Friday, February 01, 2008

Happier Days - Previous Foxes

Included here are photos never before posted, as well as three that were posted in October 2006. As always you can click on the photos to get an enlarged version.
The Colvin Run Habitat's first observed fox visitor (pictured above) occurred on January 5, 2005, when this male brought his red coat and white-tipped tailed up the front drive. He promptly took a rest on his rear haunches and looked around as if he owned the place. He stayed for about five minutes. I documented this 2003 visit, as well as an encounter between a different fox and a doe and her fawn.
Over the last 20 months, we have had at least 6 foxes visit on multiple occasions the Colvin Run Habitat. Beginning May 2006, and through the winter of 2007, the fox in the second photo was a near daily visitor. During this time, she and her mate would come and spend literally hours sunning themselves in the brush at the edge of the lawn. The fox would come chase squirrels through the yard and even up and through the steps leading up to the porch. These adventures are posted many times (at here and here).
I first observed her on Sunday morning about 10 AM in the bright sun eating sunflower seeds under the bird feeder.
The very next morning, this fox returned to the feeder and proceeded to walk through the shrubs and head to the next yard.
When all of a sudden, the mate came out of the shrubs from a different place. The two then began a playful run across the neighbor's lawn and off into the next woods.
These photos are the only ones I managed to get of the pair together. I always assumed that one of them was always with the young. As you can see from these photos, in their spring/summer coats, it is difficult to tell them apart.
I only saw the pair one other time together. One morning in August 2006, I looked out to see the pair bringing two of their young through the shrubs in the Colvin Run Habitat. The kits, then approximately five months old, were nearly as large as the parents. As the kits would run through the shrubs and out of sight of the parents, one of the parents would hop up on the bench in the yard to get a higher view of the wondering kits. The four finally stopped playing and headed off into the rest of the neighborhood.
Since early spring 2007, two other different foxes have visited separately on multiple occasions. These later two have been the subjects of two recent posts (1 and 2)concerning foxes with mange.

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