First Fox

Although we have captured many pictures of deer, raccoon, opossums and the occasional coyote on our wildlife camera, we've never  captured a picture of a fox.  That all changed this past week when we caught this image of what is obviously a fox.

When we lived in town, foxes were regular visitors to our neighborhood.  I assume this was because we lived on the outskirts of town where there was a creek about a half block from our house.  So, when we moved out here to the country, I naturally expected to see foxes here as well.  Yet, even though there is a creek just down the hill and across the fence from our house, we have never seen or captured a picture of a fox out here ......until now.  

After doing some research, I think I know the reason for this.   Wikipedia says, "Although the red fox tends to displace or even kill smaller predators, it is nonetheless vulnerable to attack from larger predators, such as wolves and coyotes".  It also states that in areas of North America where red fox and coyote populations coexist, fox ranges tend to be located outside of coyote territories and that interactions between the two species vary in nature, ranging from active antagonism to indifference. Where coyote and fox ranges overlap, there is competition for food since they have near identical diets.

We never saw coyotes when we lived in town.  But, as you have seen in some of the wildlife camera pictures I have posted, we do have coyotes.  And, although I have never seen one out here, we hear them often at certain times of the year.  Usually this is in the evening, right before or after dark.  They do not howl, like wolves, nor bark, like dogs.   Instead, they make high-pitched "yipping" noises and it seems there are always several.  This will go on for a couple of minutes, then all is quiet again.  It is as if they wake up to go hunting and have to get themselves all worked up first by yipping and carrying on like this!

They seem to move around quite a bit, as well, since when we do hear them, they sometimes sound far away and other times they sound as if they are just across the fence near the creek.  For some reason, the sound of them makes me feel uneasy.  I'm not sure why because they generally fear people and steer clear of interactions with humans.   Perhaps it is something left over from the days when humans lived alongside these animals in the wild and had to compete with them for food.  Or, maybe it is just me.