Mom Fox Hunting

[altivo]

Mom Fox Hunting
Originally uploaded by Altivo

Foxes confirmed visually. Actually, we had both seen momma vixen in the last couple of weeks, and I've smelled her at various times and locations, but today Gary ran into the house to tell me he'd seen two kits at the burrow entrance under the NW corner of the arena. I grabbed the camera and we tried to sneak back out there, in spite of the sheep and Tess yelling at us and the neighbor dogs barking. Turns out they were barking at the vixen, whom you see in this photo right of center.

For a couple more shots, including one baby, look here.

It was amazing to watch the fox and the Cairn terrier next door almost playing with one another. He would chase her, then she would chase him. She actually barked more than he did, though her bark is not as loud as his. I was surprised when the teen girl came out carrying a halter and lead rope, evidently headed back to their horse pasture, and told the dog to "Leave her alone." This was in reference to the fox, so she is aware of momma and apparently not concerned about the chickens or turkeys. (I suspect the kids don't think any more of the poultry than I do.)

Comments

[saythename.livejournal.com]

*squelch noise from the radio, then; "VIXEN CONFIRMED, NORTHWEST QUADRENT!"*

They CAN be pests, like cats, but also like cats they do good work
keeping rodent populations down. In fact, one of the allures for me
about foxes is the interesting feline/canine mix they seem to have.

I've heard that inscense keeps them away from barns. Dunno if thats
a rural myth though. @.@

[altivo.livejournal.com]

More likely incense helps to cover up their smell, which is pretty distinctive. ;p

[saythename.livejournal.com]

As pretty as they are, they STEEENKY!

Though some people enjoy the pungent aroma.

I'm indifferent.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yep, stinky is right. Gary was thinking pet fox last spring when we found that little girl tangled in the sheep fence, but I pointed that out to him and he decided maybe not after all. I guess they can be descented, like pet skunks, because I have known a few that were housepets. They seem to adapt readily enough.

Back when I was a pre-vet student, I worked one summer in a clinic and saw several come in for rabies shots. We gave them the cat vaccines rather than dog vaccines because they are supposed to be more delicate in disposition than dogs are.

[alaskawolf.livejournal.com]

yay for Foxes :D their still white up here

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I don't think ours ever turn white. That red color against snow really stands out, too.

[cozycabbage.livejournal.com]

Aww, baby foxes!

And EVERY time you mention the arena, I think of roman gladiators.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

No silly, it's a riding arena. A building with a ring in it where you exercise horses or practice riding.

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

And those aren't quite the lion pits either... =)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*snicker*
Well no, unless maybe you're a mouse... or a chicken...

Now if I were a faster artist, a cartoon of a chicken gladiator facing a fox might be forthcoming.

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

*nodnods* That would be appropriate. ^^

[jairus-greywolf.livejournal.com]

Great pics. Thanks for sharing. I've only seen one fox before and that was on a golf course.

I get the impression the vixen likes teasing the terrier!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

She was playing with the terrier like the fox and dog in that old Disney film, The Fox and the Hound. More photos of momma fox in my next post.

[deffox]

Those are much better critters to see than we have here. We had a pigeon land on our balcony this week, though I wasn't about to take a picture. :-P We do technically have raccoons, but can't see them from the windows.

It would probably be safer in the long term for the vixen to stick to rodents instead of the junk food chickens.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you're in a pretty urban area. Even so, keep an eye peeled for coyotes. They're really getting into the city environment down here.

[deffox]

Sounds like you're in a pretty urban area.

Our place is on the seventh floor or our little building. We have about the population of Milwaukee, but in a much smaller area.

We actually do have some wild areas near us. Unfortunately they are wild because of drastic elevation change. Dakhun sees deer all the time when hiking.

I'm sure there are foxes around, but haven't made much effort to find them. I've seen evidence of them a couple times up here, but not really near our place.

I believe coyotes are starting to become more common in this area, but are still less common than down in the US. Coyotes are still in the process of spreading coast to coast.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

You can never have too much fox. If you fancy interfearing in nature, leave her a few treats outside the entrance to her hole. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

We've discussed that. While I'd like to make it easier and safer for her to raise those kits, I worry about making a wild animal dependent on handouts too. Or encouraging them to be too trusting of humans. That could be deadly.

[goldenstallion.livejournal.com]

Whinnyhi.

We also have foxes but they are out back in the woods. I kinda wish one would find a home in the barn but no wood piles or otherwise good places for a den, and the boys would be a problem, probably too.

Was cool the other day to see deer does in the back pasture grazing right along with the boys and nobody seemed at all concerned. Thunder is definitely mellowing.

Steed

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I love to see deer grazing with horses. Talk about idyllic...

You could probably encourage the foxes to move closer to the house by just leaving a good brushpile or something in a suitable place. We've created lots of cover, mostly without realizing that it would be attractive to foxes, but apparently it is. The Brit next door, on the other paw, seems dedicated to the goal of removing every single tree or bush on his entire five acres. He shoulda moved to Nebraska I think.

[heavens-steed.livejournal.com]

Foxes :) Very cool.

I didn't know that vixens had such a pungent odor. Of course, I've never really seen foxes in real life, not that I can remember.

I joined flickr.com and added you as a contact, btw.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Added back. Good to hear from you.

To me a fox smells a little like a much diluted version of a skunk. It's definitely noticeable.

[heavens-steed.livejournal.com]

I've never smelled a skunk and I'm not in any hurry to find out either :P

[altivo.livejournal.com]

This may seem an odd analogy, I suppose. But to me, a skunk at a distance smells like burned coffee beans. Sort of like the smell you get from opening a new can of ground roast coffee, right after you break the seal, only probably a thousand times more intense. When it's thinned out and faint, I find it not unpleasant. When it's concentrated it's just awful. You can taste the air, your eyes tear up, and you think you're going to choke.

Strangely enough, though, the close up smell of actual roasting coffee is not the same. Only the smell from canned ground coffee. Roasting coffee beans I find cloying and offensive, though not as strong as skunk and quite different. It is then distinctly a smell of something burning, and I would liken it to burnt toast, only again much stronger.

[jbadger.livejournal.com]

I use to see a fox in my back yard from now and then 10 years ago, Have not seen a fox in years around my house. A bit less then 2 miles from my house at a park I see them all the time though, if I go looking.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

You just need to put up a fox feeder. In other words, a poorly designed hen house like my neighbors have.

Humans: running interference

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

Why is it humans always think they have to jump into every situation and try to get their way? Nature functions just fine without them- and would work much better if they minded their own business and left it alone altogether.

Re: Humans: running interference

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, I wouldn't really say that any of us have interfered much in this particular case. I'd have told the noisy dog to back off from anything, whether it was a squirrel, a goose, or a coyote. He's smaller than the fox, at least in stature if not in weight, and in all seriousness, we don't want dogs tangling with wild canids of any sort because of potential rabies, distemper, or other exchanges as well as physical injury.

I've resisted the temptation to leave food out for her to make the baby rearing easier, but she seems to be doing quite well at the moment without any help. After a little exchange we just witnessed, we think she is deliberately distracting the dogs to lead them away from the babies' current hiding place. I just snapped a series of photos of her resting under a tree right out in the open, and she let me get within 15 feet or so to do it. I'll be posting at least one of them in a bit, she's really quite a pretty thing.

Re: Humans: running interference

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

*nods* Good call. Leaving them food is the first step towards domestication.

Re: Humans: running interference

[altivo.livejournal.com]

New photo posted now.