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80 acres: Afternoon Surprise [Feb. 17th, 2008|06:10 pm]
e_moon60
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I went back out this afternoon to do more birding for the Great Backyard Bird Count...I was at Owl Pavilion, with the long lens on the camera, when I saw this:

   We had a family of gray foxes on the place some years ago, but they all died, probably of cat distemper.  I thought I'd seen fox scat lately, but this is proof we have a fox again--or part of a fox, since the place isn't big enough to be the entire home range.

At the click of the camera, the fox startled, then came out to see what it was.   I could not resist another shot of this handsome creature.
   


I hope it moves in for good.   I like foxes, and especially the grays.  The reds may be prettier, but they may have been introduced to this area, and the grays are definitely native.
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[User Picture]From: strigine
2008-02-18 12:53 am (UTC)
*jaw drops* Oh, that's awesome! I can't decide if it's pretty, or cute. There's something very elegant about its stance.
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[User Picture]From: e_moon60
2008-02-18 04:00 am (UTC)
Foxes are elegant little creatures. Every move is dance-like.
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From: technoshaman
2008-02-18 03:43 am (UTC)
What she said. One in a million.
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[User Picture]From: cdozo
2008-02-18 01:25 am (UTC)
How beautiful!
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[User Picture]From: e_moon60
2008-02-18 05:59 am (UTC)
I think so...I think foxes, like gazelles, are exquisite little creatures.
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[User Picture]From: hoosier_red
2008-02-18 01:26 am (UTC)
That is so incredibly cool!
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[User Picture]From: e_moon60
2008-02-18 05:58 am (UTC)
It was indeed. We're so used to people, who move noisily on the whole, and domestic animals (other than cats, of course. Mustn't insult the cats!) that it's been a revelation to me, in the past years of having the land, to discover how *quiet* wildlife can be. That first fox I saw, the first day...she just appeared, silent (though I could just hear her lapping the water.) Even when she got used to me, later, she would appear in silence, stare at me, drink the water and eat corn, or walk over and curl up in a favorite resting place...but without a sound.

The raccoon I photographed in the last creek puddle was the same way...came down a slope covered with dead leaves without a sound. (The turtle, on the other hand, I thought at first was a person, it moved through dead weeds so loudly.)

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[User Picture]From: meglimir
2008-02-18 02:03 am (UTC)
Beautiful fox. Awesome photos. Thanks for posting this!
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[User Picture]From: jhetley
2008-02-18 02:20 am (UTC)
Gray foxes can climb trees. _Much_ cooler than reds.
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[User Picture]From: e_moon60
2008-02-18 06:11 am (UTC)
I like both species. If we had a lot more land, I'd enjoy having both on the land. Reds for color, grays for general coolness.
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[User Picture]From: dunkelza
2008-02-18 02:26 am (UTC)
That head-on shot is incredible. I've never seen one look so gracile. It's almost cat-like.

Is it a grey, or maybe a red in a grey phase? I've heard that they can change color throughout their lives.
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[User Picture]From: e_moon60
2008-02-18 03:57 am (UTC)
It's definitely a gray. The head shape is a little different (doesn't show as much from in front, but the grays don't have the deep indentation right before the muzzle) and the tail has a black tip, not a white one. Reds in another color phase always retain the white tail-tip. I've seen an almost-black red fox around here, years ago (not on this land but on the county road just west of here, before any of that land was developed.

They do look like a cross of dog and cat--some behaviors, and some parts, look very doggy, and other parts look catlike. I think the faces of the red foxes look more catlike than this, even.
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[User Picture]From: e_moon60
2008-02-18 06:09 am (UTC)
Thanks. I was lucky this time.
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From: sunfell
2008-02-18 03:01 am (UTC)
This fella looks almost feline. What a great shot!
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[User Picture]From: e_moon60
2008-02-18 06:10 am (UTC)
They do look like a combination of feline and canine, don't they?
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[User Picture]From: e_moon60
2008-02-18 06:08 am (UTC)
Those times of no camera...I know them well. (Did I have a camera the one time a flight of whooping cranes came over? No. And that wasn't the only time I didn't have a camera and wanted one badly!)

But what a wonderful sight!
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From: technoshaman
2008-02-18 03:44 am (UTC)
Mind if I point folks at this?
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[User Picture]From: e_moon60
2008-02-18 04:02 am (UTC)
Not a bit...point ahead...(g)
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[User Picture]From: bunny_m
2008-02-18 04:00 am (UTC)
Wow, that's gorgeous. I don't think I've seen a Gray Fox before, the only ones we get around here are the Red Foxes. (And definitely introduced.)

Great photos, too.
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[User Picture]From: e_moon60
2008-02-18 06:04 am (UTC)
In sunlight, their eyes are pumpkin-orange, and their tails--with a black stripe on top and a black tip--have more "drape" than a red fox's brush.

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From: (Anonymous)
2008-02-18 02:31 pm (UTC)
This is amazing. I really love your wildlife posts and pictures. :)

Wildlife is one of the things I love about hiking in the rocky mountains in/near the Rocky Mountain National Park. My family has a cabin along highway 7 and there is just something about looking out of the kitchen window while cooking dinner and seeing a pair of mule deer or elk. Once I saw a red fox with a rabbit in its mouth running along the side of a road.

It's kind of funny how much wildlife I've seen in Plano in my neighborhood, which isn't that far from hw 75! A coyote (three different times!), tons of rabbits, anoles, a raccoon family, a possum (once live and once dead in the road), an armadillo, the obligatory squirrels, and lots of birds (including mocking birds, cardinals (a family with three juveniles eat from are open compost pile once), blue jays, and hawks). No snakes though.

I used to think I'd like to live in the Colorado mountains even though I don't like cold, but it's extremely expensive. I've driven through the hill country once, for a wedding, and thought it was really pretty. The prices are much more reasonable... so maybe one day I'll move there. Get some land. Encourage wildlife, take pictures, write books. :D

Delilah

PS I'm a friend of Melanie's. Another friend, Krista, and I are thinking of driving down for your Austin book signing. Yes... just for the day. We love your books that much!
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[User Picture]From: trembling_aspen
2008-02-18 02:42 pm (UTC)
Okay... so I wasn't logged in for some reason...

Delilah
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[User Picture]From: madmoravian
2008-02-18 02:45 pm (UTC)
What a stunning picture. Thanks for posting it.
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[User Picture]From: e_moon60
2008-02-18 03:41 pm (UTC)
Thanks for enjoying it!

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[User Picture]From: dinahprincedaly
2008-02-18 03:51 pm (UTC)
WOW! good catch! fast reflexes!
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[User Picture]From: e_moon60
2008-02-18 04:51 pm (UTC)
Not really fast reflexes. I was sitting there with the big lens on the monopod, and saw a movement approaching (couldn't tell what) in the cedars to one side...so swung the lens before it actually appeared, just in case.

But a lucky catch, definitely.
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