On our walk yesterday, I tricked Sparky into taking the path through the woods.  Instead of going over the land bridge and through the orchard, we did a parking lot walk, then into the woods.  We didn’t get far before we came upon what looks like coyote scat on the path.  Sparky checked it out, and noped out of there.  It looked pretty fresh.

What we found.

Coyote scat photo from the NY State Parks Department.

In July, Sparky chased a coyote.  In November, I started thinking that Sparky was concerned about something in the woods, then a week later, saw the coyote on the highway side of the fence. 

If the coyote stays around, I may have to do something about it.