Keeping Track

Tracks from what is most likely from a fox in our driveway. Initially I thought it might be coyote, but the distance between tracks, and the small size would indicate a lighter shorter critter.

 

We have had foxes in our yard and garden since long before we moved in. I've learned more about foxes from their tracks, kills, calls, screams, and yelps than from what I have seen with my eyes. 

A few years back I was woken in the middle of the night by the most hideous caterwauling sound. Blood-curdling. It was dark and raining/snowing outside. Even with the lights off in the bedroom, I still couldn't make out the culprit. After listening for a few minutes the high pitched chorus from the coyotes picked up, and they were right outside our window! Then the caterwauling sound changed and now sounded more like a person being hurt. I grabbed a flashlight and went outside. Not twenty feet from our house, under the tall pines, there were four coyotes, surrounding a young fox. The coyotes looked at me in unison and got real quiet. The fox made a little mewling yelp. It was absolutely cornered. 

Knowing full well what the outcome would be, I intervened by shining my flashlight at each coyote in turn, and then walking towards them whooping and huffing. Almost simultaneously, they turned and left, heading across the field in silence. The red fox stood up, shook off the wet snow, turned around in a tight circle a few times, then laid back down where it had been, and tucked its tail around like a fluffy blanket. 

Morning came with little fanfare. The spot where the fox had slept was an empty dish of snow, but the tracks around it told the whole story in clear detail. 

 

Cats prowl through the iris beds, looking for voles and mice. Everyone's tracks are so clear first thing in the morning.