I saw a fox once in the UK (the only time I have seen one) and it was a lot smaller. Hopefully we do not have foxes that big here :-)

Paul

i vote: FOX
coyotes have huge ears- unless this is one that is from a coy/dog litter.
we had a coy/dog who lived with us for 14 years; best and smartest canine companion EVER.
don't kill coyotes! Nature keeps a balance all by herself.
min

Coyotes have bushy tails, too-much bushier than a German Shepherd's tail. I can't really see the tail in either picture anyway-it looks like the hip/upper leg that is shown rather than the tail. I vote coyote, but either way, fox or coyote, it is very cool to have them around.

It was just on the news today, that on Cape Cod (West Dennis, MA) a small pet dog was killed by a couple of coyotes right in the owners' yard.

This reminded me of maifleur's and sowngrow's followup posts. And now having seen a coyote on my street I will be extra vigilant about when I let my dogs out, even if it is into their fenced yard.

That's a coyote ... long skinny legs, long nose and outsized ears.

Coyotes love to eat whatever animal is small and easy to catch. Domestic Cats fill the bill. So do small dogs. As an experienced hunter and outdoorsman, I can tell you that the coyote is one of the hardest animals in the world to trap or kill. They are almost unbeleivably wily with superior senses of smell and sight. They have no natural predators. They will adapt to the suburbs and cities and will become less afraid of humans the more they encounter them with no dire consequences. They are admirable for all these reasons. However, they will cause a lot of damage to the population of other animals like wild turkey and deer fawns.

My neighbor said he's see the Coyote before too, but is disappointed that he doesn't eat enough of the rabbits that runs around the backyard (he's a gardener and rabbits are his bane). There are also a million squirrels out the back and several very large raccoons and Opossums.

In some of the place I lived before were overrun with deers. They probably would have been better off if they introduce a few coyote.

I vote Coyote. Based on your location. Coyotes do quite well in suburbs where small mamals are plentiful. They are pretty elusive unless they have babies nearby. You shouldnt really see them during the day.
If you lived further south, I would have said red wolf. They are similar in size to coyote, with a snout that looks very close to what your photo has. We are lucky enough to have some here nearby (National Forest just a few miles down the road), and they are on the way to recovery. Of course we also get bear and deer.
If you have bird feeders near that brush, you are likely to see more wildlife like Mr Coyote - easy pickins. The birds eat and spill seed, small mamals come to eat the seed, and house cat comes to eat small mamals. Mr Coyote is doing what comes natural.
If he gets close enough to get photos - I personally would relocate the feeders (if you have them)further out and or avoid throwing food for the birds. Enjoy him from a distance but don't encourage him.