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A pair of golden eyes peering out of the darkness betrays this watcher. Thinking it is invisible it stares with steady concentration, trying to assess what your threat probability is. Should he make his presence known or continue to hide and observe. The decision here could have a life or death result. He is asking himself the question “What is an acceptable level of risk?”

The dictionary says that an acceptable level of risk is the level of risk that is tolerable in a given situation. If the watcher feels that it is relatively safe standing still and observing then that is its acceptable level of risk. If whoever is watching the watcher feels his acceptable level of risk is to stay still so he doesn’t get bitten, then they are both at their maximum tolerance for risk. It’s a standoff until somebody blinks. Then its every coyote or photographer for themselves. In this case it was a stare down and the coyote won. A guy can stand in the middle of a busy road staring at a bush just so long and then hopefully common sense kicks in and you realize that it’s ok for the coyote to win one. But then I got the picture so maybe I won after all.