Monday, April 25, 2016

Beware Foxes at Play

Some workmen spotted animals moving in the alpaca pasture. I took this with my 60X zoom lens. He identified them as fox kits playing.
I walked out into the pasture and spotted the mother. She was too quick, so no photos of her. She ran away from where her kits were playing. I moved out slowly and managed to capture one of them on camera.
 It just stood there and looked at me. Caught lots of photos but these are the best. The hole to the left of the it is the entrance to the den.
 This was the exit to the den.
 This is the entrance that the kit was standing next to and which it entered.
 I am pretty sure that this is the third goose that came this spring which we have not spotted in a while.
Anyone know what this skin is? Looks like a fox skin, but I am not sure. It was next to their exit hole and dried up, so it has been there a while.

I moved the sheep out of that area a month ago when I saw a fox hiding in the shrubs. It would not have been able to take down one of them, since they are adults, but moms sometimes pop lambs when you are not expecting them. We just let the kid goats onto the large pasture and I will be running them into the barn every night. The kids are not great about hanging with moms. My Great Pyrenees are pretty good about keeping predators out, but there is no reason to tempt the foxes. I believe in letting wildlife be as long as they are not bothering my animals. My birds are also in aviaries, so no worries there.

1 comment:

Alan said...

Maybe a squirrel? Probably not, though. The hair looks too long and the tail isn't very bushy. It's been a while since I've seen a grey squirrel, so what do I know? Now, GROUND squirrels, on the other hand...