Capturing a coyote from the kitchen window

Scenario: You glance out your kitchen window and see a strange looking dog in the back yard. Then you realize it's not a dog but a coyote! You grab your camera and make a mad dash back to the window. You manage to get off a couple of shots before the animal disappears. After patting yourself on the back for a few moments for keeping your camera close at hand, you head to the computer to check out your award winning shots. When you pull them up on the screen, you are horrified to see several major problems with the pictures. First and foremost is a lot of glare that seems to take up most of the frame. Secondly there are fuzzy spots of varying sizes all over the picture, and third the images appear to be out of focus.

Well it didn't happen exactly like this, I actually didn't even get back to the kitchen table to grab my camera before the coyote was gone. But, If I had, there is no doubt in my mind that the scenario above would have been completely true. Even though the coyote was gone, I tried a few shots just to see what technique would work best for such an occasion. Here is what I found.

Guide to taking photos through a glass window pane:

1) Open the window before shooting if possible. (Kind of goes without saying)
2) Try to keep the windows in you house that face interesting directions fairly clean inside and out.
3) Remove the UV filter from your lens. Light can bounce back an forth between the filter and the window making strange bright areas in the image.
4) Remove the lens hood and get as close to the glass as possible. This makes imperfections in the glass and dirt less obvious and allows the camera to focus more precisely.

By using these techniques, I was able to get fairly good results. Now all I have to do is sit back and wait for another opportunity.....