Startled a bit by the creature passing in front of his truck en route to Home Depot Friday, Peter Manning realized it was no dog before him.

It was a coyote and “It looked really nervous,” he said.

He watched it amble through a few front yards, explore a driveway or two and skulk away.

A single coyote does not a trend make, however. So while residents might want to rethink feeding or watering their pets outside (or leaving small ones outside unaccompanied), it’s not cause for alarm, said Eric Duran, staff naturalist at the Nature Discovery Center.

Meanwhile, most coyotes are as wary of humans as we are of them, he said.

“It’s best to give them wide room.” Chances are, they’ll do the same for us.

The ongoing drought is challenging wildlife as well as plant life, Duran said, offering a possible explanation of the sighting.

That means coyotes and other creatures are roaming farther and seeking “non-traditional” sources of food and water as they “expand their palate.”

Coyotes are omnivores.

In most parts of Houston we see coyotes on and off as they travel along such wildlife corridors as rights-of-way and parklands, which then allows them to explore adjacent areas.

Here are some ways to tell a coyote has hit your property:

Upended trash cans.

Torn apart small animals.

Scat (meaning feces) that might look like a dog’s but contain more vegetable material.

A pack of dogs might also cause such evidence, so it’s hard to tell the difference between coyotes and other canines, Duran said.

Coyotes are “adaptable” and are “generalists,” he said. Sometimes they travel in a pack. Sometimes alone. Sometimes as a coupled pair. In urban settings, they are usually alone or in a coupled pair, he said.

Coyote attacks on humans are extremely rare, he said.

They are mammals, however, which means they might carry rabies, though coyotes are not a huge carrier of the condition.

Still, it’s best to let them pass. And if you must take a photo, do what the Mannings did and stay in the vehicle to do so.