Reader Rick Wayne sent some photos of a hawk couple raising their brood as well a passel of urban foxes (i.e., Honorary Cats™), all from Wisconsin. I’ll show the foxes today. His notes:
One of the difficulties with the memory card is that it was also crammed with stills and video of our campus fox family (see http://vanhisefoxes.tumblr.com for details). I chucked a couple of my favorites of those in here too. What’s interesting about these guys is that they’re such urban predators; by no means tame, they still mostly ignore the crowds of people and vehicles teeming around their den and just go on being foxes. The fellow in charge of the Allen Centennial Gardens has noted that his lagomorph problem has been sharply reduced this season.
Rick’s album of foxes is on Picasa.
Mom on the left, crossing Linden Drive. Cars and buses were exceedingly careful around the den, thank goodness; the male got hit by a car and killed west of campus.
A sibling was messing about underground, near the burrow entrance.
This one of the fox kit looking up to its left always makes me think of religious art. I wonder how many of those “beatifically illuminated by God’s light” images could be equally easily explained by “crow flying over”, as was the case here?
The kits always seemed pretty alert aboveground. Of course, at any given second it was likely that a sibling was just about to pounce. So: CONSTANT VIGILANCE!
And finally, if I may be forgiven a selfie, this is basically what it was like on this end of campus for a few glorious weeks — foxes everywhere!
UW-Madison?
Jerry… the link “vanhisefoxes.tumblr.com” doesn’t go where I think you think it should.
Fixed, thanks.
Very nice pics and, what gorgeous creatures.
Lovely fox photos! Their eye colour seems to change in the light to a shade of green!
Foxes are a gift to a photographer!
Has any WEIT reader photographs of a Corsac fox, Vulpes corsac – they look even more cat-like!
https://www.ecosia.org/search/images/q/Vulpes+corsac
Yep, UW-Madison, in the ag part of campus. The tumblr tells the tale, but briefly a family dug a burrow under Van Hise Hall, which is a heavily-traveled area. They got flushed out by a heavy rainstorm and dug another one across the street, which is where these photos (and the “Foxes at Play” video on the tumblr) were shot.
Oh, this little clip didn’t make it onto the Tumblr, every time I see the kit bound straight up into the air I LOL all over again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep5rnLpkuNY
Aren’t they wonderful!
Aww, so cute!
I’ve seen a coyote leap just like that, apparently going after field mice.
What lovely shots of such beautiful animals!
Urban foxes are great. Unless you live in Australia of course. The commonest cause of death for urban foxes is being hit by traffic, as happened to the dog fox here, but in the UK urban foxes learn to avoid roads at their busiest times, shifting their activity peaks to do so(in Bristol I think).
So cute!
That first photo is quite good. About a month ago, while walking on a wooded trail, a fox came running around a hedge heading towards me, saw me and veered quickly away into underbrush on the other side of the trail. This all happened in less than five seconds. It was bigger than any fox I’ve ever seen before, so much so that I thought at first it was a dog. (It was surely a fox, a red coat, and also I’ve seen coyotes and it wasn’t quite that big.) Someone said it was most likely a female, they are larger than males?
Are you in Red Wolf country?
Madison! I suspected and apparently the scene is from Madison campus. I’ve seen the building.
I almost saw a fox in wild when I was little. My cousin, the village princess wanted my silvery pink sandals and my dad granted it. I was on a crying protest for my sandals with my mom’s full support while I heard the noisy “fox! fox!”, I really wanted to jump off the bed and run out to chase the fox, but it would be an embarrassment and my tears would be devalued, so I held myself there… The struggle was so strong that I was doomed to remember the scene forever.
It brought back a persistent memory for me from 1970 when I was a student at UW-Madison. My French discussion section met in a room in Van Hise Hall. But this was during the revolution so we spent little or no time discussing the French literature. Instead it was a lot of politics. Subsequent “classes” were held in the TA’s apartment on Mifflin Street. But only if there was no tear gas floating in the area.
French juxtaposed with Revolution makes me wonder if you were THAT old.
LOL.
Choices must be made🐺