With 2,772 records, the coyote stands among the most-recorded mammals in New York’s atlas, and the map spans the state’s full breadth: Kings and Bronx counties inside New York City, Ulster, Rockland, and Westchester up the Hudson corridor, and on to St. Lawrence County on the Canadian border.
An eastern newcomer that filled every niche
Coyotes are not part of New York’s original fauna. They spread east across the continent through the 1900s as wolves were removed, and the animals that reached the Northeast are the larger eastern form, carrying some wolf ancestry. They now den in greenways, farmland, and deep forest alike, living on rodents, rabbits, fawns, fruit, and carrion. Records from Gateway National Recreation Area on the city waterfront to White Hill Wild Forest show how completely they have settled in.
A late-winter chorus
Reports peak in February, the heart of the breeding season, when mated pairs travel and vocalize most and snow holds their tracks. Even so, most New Yorkers never see a coyote; near people the species works mostly at night, and the yipping chorus on a cold evening is the usual proof of residency.
Status in New York
NatureServe ranks the coyote S5, Secure, in New York, and USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous in the state.
Full species profile
