Little Foxes on the Hillside

For as long as camera traps have been on the hill above the house those camera traps have captured photographs of the foxes that have had their territories on the hill. Photographs of gray fox vastly outnumbered those of red fox for a number of years, perhaps because the red fox were dispersing youngsters that found this area unworthy of becoming part of their territories.

The cameras have photographed gray fox in all seasons:

Winter –

Spring –
 

Summer when the fox is obscured by tall grasses –

And when their molt makes them look pretty grungy –

On rare occasions there have been two animals –

And even more rarely, when one is carrying a meal –

Red fox are beginning to appear on camera more regularly, perhaps a pair has established their territory in the area, and it’s a treat to find their images on a camera’s memory card –

Both species have appeared in the infra-red videos taken by other camera traps on the hill. Even in the rather poor black and white videos it's easy to distinguish the two species, the gray fox by the dark stripe on the top of its tail and the red fox by its longer legs and more flowing tail –

We enjoy having the foxes for neighbors even though we’ve rarely seen them.