Notes To My Mother

The family life of a red fox is a joy to observe.  The kits are very much like puppies, jumping on and chasing each other almost the entire day.  Of particular interest is how the Vixens teach the kits to eventually become self sufficient around their food supply.  There are two vixen in this family unit, the mother and grandmother, and I can not tell them apart.  The kits you see here are still suckling from their mother.  But by this time in their young lives she is well on the way introducing them to game.  In the beginning she will stash the game, encouraging the kits to forage for it.  The next step in the process you can see here, where she brings game directly to the kits.   Here she is dropping a rabbit for them.  At this stage in the teaching she has killed the rabbit.  The next stage will be for her to bring them live game.  The little black one grabs the rabbit and makes a run for it getting away from his siblings. A...

I had never experienced anything quite like photographing red foxes.  I was with them nearly all day, for three days in a row.  I was so taken by them, especially the way they related to each other.  Above is the dog fox, the adult male of the group, with one of his offsrping, a female kit fox.    In this family group there were two vixen, one was the grandmother, the other the mother of three kits.  The adult females attended the den all day with one or the other going off to hunt, returning with food for the kits.  Missing most of the day was the dog fox and when he would return the kits all gravitated to him. All of the kits seemed to adore the dog fox but the moments between him and his daughter were especially touching.   What a gorgeous, photogenic animal he is.  When I returned a year later he was still there and there was a whole new brood of kits.  I am hoping to return again this year having missed last year due to a bout ...

A couple of years ago a friend invited me to join him to photograph red foxes.  I of course thought they would all be red.  As it turns out red foxes come in a variety of colors, grey, black, tan, and the multicolored as seen in the following image.  Kit foxes, the babies, are very curious and very playful.  As you can see the back kit above is checking me out.  I'm standing still, making very little noise with my camera and he seems to be wondering what the heck I am going. This is the dog fox, an adult male and the parent of the kits you see here.  He is gone most of the day while the kits stay close to home and play.  When he returns the kits mob him and he starts playing and running right with them, actually escalating the level of play. This little grey red fox was a delight to watch.  He loved the flowers and would go from one bunch to another slowly working his way closer and closer to me.  I kept thinking, "lay down, lay down!" as I w...