Predicting Where You Could Meet a Coyote on Bloomington Trails

This map shows Metro Collaborative Trails within Bloomington city limits. These trails are shown with the predicted likelihood of encountering a coyote on that section of trail compared to other sections of trails within Bloomington.

The map shows a percentile-based prediction of relative likelihood of encountering coyotes generated from our research tracking coyotes and foxes within the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. Brighter colors indicate that a trail is more risky, while darker colors indicate low risk of encountering a coyote. Being based on percentiles, this map shows what percentage of the other trails in Bloomington have a lower chance of being within an area used by coyotes than that trail does. For example, if a trail section is in percentile 92, that means you are less likely to encounter coyotes on 92% of the trail sections mapped in Bloomington, and only 8% of trails would have a better chance of encountering a coyote. If you click on a section of trail, the name of the trail and percentile of that trail section is given.

This map was generated by analyzing the habitat preferences of coyotes during the spring, and then making predictions from their habitat preferences about where they are most likely to be found in Bloomington. These percentiles are not generated from areas where we know that there are coyotes now, but rather are predictions we’re making from coyotes we have tracked in the past about what kinds of places they are found in most often. If you use trails with higher chances of encountering a coyote, that doesn’t mean that you are highly likely to see a coyote. We know of coyotes that have slept unseen a few dozen meters off of busy trails while hundreds of unaware pedestrians walked past them in the course of an hour. However, awareness of where you are most likely to find coyotes, especially in the spring when they are willing to defend pups from perceived threats (such as domestic dogs), may help avoid risk of conflict between Bloomington residents and the wildlife we share space with. Avoiding those areas, especially during the dawn and dusk hours when coyotes are most active, may help us coexist with these wild urban animals into the future.