Description
In Coyote Conversations, Mark Surls provides dialogue and reflection on his time spent in the field with America’s ultimate survivor, the coyote.
While many photographers focus on species that are easy to love such as elk and deer, Mark celebrates coyotes, beautiful too, albeit more difficult to live with. Throughout history, wild canids have gained an unfavorable view in much of the public eye. Wolves were exterminated in most of the USA, yet the coyote was able to survive. Trappings, killing contests, and hunts have only kept these sentient animals adapting.
Serving as a reminder that predators have a purpose in life, Mark’s photography and poetry elicit compassion and reinforce the need for human-wildlife coexistence.
“Coyote Conversations is a sumptuous treat for the senses and a gift to our underappreciated and much maligned wild song dogs-and for anyone who appreciates wild and poetic beauty.” — Camilla Fox, Founder and Executive Director of Project Coyote
“Mark Surls’s insightful and eloquent poems combined with his beautiful photographs provide an unusual and alluring glance into the life of America’s song dog.” — Marc Bekoff, PhD, Biologist and Author
“As Mark Surls writes in one of the subtle but throbbing poems that graces these pages, Coyote Conversations is a book built on compassion. The author’s considered words and photographic eye match the poetry of his canid subject, America’s ultimate survivor. And Surls is right: the coyote deserves all the empathy we can offer. And admiration, too. This book is a fine place to develop both.”— Dan Flores, Author of Coyote America and Wild New World
About the Author: Mark Surls is a second generation photographer with extensive wildlife experience. Featured in local and international photography exhibits and nature publications, he lobbies legislators and speaks to neighbors and strangers, advocating for the animals he loves so dearly. He has worked with the Zambian Department of Fisheries and Nchila Wildlife Reserve as well as thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail.
