A nice article from the Sacramento Bee on one of the more interesting creatures living in the Parkway.
Can't wait for the book.
An excerpt.
"In 2003, Guy Galante bought a field guide to the wildlife in and around the American River Parkway, that 23-mile ribbon of forest and field that stretches from downtown Sacramento to the Nimbus Hatchery.
"I wanted to photograph everything in there," he recalled.
"That simple pursuit inspired a far deeper connection with this vast but vulnerable natural playground, where all manner of wild things soar and swim, run and burrow, scavenge and forage, hunt and kill.
"For Galante, it also became an obsession – one that inspired more than 5,000 photos of the animal that proved most elusive when he first set out with checklist and camera in hand.
"Lurking in the midst of 7 million human visitors each year are dozens of coyotes, publicity-shy but hardly panicky. They appear in the open every so often, long enough to trot back to their dens or run down a rabbit with the kind of grace and speed their cousins on leashes can only dream of.
"One by one in those early days, Galante (pronounced gal-ON-tay) checked things off – wild turkeys, hawks, deer, otters, beavers, all kinds of snakes.
"But there was one that was still there on the list: the coyote. A year went by, and I finally saw one, so at least I knew they really existed," said Galante, a trim and bearded 36-year-old who lives in the Arden Arcade area.
"But it wasn't until 2005 that I finally photographed one. It was Labor Day. I was super high from that experience. It was the high of all highs."
"Time passed. Galante bought better camera equipment. He couldn't stop thinking about the coyotes, how wild they were, how familiar.
"Why coyotes?
"I think this is ingrained in our brain pattern," he said. "Humans and dogs have been together for thousands of years. I think it's in our DNA."
"In 2008, he decided to pursue the coyotes of the parkway every day for a full year, with the hope of compiling the effort into a large-format book."
