Fox on the Run
Tuesday Fox blogging?
Alas, Platelicker and The Cat have been usurped by wildlife yet again. It’s not that they weren’t engaged in entertaining and photogenic activities over the weekend — wait a sec, is shedding photogenic? Okay, scratch that last part. What I mean to say is, our domestic critters had every intention of sharing their charms with the world (we understand The Cat had something rather nefarious up her Kaga sleeve for Saturday), but a glitch in the matrix a series of unfortunate events resulted in our entire house being thrown back into the dark ages (about 1988 or so) for what felt like days on end.
Shocking but true: we were without the internet for the entire weekend.
I thought I was going to die. For about five minutes, and then I read a book.
And I cleaned the cat box.
And we took the puppy to the beach.
And, without posting, we quietly celebrated Belly Timber’s first anniversary. (More on that later: the end of the world as we know it minor internet snafu has prompted us to postpone our tedious, introspective golly-it’s-been-a-year post anniversary celebration until later this week, when we’ve recovered from the horrors of sitting down and engaging each other in actual conversation.
(We’ll be fine. Really.)
 
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Meanwhile, about that fox.
Attentive readers might note that this fox sighting and last month’s golden eagle sighting both coincided with trips to the beach. In fact, the two sightings occurred not more than about fifty yards from one another, and near this same spot, we’ve seen hawks, bald eagles, even a great horned owl on a misty moonlit night. So, what makes this barren bluff such a hotspot for carnivorous wildlife? This mid-winter shot of the prairie across the road might offer up a clue or two.
Ah, lapin. Délicieux. Too bad the wild ones are so stringy.
April 4th, 2006 at 3:21 pm
Such spooky looking eyes. Great pic, thank you for posting!
April 4th, 2006 at 4:26 pm
I swear, your fox pictures look like something in a diorama at the museum of natural history. I think Ross works there.
God, those bunnies! This is where you live??
Happy Anniversary.
xx
April 4th, 2006 at 6:20 pm
Happy Blog anniversary. I’m not sure how long I could go without the internet, but I fear it’s not very long.
April 4th, 2006 at 11:02 pm
That’s a beautiful fox! I’ve never seen any of that colour (ours are more carotty-red)…
You are lucky to have such a variety of wild animals close to where you live!
By the way, happy anniversary!
April 5th, 2006 at 8:23 pm
Thanks, Elise! I haven’t quite decided if the fox was trying to spook the dog with that 1000 mile stare, or if the fox was spooked by the dog. I’ve a hunch it was the former.
CC: Ross is next door, with the cavemen, right? Yup. Bunnies, bunnies, everywhere. Time was they were so plentiful people couldn’t avoid hitting them, and all the local gift shops sold fur and feet. (Ick.)
Thanks, Kalyn! It was rather an ordeal. We had Big Plans that fell by the wayside. But no matter… more time for me to be lazy… er, I mean tinker.
Hey Rosa: Our foxes here come in a range of colors. This one is about the lightest I’ve seen; some are a bit more red, and I’ve seen at least one that’s almost a black-brown but still with that gorgeous white tail tip, of course. The rabbits on the other hand are all dinner colored. :-)
April 6th, 2006 at 5:45 am
Good lord, that’s a lot of bunnies! No wonder that gorgeous Mr. Fox is lurking.
We normally have enough foxes, etc., to keep the bunnies under control, but this spring one of the rabbits slipped through the perimeter and ate a cabbage out of my garden.
Two days later, we noticed a gathering of vultures in the “lower 40.”
Another day later, Cairo the Three-Legged Dog proudly picked up a bunny leg in the yard.
And finally I found a telltale ball of bunny fur and bone under a pecan tree. I’m thinking owl.
April 6th, 2006 at 8:32 pm
That is one sweet picture. I so need a good lens for shooting wildlife at a distance.
April 7th, 2006 at 6:46 am
Lovely picture. Like Rosa said, I think we only have the red color foxes here. But we seldom see them. They are suspected when chicken are missing, but who knows?
Rabbits are dinner coloured here too.
April 10th, 2006 at 9:38 am
Wow - that fox picture is amazing! I’m haunted…by the desire to buy a new camera and come to your beach! Gorgeous.
April 10th, 2006 at 7:33 pm
Jamie, no bunny legs in our yard, but we do have a tree in the woods with telltale mouse carcasses around the base. Most definitely an owl!
Thanks, Kitchenmage, though I have to admit, I have a crappy lens for wildlife at a distance. Around here, I just luck out occasionally and get wildlife close up.
Gracianne, for the longest time even my Dad (familiar with the wildlife as he was) didn’t believe we had foxes — they were always in hiding. The population’s increased recently so now we see them often. Also, it helps our sightings (though not the natural food chain) that a few nearby neighbors have been known to put food out for them. (And how that food lasts beyond the onslaught of raccoons, is anyone’s guess!)
Thanks, Michele. This particular beach is pretty lovely. It’s a great place for whale watching too, though my lens is most definitely NOT good enough for that!