Foxy Visitors (Warning: Large Photos!)

mrsmig

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*sigh*

I love these pictures so much. A few weeks ago I heard a fair amount of fox barking, not the weird screaming sound, but a fairly short rough bark sort of sound.

I made a bad recording; I should clean it up and see if it's worth saving.

Might have been an alarm bark. I feel like I've probably posted this link before, but here it is again, just in case: Fox Sounds

Since it's cool enough now to have the doors and windows open at night, I've been hearing a fair amount of gekkering lately, as the foxes squabble over food and territory.
 

mrsmig

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John wanted to put out a treat for the foxes the other evening. Some drama ensued.

The Donut
 

MaeZe

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It's funny they take the donut by its widest width instead of by the flat side. And they don't squash it.
 
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mrsmig

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They are surprisingly delicate when they pick up food, particularly unfamiliar stuff. On occasion I'll put out pate-style pet food (the stuff that comes out of the can in a single can-shaped lump) and break it into large chunks for them. Rather than stand over the dish and eat the food, as a domestic dog or cat would, they'll pick up a single chunk in their front teeth and carry it off.

There are exceptions. A week or so back, I put five small, bacon-flavored dog biscuits on the dish, just to see if the foxes would take them. Only Cher seemed interested. She carried one a few steps away and crunched it up, then came back to the dish, sat down and polished off the rest. She's something of a chowhound, that girl.
 

frimble3

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Interesting observations on how foxes feed.

I wonder if the 'grabbing the doughnut by the width' is because they don't know exactly what they're holding? If they knew it would mush down, they'd do it, but, for all they know it's firm like meat, or has a bone, and that won't work. So, they grab it is such a way that most of it is in their mouths, in case another fox grabs onto the 'accessible' part.

I suspect that it's similar to the 'grabbing a chunk and moving away' - fox grabs what it can hold and swallow, and moves away from the food-source so as not to be a target.

Cher noted that there didn't seem to be any competition, and that the treat was tasty, so she was willing to settle down to feast!
 

mrsmig

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I think you're right on the money, frimble3. Foxes are leery of anything that isn't "normal" in their environment, so Cher's hesitation in approaching the weird-looking, weird-smelling apple cider donut* is understandable. Since it was resting on an upturned glass bowl which has made her uneasy in the past, her wariness was probably amped up still more.

Usually the foxes show up in the yard within a half hour of me putting food out. I used to do this at dusk, but a couple months ago a raccoon discovered the banquet and would scarf up everything before the foxes got there. Right now I'm feeding once it's gotten full dark, and the foxes arrive a few minutes after I go in the house. Most stay at the food station in the rear of the yard, probably because there's still light, noise and movement near the kitchen yard station - but I think Cher is hungry enough to ignore that. She is always first in the kitchen yard, and scarfs up everything she can get. She's one of this year's crop of fox kits, and may still be growing. Foxes have small stomachs, and what they don't eat, they'll carry off and cache to eat later.

Yesterday's footage from the kitchen camera was interesting - it caught a great territorial display from Velma, one of the older vixens, who was unhappy when Cher got too close: Vixen Tension


* I just want to add that I disapprove of giving the foxes stuff like donuts and cookies. I generally feed meat and fat scraps, with an occasional treat of cheese, eggs or commercial pet food. But John loves seeing how the foxes react to weird stuff. I was rather pleased that pasta was a dead failure.
 

frimble3

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The photos, and explanations, are fascinating. Thinking of the 'fox and the grapes', have you ever tried the foxes with fruit?
 

mrsmig

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The photos, and explanations, are fascinating. Thinking of the 'fox and the grapes', have you ever tried the foxes with fruit?

My understanding is that they'll eat fruit, but they ignored the grapes I put out once. The raccoons, however, were positively delirious over them, and my gray squirrels and the local crow population are bonkers for grapes, too.

I think the foxes would much rather have protein and fat. And the occasional donut.
 

Cobalt Jade

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Me too. I need to schedule a binge-watch of the videos.
 

mrsmig

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Last night was a rainy one, and while there was some activity in the yard, it was low key (everyone hurrying to get fed and get home, I guess). However, I did have my first daylight sighting in months, around 7:30 this morning. This dog (male) fox is Dude, who has a darker coat than the other foxes, and very well defined "mutton chops." The photo is a little blurry because it's a screen grab from a video, and the camera lens was also a bit fogged from the damp, but still - he's a good looking fella, even when he's wet.

dude-in-daylight-small.jpg


The link to the video is here: Dude in Daylight

He seemed to be aware of the camera (he jumps a bit at the start of the vid). I don't know if the camera behaves differently when taking daylight footage; he's never seemed bothered by it in the multiple nighttime videos it's captured.
 
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MaeZe

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BBC: Photo contest winners: Hidden camera's hugging tiger wins wildlife photo award
To photograph one of rarest creatures on Earth you have to be incredibly skilled and remarkably lucky.

But Sergey Gorshkov is clearly both - as demonstrated by his stunning picture of a Siberian, or Amur, tiger deep in the forests of Russia's Far East.

The image has just won him the title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

The female tiger is seen embracing a tree, rubbing herself up against the bark to leave her scent and mark territory in Leopard National Park.

"The lighting, the colours, the texture - it's like an oil painting," says WPY chair of judges Roz Kidman-Cox.

"It's almost as if the tiger is part of the forest. Her tail blends with the roots of the tree. The two are one," she told BBC News.

There are winners in other categories, seven more images.


Last year's winners
 

mrsmig

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A sad sighting from last night.

10.14.20-mangy-stranger-still-small.jpg


I mentioned back in September that my previous resident pair, Shaggy and Velma, had made themselves scarce when a new male showed up; Velma has since returned but Shaggy didn't. I had named him Shaggy because of his long, somewhat unkempt-looking coat, and about the time he disappeared, his fur was looking scruffier than usual, and I wondered if he'd picked up sarcoptic mange. Well, I think this may be him, and he's definitely got it. I'll watch the cams for a reappearance and see if I can get a fix on when he visits; if so, I'll try to get some medication into him. But with so many foxes in the yard, it's going to be hard.
 

The Second Moon

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A sad sighting from last night.

10.14.20-mangy-stranger-still-small.jpg


I mentioned back in September that my previous resident pair, Shaggy and Velma, had made themselves scarce when a new male showed up; Velma has since returned but Shaggy didn't. I had named him Shaggy because of his long, somewhat unkempt-looking coat, and about the time he disappeared, his fur was looking scruffier than usual, and I wondered if he'd picked up sarcoptic mange. Well, I think this may be him, and he's definitely got it. I'll watch the cams for a reappearance and see if I can get a fix on when he visits; if so, I'll try to get some medication into him. But with so many foxes in the yard, it's going to be hard.

I looked up what "sarcoptic mange" is. It sounds awful! Poor fox.

(On a different note...I love the names "Velma" and "Shaggy" LOL)
 

mrsmig

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I looked up what "sarcoptic mange" is. It sounds awful! Poor fox.

(On a different note...I love the names "Velma" and "Shaggy" LOL)

It's a huge problem for foxes in my area. In late 2017, when I first started observing my local population, I had a female who was just eaten up with mange. I finally managed to get some medicated food into her, and she not only made it through the winter, but actually had two kits that spring. I sometimes wonder if any of my current crop of foxes are her descendants.
 

mrsmig

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The weather's turned colder and the foxes are getting downright antsy as mating season approaches. I heard my first "vixen's scream" last night - actually, a fair number of them - so the territorial urge is clearly amping up. And there's a lot more quarreling over food, which may have as much to do with the sheer number of foxes visiting the yard (between three to seven nightly) as the season. Here's a video of two vixens having a dispute over a dish of kibble:

The Kibble Squabble
 

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I've loved your foxes and never expected to see one around here, though today saw a gray fox while hiking.

Such charming creatures.
 

mrsmig

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That was so cool. I love the music, especially when the one was pacing.

Thank you. I started a subscription to ClipChamp because I needed a video editing program for virtual auditions and online performance material, but it's been fun exploring what the site can do with my fox vids. They have a surprising number and variety of audio options.
 

mrsmig

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I've loved your foxes and never expected to see one around here, though today saw a gray fox while hiking.

Such charming creatures.

Oooh, a gray fox! I'm jealous.
 

mrsmig

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My two favorite foxes, Cher and Hemsworth, might be pairing up. They've been visiting the yard at the same time for the past couple of weeks, but now they seem to be foraging together, although they're not sharing food - yet. I got some nice footage of the two of them last night. Cher warns Hemsworth off a couple of times (she had a tasty bit and he was interested), but she didn't do it with a lot of vigor, and he behaved like a gentleman and backed off.

Cher & Hemsworth
 

mrsmig

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I'm usually of the opinion that the foxes aren't aware of the trail cams in the yard, but then I'll get a capture like this and wonder if I'm mistaken. This is Hemsworth, showing off his black-tipped left ear. I just adore him. He always has an air of calm assurance and his winter coat is absolutely gorgeous.

12.8.20-hemsworth-you-goof-close-crop-small.jpg
 

mrsmig

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Over my protests, my husband put a mirror in the yard, just to see how the local critters would react to it.

The Mirror Experiment
 

MaeZe

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I think that was a great idea, very interesting reactions.

I didn't understand what the deer was afraid of. Perhaps just seeing something brown and moving frightened it.