Coyote Food Habits in Mississippi and Alabama

Food habits of coyotes (Canis latrans) from the upper coastal plain province of Alabama and Mississippi were determined from scats (N =211) and stomachs (N = 100) collected from December 1980 through April 1984. Frequency of occurrence of major food items found in scats and stomachs for all seasons were rodents (43.1 %), fruit (38.6%), rabbits (34.7%), insects (29.9%), white-tailed deer (28.0%), and birds (22.5%). Seasonally, rabbits and rodents occurred most frequently in spring; rodents, insects, and birds in summer; fruit, primarily persimmons, in fall; and deer and rodents in winter. Peak deer occurrences in summer coincide with the fawning periods in both states.