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Mama & Kit Watch As Another Zooms By

This year Spring came early, and then stalled, and then ran ahead.  My foxes denned under my deck exactly one week early. Unfortunately, loose-running neighborhood dogs caused them to take the entire brood down the road to a set of culverts under two close-set driveways in my mountain neighborhood.  The entire gang, Mama Foxie, Papa, and babysitters, Sadie and Goldie (yearlings who were members of last year’s litter) are at my window every morning.  They check out my bird feeders, drink from the hummingbird feeders I put too low, and generally hang around on my back deck, which is pretty safe for them.  The babies….frankly, I don’t like Mama’s newest decision:  the culverts she decided upon are right on a bend in the road, and the babies sometimes are seen hanging around on the road itself.  I don’t like the setting, or the danger.  Could the dogs be as bad as that?  I suppose they are to a fox.  The first day I saw three kits at the culverts, I figured they’d left my deck.  But as I got home, I found Sadie had babysitting duties to another three of the kits, who remained.  By morning they all were gone, however.  I am confused about just how many kits there may be in this current litter.  With two babysitters, I suppose there could be as many as three denning sites, with Mama and Papa as the corporate executives of feeding, babysitting, and general overseeing.  These animals are truly amazing!  I just haven’t had the time during May to ever totally figure out the comings and goings of the fox family.

I’ll admit I will soon have more time to pursue other things (as in hunting for a new job after losing my teaching contract, along with many teachers in Colorado, for next year, or watching wildlife around my mountain.)  I wonder if this extra time will help me figure out the impulses of a wild canine’s mind?  Unlikely. None-the-less, I am wonderfully enriched by the time I had with the fox family, and I’m glad the adults are still coming around.  Now, what to do about those neighborhood dogs?

On photographing wild animals:  I am lucky to be able to use one of my best lenses, the Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8, VR, ED to photograph the fox babies.  My blind is made up of various vantage-point windows in my house.  I do tend to run up steps, and back and forth as the kits frolic.  It’s not as convenient as it sounds……also, some of the best behaviors are taken ONLY from behind the fixed picture window.  Shooting through a window never produces the best results.  I’ve tried to be inconspicuous by hiding around the corner of my garage, sitting quietly on a stool, but I’ve never fooled the adult foxes.  Mama, being the tamest of the bunch, doesn’t mind my presence, but Sadie and Goldie are much more skittish, and often “tell” the kits to “skidaddle” when I am noticed.  I use a tripod with a Wimberley gimbal head on my tripod for good panning control.  I do wish I could afford one of the new Nikon cameras with better ISO low light capabilities.  My D300 is not as good with low light as I would like, but overall it is a wonderful camera.  Sometimes I add a 1.4X or 2X teleconverter to my lens, depending on the light available, since I lose shutter speed with the addition of the teleconverters.  Shutter speed is of utmost importance with all the cavorting young animals do.  Which is worse?  A “grainy” picture with too much digital noise, or a blurry photo due to subject motion?  Neither are great, but I’ll go with the noise.

To learn more about my fox family, check out my book, available at wwwBLURB.com or look here for more information about it:

<div style=”text-align:left; width:450px”>http://www.blurb.com/assets/embed.swf?book_id=2330662&locale=en_US<div style=”display:block;”><a href=”http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2330662?ce=blurb_ew&utm_source=widget&#8221; target=”_blank” style=”margin:12px 3px;”>Foxes At My Window by Donna Dannen</a> | <a href=”http://www.blurb.com/landing_pages/bookshow?ce=blurb_ew&utm_source=widget&#8221; target=”_blank” style=”margin:12px 3px;”>Make Your Own Book</a></div></div>

Foxes At My Window by Donna Dannen | Make Your Own Book

This is a totally new addition of my book about red foxes:  Foxes At My Window

Take a look, make a comment, buy through blurb.com

The fox babies are growing up.  They seem (some of them, anyway) to still come back to the den to sleep.  Fox research says that kits will begin to hunt in groups, or perhaps accompany an adult on hunts at about 3.5 months of age.  This group of kits is at that point in their growth.  I had noticed, even before play sessions, that one or two of the kits would “come from elsewhere”  (who knows where) to join in.  I’ve not seen a play session since the weekend.  On Monday night, though, a fox was hit by a car on the road below me.  That night I actually heard fox “scream” calls at about 11 p.m.  I have no way of knowing if that had anything to do with the road kill.  My adults are all intact (a neighbor thought it might have been one of this fox family).  The neighbor boy who found it and buried it told me it was an adult fox…but he may have been mistaken, since the kits are getting so big now.  It may have been a fox from another territory.  All I know is the order of things has suddenly changed.  I’d not seen “Bashful” until Thursday morning, and at first wondered if she may have been hit.  At that point I’d seen maybe one kit out of the den, but no mor group play sessions.  That night seemed to create a difference in the order of fox behavior.  Since that time I’ve seen all four adults from my fox family curled up under my bird feeders in the morning (they had done that when the kits were under the deck).  I’ve not seen any kits, however.  It is very possible the fox killed was one of the kits on a night hunting trip.  Kits are so vulnerable at this stage in their lives.  Of course, animals have litters for just that reason:  to ensure that SOME genes are successful for future generations.  Considering the risks, only one pup from a litter making it to maturity is a reasonable reality.  That all three from the litter last year made it (the boy at least made it until he was forced from the territory by “Papa” fox), is rather unusual and amazing.  I had worried about what might happen when these current kits were going out into the world, however.  The home territory is obviously rather full, with four adult foxes living on it.  Would one of the adult females search out another territory?  Would they drive the female kits away?  That all remains to be seen, and I may never know.  Still, foxes are extremely intelligent, and they learn quickly.  An example is my birdbath sitting in a scraggly raspberry patch.  “Bashful” and “Sweetie” would drink from it by jumping right up onto the structure.  The kits were fascinated, but couldn’t reach.  “Big Red,” however, the biggest of the litter, made it eventually, and on his first attempt session!  (See photos below).  As with all three litters in three consecutive seasons of denning under my deck, I have increased my knowledge of fox behavior, and I’ve been blessed with some interesting photography as well.

3). Success! "Big Red" finally gets a drink! And he learned in one session.

2). "Big Red" tries over and over to do as Bashful had done.

1). No Fair! We want up there, too! Bashful takes a drink in the seemingly inaccessible birdbath.

Fox watching involves either discovery or confusion.  Having a background in canine behavior (or experience with more than one canine) really allows the watcher to have a better idea of just what is going on.  As the fox kits grow, their interactions become more adult-like.  They don’t tend to greet one another……after all, they are all living together and know each other well.  But there does seem to be a pecking order which establishes quite young, according to the fox research I have read (the best is a book entitled:  Red Fox, The Catlike Canine by J. David Henry, ISBN 1-56098-635-2, Smithsonian Press).  He said, “…..at about 25 days of age, the kits begin to fight viciously; they clash with each other in short, serious….contests….[to]….establish a strict dominance hierarchy during the following ten days.  The alpha (or dominant) member of the litter establishes itself, and the hierarchical process continues all the way down to the omega animal.  Evidence suggests that these dominance relationships among the cubs are stable and have a great bearing on their survival….The largest member of the litter, whether male or female, usually becomes the alpha pup.  By early May the fox kits …..begin to come above ground for longer periods of time.  At this point the hierarchy is solidly established, and the aggressiveness of  the cubs actually diminishes.  Gradually they become more social, playful, and puppylike.”

I’m glad I’m watching the less aggressive behavior!   Other interactions are interesting.  Pup to adult greeting is often like pups get food as younger kits.  They approach crouched, ears back, tail out, in a submissive behavior.  Open mouths seem to go with the greeting.  Between adults it is the same.  Below, Papa, who has been babysitting, is replaced by Sweetie, who greets Papa, and they then begin to “mouth” in friendship, or, at least toleration.  After-all, Sweetie is a pup from last year’s litter with Papa again as sire.

Less aggressive puppylike play behavior

Saturday’s observations were entertaining.  The kits, now likely two months old, are wild and wiley.  Photographing them is not easy.  For one, I have two safe places to photograph from, using my house as a blind.  My family room is on one end of the front “deck” (or porch), and my garage windows are on the other side.   The kits are not afraid of me (if I make no sudden moves or sounds and am standing at the window).  The problem often is their outsmarting me.  Just as in the Greek fables about the wiley fox, these intelligent creatures will run over the deck, or under it (through their den) to the opposite side of where I am!  They can drive me crazy trying to keep up with them.  From either window I encounter lots of bush branches in my way.  From one window I have deck furniture, hummingbird feeders, and the deck itself, always present.  It is a challenge to be at the right place at the right time.  In my last post I introduced the four adults in my fox family.  When Foxie Mama is around I can photograph the kits from outside……but only from a sitting position, and after I scare them once when I first approach. They then come back out with curiosity getting the better of them.  “Bashful”, however, is the common babysitter, and, as her name suggests, she will not allow me outside around the kits.    This morning, for the first time, Sweetie was babysitting.  Normally I can get near Sweetie, but she must be fairly new to babysitting, because she didn’t know what to do while I was there.  The kits took up on that confusion, and retreated.  As a result, I now have lovely light, and no kits out playing. I
hope I’ll have an evening of fun like yesterday:  Pictured, Bashful wakes everyone up, then they mob her, and she retreats to the birdbath.  The kits run everywhere!  Bashful seems to tell them off (featured photo) and then is bewildered by trying to keep track of everyone.

Actually, I say the above to anthropomorphize the fun of watching fox litters.  However, there really is a fascinating set of communications foxes use to direct their young.  I’ve heard the sharp scream they make when a dog comes sniffing around.  The kits go under with the speed of prairie dogs when a hawk flies above them.  There is a soft chortle when Mama or Bashful wants the little guys to come out to play, or take food offered.  I’ve heard an interesting clicking sound made to get the kits’ attention as well.  Then there is the hoarse three note barking the kits use to talk to each other……very fun stuff.

Bashful soon was tired of kit antics, and, below, is yawning, and staying off just in enough distance to keep watch as the pups fly around, chasing, pouncing, stalking and running, running, running.  The day ends as the pups finally settle down to relax…….

The Kits Evening Activity Finally Ends in Relaxation

Bashful yawning at the hard work of babysitting.