The metal drumming again last night, and the distant hoots and cheers. I went to the window, scanned the roofs, looked down at the street, but could see no sign of anyone. People must have been shouting from windows or back gardens. It died down after a minute or two. A search of our neighborhood forum, Nextdoor, provided the most likely explanation. It’s an 8:00 pm celebration of healthcare workers that seems to have started late in march in Mill Valley. It’s supposed to happen nightly, but the metal drumming only has been on two consecutive Tuesdays. Maybe the person doing it can only occasionally join in.

This may be inspired by coyotes, which have been becoming more and more visible — and audible — in San Francisco during the lockdown. Warnings are going out about people walking their dogs. Coyotes are so brazen I’ve heard of them snatching small dogs from leashes and even from people’s arms. Like foxes and raccoons, they are becoming urban creatures, sometimes mistaken from a distance for off-leash German Shepherds, and they should be regarded with caution at the best of times. (Some years ago, my sister-in-law in Southern California went home from walking their dog because she spotted a coyote stalking them — this one block off of Magnolia in Burbank.)

A recent online article includes a video from late March, taken just a few blocks from here, recording the howls of actual coyotes. I should emphasize that we live, not in the suburbs, but in practically the heart of The City. The last time I heard anything like that was when I was a teenager in a remote KOA camp in New Mexico.

And so humans are doing their own version, with the rationale of celebrating healthcare workers. It’s a nice idea, but I think at base it’s for the same reason coyotes howl — to send the message, “We’re here. Where are you?” Shall I climb to our roof at 8:00 this evening to listen, and maybe join in? I don’t know. It’s very dark up there, and if I were to trip and fall, the surface would be pretty unforgiving. But I’ll pay attention tonight.

Some people on Nextdoor are bent out of shape over it being called a “howl” on the grounds that it “trivializes” the dangers of coyotes. Some people on Nextdoor get bent out of shape over the sound of a stiff toothbrush in a downstairs apartment. I like the idea of a nightly howl whether it’s to remind each other we’re not alone, or to celebrate healthcare workers. I hope the folks working in the hospital two blocks away can hear it when they go outside for a break.