Near Miss
Saw a fox this evening at about 11:45, standing in the lighted street looking south down the alley. Glanced my way for a moment as if to say I was neither threat nor food. Got camera but fox had disappeared. Size of a large shanky cat except for the extra long tail. Looked grayish. Might have been the one I saw up the alley in the winter, or the one there two years before that. One of these days I'll get a pic. If I live long enough.
Comments
Hard to achieve with a secretive, nocturnal animal. Good luck!
During the bad bad drought year, i'd see foxes out at night catching bugs underneath the streetlights. But things aren't quite that tough yet, still lots of rabbits around.
Swift as a fox — it’s quite apt! I’ve only been able to get photos of a couple of foxes. They’re quite good at spotting us WAY before we spot them!
Three times now I've seen a fox in the hood w/i 100 feet and it was motionless, twice staring at me for what seemed minutes while I stared at it. Had I a camera ...
But 2-3 times before I saw a blur of little feet in the dark as a fox motored out of sight. These were gray foxes, mind.
The most spectacular observation was in broad daylight at Dunbar Lake in the canyon about 2005. I was hiking south of the lake near the dam watching an off road bicycle event put on by the Caprock Tri-Sport Club north of the lake, when they spooked a large red animal. It was so big I started thinking RED WOLF! Later in the club forum they wrote they had spooked two big red foxes.
While my impression is that city foxes stop in the open and stare for minutes assessing the situation, that is based on more than half those seen. Who knows how many watched from cover or darted off unseen?
I need to carry a camera always. Not being a smartphone person, I don't. Even when I had a camera phone with me, I disliked using it. My possum interactions around the house 10 years ago or the raccoon sightings downtown have gone unrecorded.
Saw the fox at 11:50 this evening running [not the right word for a fox's rapid motion; scurrying?] across the street and across the union hall parking lot. Had I a camera in hand I would not have reacted in time. 150 feet covered in 4 seconds.
Add a Comment