Iconic Photo of Coyote at Golden Gate Bridge Beautifully Illustrates Quarantine’s Silver Lining

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shelter-in-place has brought out the wildlife in the bay area. this coyote noticed some whale bones on the beach at kirby cove and trotted down to investigate. she didn’t seem to mind me hanging out just 30 feet away. i’m glad i live within biking distance of the golden gate bridge during this lockdown, it’s been incredible exploring the marin headlands without the crowds. . . . . #sanfrancisco #kirbycove #goldengatebridge #coyote #onlyinsf #wildcalifornia #sanfranciscoworld #sanfranciscobay #sanfranciscolove #bayarea #sanfranciscobayarea #igerssf #nbcbayarea #ktvu #abc7now #sfgate #sfchronicle #bayareabuzz @sf_insta @sfbucketlist @sfgate @sfweekly

A post shared by scottoller (@scottoller) on Apr 15, 2020 at 12:22pm PDT

The increased coyote activity in the Bay Area during the Coronavirus quarantine has been documented heavily on social media, showing how wildlife is reclaiming the areas it once roamed freely before human development. The empty streets of San Francisco have seen plenty of wildlife sightings recently, including a video of coyotes howling in the empty streets of the North Beach neighborhood.

North Beach, Greenwich & Powell, San Francisco. Coyotes howling at almost midnight last week. 😱 pic.twitter.com/ABB44LGj5n

— Jen (@ellewoodsgolfs) April 14, 2020

Recently, the perfect image emerged online, accompanied by equally beautiful videos, that show a coyote enjoying an empty Kirby Beach below the Golden Gate Bridge and enjoying the calm noises of the San Francisco Bay. The visual evidence of the increased coyote activity was just one more example of how decreased human activity has given more space to the wildlife of Northern California.

The wildlife activity around NorCal has enjoyed the shelter-in-place mandate, especially in Yosemite National park, which has seen a massive growth of bear sightings in an empty park that typically averages 4-5 million visitors per year.

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Yosemite National Park is home to about 300-500 black bears. Though there hasn't been an increase in their population since the park closure, bears have been seen more frequently than usual, likely due to the absence of visitors in Yosemite Valley. If you tuned into our Facebook livestream yesterday, wildlife biologist Ranger Katie showed us how Yosemite's bear team uses radio collars to track some of the park's bears, and we picked up the signal of a large male bear in the meadow nearby! Shortly afterward, that same bear was caught on camera by one of our volunteers, who watched from the window of the Rangers' Club as it climbed up a nearby tree. The bear sat high on a branch for a little while and then struggled to decide how to safely get back down, making this one of the more entertaining wildlife sightings we've had this spring! Head over to our Facebook page to view yesterday's livestream, and check out www.KeepBearsWild.org for more information about protecting Yosemite's iconic bears! #Yosemite #NationalPark

A post shared by Yosemite National Park (@yosemitenps) on Apr 13, 2020 at 6:37pm PDT

Now, the iconic image of a coyote under the Golden Gate Bridge is illustrating a silver lining in an otherwise sad time as Covid-19 continues to sweep across the globe. Today, the beautiful wildlife is getting a break from the typical pressure of human activity, and it’s a wonderful sight to see.