Hey Ted, happy birthday!
I hope the fence post thing works to keep others away.
We have coyotes here on the island now as well. They likely crossed on the ice in winter, and for at least a decade have been spreading across from west to east. There is a bounty on them, and at least one coyote-wolf cross was identified among those shot.
They aren't too commonly seen here but there have been some sightings in the past couple of years in our region. I saw one trotting across my garden early in the morning, did not see me standing by the window inside. I was surprised it looked fairly small - not much bigger than a fox really. It had very bold, clear eyes and actually a nice looking animal - but I wouldn't make that mistake. A young woman was attacked and killed, walking on a hiking trail in Nova Scotia. I'm sure they would attack anything they can bring down, if hungry enough and see the opportunity.
We had foxes around for a few years which really seemed to take care of the snowshoe hare issues, so I was glad to have them. But they stopped coming around, about the same time as mr. coyote came through. Have not seen any since.