Ol' Red and A Touch of Grey

The titles of Blake Shelton’s country-western song and the Grateful Dead’s classic rock were the inspiration for the title of this post, but music isn’t the subject. Instead, northcentral Pennsylvania’s two species of foxes are the subject.

Ol’ Red is the red fox, a species that most frequently inhabits field edges and fencerows where it feeds on small mammals, fruit, berries and insects it's actually an omnivore that will eat almost anything edible. Prior to European settlement the red fox didn't inhabit eastern North America but apparently expanded its range southward and eastward as forests were cleared for agriculture. Red fox are also found in Eurasia and have been introduced elsewhere.

Our Touch of Grey is the gray fox which is truly native to eastern North America where it inhabits woodland. Like the red fox, gray fox are omnivores feeding on small mammals, birds, fruit and almost anything else that’s available and fit to be eaten. The gray fox is a cat-like canine that readily climbs trees, aided by its partially retractable claws.

For a number of years the camera traps on the hill above the house have captured photographs of gray fox; last year red fox began appearing on camera, some of the photos and videos were in this post. 

Since then the cameras have continued to capture more videos: of Ol’ Red eating fallen apples last fall – 

 

And videos of a pair of grays, then a single gray fox scent marking and later getting a meal –

Hopefully our foxy neighbors or their descendants will be around for a long time – if only they could sing.