Red Fox

Okay, so when I picture foxes, I always picture them like this one, as tiny little dogs about the size of a cocker spaniel. So imagine my surprise today when I was in my bedroom talking to my husband and playing with my three year old and I just happen to look out the  window, which has a fantastic view of my back yard, and see a large red dog running across my lawn. At first I thought I was seeing the neighbors dog as they like to let it run free (I don’t care as long as it doesn’t poop in my yard), but then I took a good look and this dog was much redder and larger than the neighbors dog.

“Holy crap a red fox,” were the words that came out of my mouth to my husband.

“Where’s your camera,” my husband said to me.

I ran to get my camera and in just those few seconds that wily little fox had disappeared to the side of our neighbors house. So I ran to the front hoping to catch a glimpse of him when I saw him across the street sniffing around another house. The pictures a little fuzzy, but pretty good considering he was a good four to five hundred yards away. See how much bigger he looks then the picture above? He is clearly well fed!

He was surprisingly large from what I imagined him to be. More about the size of collie. I know I am told time and again that nature is more prevalent here in Wisconsin then in San Diego, but it always comes as such a shock when I see wild animals in my own back yard.

In the summer, before they all migrated south, we had three rather large Cooper’s hawks that would leave our backyard a mess with all the parts of their captured prey that they didn’t eat. More than once I have had to get my gloves and pick up a little bird head and throw it into the woods so that my kids wouldn’t go out and find them and start playing with them. This is actually a picture of all three when they were in our back yard. They must have just snagged a kill because it was really rare to see them all together at once.

Besides these beautiful animals I have also seen huge amount of deer nearly everywhere and a bobcat crossing the street a half a block from my house as well as a coyote carrying what looked to be a rabbit in its mouth down the road a bit. My children are officially not allowed outside once the sun goes down. I’m sure this fox could have easily carried Alex away. I’m just joking… a little anyway.