The Fox Den 4

  "When a reporter enters the room, your privacy ends and his begins." ~ Warren Beatty

Gentle Readers and Loved Ones,

Ok, so it’s an old quote from Beatty, way before all the modern foofaraw about gender ID, ‘cuz Ol’ Warren, did, in fact assume that all reporters are male.  Take it up with him, not me and work with me on the truth behind this un-PC quote.  Because, I have been and plan to continue invading the poor fox’s privacy on an ongoing basis.

A few nights ago, Ann and I went out and mounted the cam to a fairly big ash tree right next to the southern fox hole.  We are pretty convinced that the fox has a fairly extensive warren under the root balls of several trees and the north hole and the south hole connect up. 

I managed to mount the cam too close to the hole and aimed too high, so I only got a few good videos.  We left the cam up for two nights. 

Right after sunset the first night, the fox buzzed right by the cam without seeming to even notice it.

 Then she came back and I got this video that causes me to conclude that it’s ‘she’.

 The reason I’ve been making a big deal of her gender is that I surmise – here in late winter – it won’t be long until reproductive season comes around and there will be some fox kits.  I’m trying to decide what we are going to do about that with this blog.

The next night, the coyote came calling again.

 

On this second coyote video, it appears to me that the coyote noticed the camera and acted skittish.  I inconclusively googled “can coyotes see in infrared” and did not get much of an answer.  But I also made a discovery on the cam itself. 

When this cam senses motion, it then evidently looks to see how bright the natural light is.  If the light is under the threshold for human visible spectrum, it lights up the infrared spot light.  When it does that a group of red LED’s come on in the front of the camera that I assume emit red light in the visible range and also the infrared. 

I surmise the coyote saw these red lights and was a little spooked by them.  

 On that happy note, I remain,

Dad/Geoff

Fox Den III.... The Foxening......

  "One of the biggest lies in the world is that crime doesn't pay.  Of course, crime pays." ~ Gordon Liddy

Gentle Readers and Love Ones,

So… I reset the game cam clock and went back out two days ago just before sunset.  Ann and I bungied the cam back to the handy buckthorn bush that over looks the main fox den hole, turned it on and let it run for two days.

This time, I had it set to take short video clips.  I was surprised by the results

Unlike NBC, CBS or CNN or any of the other BS’s, I’m telling you this up front.  I’ve changed around the chronological order of how these videos came to be to tell a dramatic story.  Ok, kinda, sorta dramatic?

This is actually the last video the cam took before Ann and I picked it up to day.   

 

It appears that the famous dictum about life in nature being, “Brutish, nasty and short” has some truth.  The Fox Den has any number of sneaky visitors in the night. 

First, whooda thunk it?  Racoons ripping off the Foxes?

Then a coyote sticks his nose in.

 

 

At the end, another couple of fox videos.

 

 

It has been above freezing for the last two days.  Ann and I have to slog out across the lake to fetch the game cam. Today, the lake was about a foot of solid ice under a layer of ice mush with snow layered over that.  (Yesterday, it rained and then snowed....)  We trudged through slush to go get the cam today.  It's supposed to freeze hard next week, so Ann and I plan to put the camera back up tomorrow and try for more video. 

Sooner or later, though, I'm gonna have to go back to the neighbor and ask permission to walk through their backyard to put the camera out because it won't be safe any longer to cross the ice....

On that happy note, I remain,

Dad/Geoff

 

Fox Den II

  "Death is just nature's way of telling you that you're in the wrong line of work."  

                                                                               "Juggernaut"   (Old Movie)

Friends and Loved Ones,

So...I dug my old inexpensive entry level game cam out of storage, cleaned it up and put it out on the newly discovered Fox Den yesterday afternoon.  The batteries were dead and I didn't reset the time so don't hang your hat on the time stamps.  Also, these are all after dark, so they are black and white images in the infrared.  Please remember you can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

In any case, I got some fairly interesting pictures to include a series of a rabbit who chose poorly.

First, the Fox makes xher appearance....

Then the rabbit chooses poorly....

Ann and I surmise, with little knowledge to back it up, that this is a stick the fox is using to build the den better.  Xhe is probably getting ready for breeding season?

Then there is a stately picture of foxy dignity.

And finally, the fox bids you goodbye.

I'm going to spend a little more time with game cam and figure out how to use it better.  Maybe get some videos.  Certainly I'll correct the time stamp.

On that happy note, I remain, 

Dad/Geoff

Yes, I wrote "xher" and "xhe".  I have no idea of the actual gender of the fox, nor what xhe identifies as.  There is no sign on the den stating pronouns.  You may surmise as you will whether I intend this to be tongue in cheek or not......