DAD FOX WITH KITS

Handsome dad is always watching out for his kids as they run around him.

Handsome dad with two kits around 8:30 Am looking for their morning snack. Notice how the little fox is putting his mouth to his dads... hoping for a treat from him. This is how they would steer the kits away from the open yard  by
picking up a piece of food and then nudging the little fox to follow them to the woods... the reward was the food in the mom or dads mouth.  I have watch them play this game over and over again.

Today's Video features Handsome  Dad and Young  Mom bringing the kits out to play and hunt. In the field they learn to hunt snacks but this morning I turned the camera on before I went back in to get the treats and when I came back out I just watched them running around looking for them for a few minutes. This is what I saw. I hope you enjoy it. After the final credits, there will be 4 5sec. stills from the film to watch.

Hello Foxwatchers, nature lovers

Today I will be uploading some of the kits who are now at least 6 months old. There are two juveniles featured in these photographs.

The tiny little girl I now call Lucy and her bigger brother whom I have named Picasso.

Here they seem to be in harmony with one another so maybe the intimidation may have stopped.

Look how much biggerPicasso is than Lucy. Sweet little Lucy, has really held her own to be so small and had a great desire to push on...

Last year one of the foxes was injured pretty bad so I am not sure if he stayed on this earth that long or not. His name was Van Gogh because he had an ear that was completely messed up. Also, two of the kits plus Shyanne had a bad limp on the same leg. I think someone had been shooting at them with a bb gun aiming at the same leg. ... I hope that is NOT what happened but it just seemed odd they all had the same lip. Shyanne came back all healed this spring and I was happy to see that.

This year all four kits are healthy and strong. You can just look at their body wight and the beautiful clean fur they wear to know that these fox are healthy.

I hope you will become a follower of my blog.

some of my other web sites are below

Art and product design by

Sandra L Russell

http://www.sandrarussell.etsy.com/

www.zazzle.com/thegrayfox

www.zazzle.com/fabties

www.zazzle.com/creativebags

FOX TAILS

Welcome to the Friendly Fox Blog.

Today I didn't get a video but I got some great photos.

I love this image. This gives a whole new meaning to a fox shawl.

When I was young my mother would have friends over to play bridge. Some of the women would wear little red fox faces around their neck and that really spooked me out .

How awful that someone would turn a beautiful fox in to a tacky scary shawl.

I am not a member of Peta but they have some good points.

Why can't we just learn to live with animals and not want to kill them or eat them or train them or make them into a coat!

My guess is lack of understanding as well as appreciation for the wildlife whose land we steal.

If we steal the land for development then can't we have empathy for the animals whose home we destroyed?

Wouldn't it be better if we lived in harmony with nature?

I think so.

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

YOUNG FOXES GETTING BOLDER

Hello Fox Watchers!

Today's blog VIDEO is really spectacular. It is long but it just gets better and better to the end. The little foxes are really running around and testing their surroundings without adult supervision, though the parents are close by.

This video begins with the little foxes coming out first with out an adult fox. They seem afraid of EVERYTHING! ( I have observed from my many hours of fox watching that foxes are really scared of their own shadow! ) Though they are together, they even seem afraid of each other.

When you watch the video, look for the little girl fox who keeps coming out from the left of the screen. I think she must live behind the tree with mom fox. She is so much small than the rest of the foxes. ( Females tend to be smaller than the males)

I think that she was intimidated by her bigger male sibling when they were babies. Look at my blog in July for the pictures of the little baby foxes. You will see a photo of one of the foxes "yelling" at the littlest girl and she is cowering. I don't really see him bothering her anymore, but the trauma was server, I think, and that is why she is so timid.

When foxes start to grow up they will do this. The dominate fox gets more food and more attention. I can see from my videos that she is still timid, even around the adults. Sometimes I just want to go pet her and tell her everything is ok... of course that is just a fantasy. I would never pet the foxes for it is their Wild Nature that is so wonderful.

In the middle of the video, the parents come out and the little foxes stand back, like they are doing something they shouldn't be doing. Shyanne also shows up and it is clear that the kits are close to their grandma.

Nothing seems to bother Shyanne for she is the sage of foxes.

In the end of the video, 4 -5 foxes are all there and the little ones are still scurrying about, scaring themselves along the way. Look how fast they flee when "something" scares them.

. The adult foxes have taught them well... a smart fox is a cautious fox!

I hope you get to watch this whole video. It was a great day for Fox Watching In Micanopy, Florida that day.

All the best,

Sandra

Hanging out with Grandma

Hi Fox Watchers!

Today's Video is of Shyanne and two of her grandkits. Shyanne is on the right and you can see the v cut in her ear. This is really an easy way to tell foxes apart. Each fox has some kind of mark or distinct feature that sets them apart from the rest. This one is easy as the cut is deep and on the Left ear. Shyanne is also a light color gray. She appears as though she has been around. Not a kid anymore. She is the matriarch of the group. She is my favorite fox. I have seen her come and go for weeks or months at a time and then one day I will see her out with the others foxes, like she never left. If you read my July blogs, you will be able to catch up on the foxes story. It would help to read my zazzle site as it tells the story of how I got involved with the foxes in the first place. Go to : www.zazzle.com/thegrayfox If you would like to purchase any of my fox items that would be greatly appreciated also as art is my livelihood and not a very lucrative one at that right now. I am fox obsessed however, and taking their pictures and writing about them brings me so much joy. Being able to share it with other people is icing on the cake.
It is my hope that once people see my pictures and videos of the Foxes , they will have a new appreciation for this adorable, quiet but elusive little animal .

Please enjoy the fox video below. It features Shyanne and two of the kits and that silly raccoon that loves to torment the foxes! Watch how the little foxes run back and forth in the woods behind them, wondering where that raccoon will be next!

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HOME COMING

August 1st, 2010


This is a photograph of Young Mom and her partner Handsome Fox.

If you notice the mom is still showing from nursing her young. It was early June when I took this image. Mother is not showing at all any more and the young juveniles are running around, and emulating their parents at this point. They are getting braver everyday as it is not long now that they will move away from "home" and start their quest to make their own family.

This is the second litter I have watched grow up. I get pangs of "empty nest" myself , knowing that they will all be leaving soon. It will be interesting to see who stays behind the tree this fall.



August 1st, 2010 ...I just returned from my art show in Ann Arbor Michigan where the fox photos were a big hit! I heard many stories from other people about the fox or foxes they have seen but most people have never seen a fox in the wild before and rarely a gray fox.

Whenever I leave for an art fair, I am always afraid that when I get home that all the foxes will have moved on.

However, that has not been the case as they live and play and raise their young here. I am just part of all that to them.... when I am here, they know I bring them treats but they do not rely on my small hand out for food.

They are great hunters and love to eat bugs and moles and other small rodents. There is plenty of fox food around here!

When they come to the fox brunch, it is a way for them to gather and enjoy each others company and the day without fear that something will happen to them. If I had a dog, I would not have foxes. Most people who live in the county have dogs so their property is not safe for a fox. That is why I think I have so many here.

Sandra