Daily Postcard: A lone coyote looks back in a snowy Valle Grande covered in wildlife tracks recently at Valles Caldera National Preserve. While there are not any wolves living at Valles Caldera National Preserve at this time, a close relative, the coyote, can be found throughout the park. As one of the abundant mid-sized predators at Valles Caldera, coyotes play a key ecological role here. For example, they help to control rodent populations. They earnestly hunt prairie dogs, occasionally working alongside badgers to flush them out of their burrows. In the winter, they seek out rodents and other small animals tunneling beneath the snow. They also help to keep other small omnivores in check by managing resource availability, and their abandoned dens can provide shelter for species that cannot dig one on their own. Coyotes also play a key cultural and spiritual role for many Indigenous groups in North and Central America. Some view coyotes as good, some view coyotes as bad, and some even hold these two views at the same time. From the Great Plains in the north to the mountains in the west and the swamps in the south, many view Coyote as a trickster, bridging connections between humans and spirits. Learn more about the coyote: https://www.nps.gov/vall/learn/nature/coyote.htm. Corey Lycopolus/NPS