Fox Licks Chops, But Squirrel Escapes

After the deer strolled through this morning, the ritual of squirrel-turns-back-on-fox, fox-chases-squirrel-up-tree, fox-catches-squirrel or not, unfolded yet again. This morning, the fox did not catch the squirrel. But, I thought that I would show you some photos of the fox nevertheless.
In the first photo, the fox, who has chased the squirrel up the tree and licking his chops, seems to be just a bit too eager for breakfast.

In the second photo, like the mother deer earlier this morning, the fox always keeps a watchful eye one me taking photos.

In the third photo, the fox continues to keep a sharp eye on the squirrel who remains 10 feet above him in the tree.

Peaceful Coexistence: The Deer and the Fox

Sunrise this morning found the fox resting in the brush. For the next hour or so, he rested and slept, and even got up once to clearly get more comfortable.

But, his rest period was disturbed as the mother white-tailed deer brought her two young along their favorite path, which runs directly in front of the fox’s location. Both the fox and the deer knew of each other’s presence prior – the deer continued to walk, the fox just looked.

Interestingly, the two young watched mom for any sight of alarm. In the second photo, mom is clearly watching the fox and the larger of the two young is clearly watching mom (well, at least her white, potentially-alarm-sending tail). The fox, by and large, seemed to understand that he also needed to watch mom.

In this third photo, the smaller of the two young just had to take a close look at the fox before leaving.

As the deer continued to walk through the habitat, mom was far more concerned about me taking pictures from the porch, than the fox in the brush.

Miracles Can Be a Matter of Perspective

I previously posted Christmas Eve Miracle noting that the Habitat’s signature fox had been again observed and not fallen as road kill. As has become tradition, Dot spotted him again, this time in his normal seat in the bush (first photo). Note that in this photo the top of the bird bath is in the direct line of sight from the fox’s position.
After a few photos from the back porch, I took up position in the upstairs window. It was a great morning with cardinals, blue jays, wrens, the downy and red-bellied woodpeckers, and even the dirty, ugly European starlings.

Then, this adventurous squirrel paid a visit and took up a seat at the bird bath for a drink. Within, a matter of seconds, the fox was standing and charging up the small hill; the fox easily captured the somewhat sluggish squirrel and walked briskly back down into the brush. I managed to get these two photos of fox with the prey in his mouth.

I previously posted numerous stories (Squirrel for Breakfast, The Patient Fox, No Squirrel for Breakfast) about the fox chasing the squirrels. While several of us had seen the fox walking with a squirrel in his mouth, none of us had actually seen the complete pursuit, capture, and departure.
I guess that miracles can be a matter of perspective, as well as position in the food chain.

Christmas Eve Miracle

In a recent post, I mentioned that I was concerned that the Habitat's signature red-tailed fox was the victim of the nearby four-lane highway. Apparently, I was wrong. Although some poor fox was killed, it was not our fox.

This morning about 8 AM, he walked through the Habitat and entered the brush where he normally sits and observes the squirrels. Dot made the observation and reports that he appeared to be in good health with a dark, reddish, winter coat. He was in no hurry, he simply strolled through.

Dot suggests that he is truly family - he shows up only for the holidays - his last visit was Thanksgiving.

I was late getting the camera so I have no photos. We are keeping watch (like the shepherds of old) this Christmas Eve to see if he re-appears to take his normal observation throne.

Happy Thanksgiving

At the Colvin Run Habitat and throughout the United States, today is Thanksgiving, a day to give thanks originally established by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. It is also a day of traditional meals and visits from friends and family. In the Habitat, and as host of this year’s feast, I ensured that the feeders were full and I will put some fruit out later. Of course, my wife and daughter will prepare the feast served to us humans in the Habitat.
In keeping with the day, the Habitat’s fox arrived to be seen by guests, well at least those willing to get up early (he arrived at 7:00 AM). He stayed in the brush in his traditional spot for a while, prepared to make a run at a pair of doves, and then simply laid down on the lawn. From this position, he looked around as if watching a Thanksgiving Day parade and actually napped for a few minutes. I hope he will return for the guests who arrive later for the Thanksgiving Feast.

From all the blogging and non-blogging animals at the Colvin Run Habitat, Happy Thanksgiving.

Afternoon Update: The fox was a great Thanksgiving visitor. He made two more appearances while the Thanksgiving guests were here. And, he put on two shows - starting from his position in the brush, he made two runs after the squirrels - chasing one up the pear tree and another up the holly tree. Everyone, including the squirrels, but not the fox, was thrilled that the squirrels were faster today.

Fox Follow-up

Okay, someone asked for a closer view of the fox marking (that is, the fox urinating after his recent squirrel hunt). Here are three closer views of the fox marking. Remember that every time I make your view closer, the photo loses resolution. So, the closer look means a poorer quality photo. The first is simply the closer view. The second is the exact same view with increased contrast to further highlight the urine stream. And for those of you still having trouble seeing the stream, in the third photo I have drawn a dotted line parallel and to the right of the fox’s stream. In addition to the stream, you should be able to see that this is clearly a male fox.

For those wondering what happened the next day, well, the fox showed back up in his observation seat at the edge of the brush. While he normally lays low from this position, on this occasion he simple sat there like a dog - head up and sitting on his back legs.

No Squirrel for Breakfast

We pick up our story with our fox having chased a squirrel up one of the Habitat’s dogwood trees. After 15 minutes of staring at one another, the squirrel makes his move. After descending down the tree to about 6 feet off the ground, the squirrel first jumped to a nearby azalea bush, jumped again, and hit the ground running. The fox was immediately up and running. Unfortunately, both animals were then disappeared on the side of the house and beyond my view. I assume that the squirrel’s goal was to make it to one of the 50-plus foot trees that are about 25 feet from the dogwood. I was betting that the fox would enjoy a squirrel breakfast. However, the azalea is wide enough that it probably caused the fox to have to lose time running around it.

In less than 30 seconds, our fox was back in view heading for the brush – without his squirrel breakfast (see the first photo). While we have no photos (ever) of a successful squirrel kill, we do have 3 separate and independent observations of a chase followed by the fox walking away with a squirrel in his mouth. But, not on this recent day.

But what followed was totally unexpected. As soon as the fox was off the lawn and into the brush, he raised his leg and began urinating (see the second and third photo) – look for the urine stream – remember that if you click on the photo you will get an enlarged version of the photo. In the fourth photo, our fox is lowering his leg and checking his surrounding before retiring into the thick brush. I can only assume that he was marking his territory. Just when you think you have seen it all in the Habitat, something new happens.

The Patient Fox

Here is the situation, the fox made a dash out of the bush, up the hill, across the lawn, only to have the squirrel climb the dogwood tree before being caught. In the first photo, you can see the squirrel about 10 feet off the ground, looking down and keeping a careful eye on the fox. The fox on the other hand is patient and simply sits down at the base of the tree. In the third photo, both the squirrel (look for his tail in the upper left hand corner of the photo) and the fox are engaged in a stand off. In the fourth photo, you can see that the fox is laying down realizing that breakfast might take some time.

The standoff continued for about 15 minutes – the squirrel looking down from the tree to the fox continuing to stare back. I assumed that the fox would give up first, after all he is far more exposed than the squirrel. But, I was wrong. The squirrel began to ease down the tree bit by bit. Finally, the squirrel made his dash with the fox in close pursuit.
So, who has breakfast? Does the squirrel have more acorns, or does the fox have the squirrel? We’ll find out in our next posting from the Colvin Run Habitat.

Squirrel for Breakfast?

I mentioned that the red fox had once again become a daily visitor to Habitat. On Sunday, the fox came looking for breakfast, in the form of one of the gray squirrels. In the first of these four photos, you can see two squirrels eating sunflower seeds at the bottom of the birdfeeder while the fox (upper right hand corner) sits in his familiar observation seat. Now the fox’s position is about 6 feet lower in elevation (down a hill) than the squirrels, which puts the fox at somewhat of a disadvantage – he cannot always see the squirrels over the crest of this hill. Also, when the fox leaves the bush, he is very visible coming across the lawn.

The fox will sit and patiently wait until he believes he has an advantage. This patient waiting is where the fox got his label cunning, as in the cunning fox. Then, as you see in the second photo, he begins to lean forward and gently gets to the very front of the bush; all the while staying crouched as low as possible. And that fast he makes a dash up the hill, across the lawn, and at the closest squirrel.
On this particular occasion, the closest squirrel made it to and up the dogwood tree before the fox caught him. In the third photo, the fox is keeping a close eye on the squirrel, which with few leaves remaining on the dogwood is clearly visible to the fox. In the fourth photo, the fox looks over at me as if to say, “Do you believe that I missed this squirrel?”

A Day of Unusual Sightings

American Robins are numerous in the Habitat, but usually from late-March through August. So, I was quite surprised to see a half dozen robins today. Equally unusual was that they were observed in the trees (first two photos), whereas they are mostly found hunting earthworms on the ground. While migrating robins sometimes go no further south than the mid-Atlantic area, they are rare winter visitors to the Habitat.

Another Habitat visitor that is almost always found on the ground is the Northern Flicker, the only North American woodpecker one that you will see on the ground. Unusual to see one in the Habitat trees (third photo). Flickers are frequent Habitat visitors during the spring. This flicker is the first one seen since about June.

The other unusual sighting today was the hawk. And, as before I was on the porch and the camera was upstairs, so I have no photos. Here is what was unusual - this red-tailed hawk was on the ground, specifically at the base of one of the dogwood trees. Not too unusual to find the hawk on the ground. However, he was eye to eye with a squirrel coming down the trunk of the dogwood. The hawk clearly was not enjoying the position of looking up at what otherwise might have been lunch. The squirrel held is ground (or his trunk) and the hawk finally flew away.

And, as mentioned earlier in the week, the fox is back (last photo). This morning, he made a run at the birdfeeder - I am never too sure what he is hunting when he makes such runs - equally likely he is after a squirrel or a bird. This time, he caught no breakfast. He reappeared about 15 minutes later and took up his normal observation seat in the bush at the edge of the lawn. He stayed for about an hour - just taking in the sights.

A Close Friend Returns

I mentioned previously that the Red Fox who was a constant in the Habitat from April through August had returned. But I offered no photographic proof.

Well, bigger than life, this close friend appeared again yesterday. In fact, I had just opened the window that is about 20 feet above the Habitat in order to photograph the cardinals, when I noticed him. He was just sitting on the lawn – yes sitting one his back haunches like a dog – not at all bothered by the noise of me opening the window.

So here he is – note the red fall leaves on the dogwood (this is not a photo from last summer).

He returned three times during the afternoon. Each time he took up the seat in the bush at the edge of the lawn that he enjoyed so much last spring and summer. In the last two photos, you can see him in his seat earlier this summer (the photo with the green summer leaves) and yesterday afternoon (the photo with the brownish bush). Clearly, this is the same guy.


It is good to have this close friend back in the Habitat.

He’s Back – Red Fox is in the Habitat

Oh! I forgot to mention…In the late afternoon of last Saturday, I spotted (sorry no photo from last Saturday, the photo shown is from last spring) a fox in the brush about 30 feet from the bird feeders. This is the brush area where a pair of fox took up residence from April through July. For those of you reading this blog, I know that this is yet another fox teaser – I promise to take a week or two and share with you the wonderful fox stories and photos from this past spring and summer. For the record, this recent fox sighting was October 14. The last photo was dated July 15 and last pervious sighting was July 26 (mom, dad, and at least one of the young).

Fox History

I first observed a red fox in the habitat on January 2003 at 9:45 AM. Wearing his quite impressive and bright winter coat, he walked up the front drive like he owned the place. Then, he simply sat down on his rear. Honestly, I had never seen a fox sit like that - but now know it to be rather common. He stayed 3 minutes (I know his arrival and departure times from the magic that is digital cameras). He simply left the front driveway and walked between the two houses, then broke into a trot through the backyards.

Although I continued to see a random fox or two at night while driving within a mile or two of the habitat (and there was the all too frequent road kill), it was another year before one appeared in the habitat again. It was a bright sunny afternoon in February 2004. I was watching as a doe (female white-tailed deer - more on the deer in later posts) led a young deer (several months old at this point I am guessing, but still noticeably smaller than the doe) out of the pine stand in the habitat.
What happened next was quite surprising. All of a sudden, both deer took off running. At this point, I noticed that a fox is chasing the young deer. As the two deer ran up the habitat and towards the houses, they split, each going a different direction. The fox continued to chase the young deer. As the young deer went through a patch of scrubs and trees, the fox broke off the chase. The fox slowed but was still running as he entered the nearby woods. The young deer continued a hard run through the meadow and into a different section of the woods.

As I do not believe a fox would really attempt to bring down a deer (even a young one), I suspect that the two deer, as they were walking out of the pine stand, simply passed a fox. As they saw the fox, they took off and the fox instinctively chased.
All of the photos in this post were taken in January 2003 with a fairly primative Nikon Coolpix 950 camera. In a later post, I tell you about the pair of foxes that were frequent visitors to the habitat this past summer. And, I do have some great photos. I'll even describe another fox-deer encounter. But, that is another post.