The fox and the cliff

 

 

A quick photo of an Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus) approaching a steep bird cliff.

 

 

Little ones

Gray Fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) pups, 18 July 2015.

Note the grizzled upperparts; cinnamon neck, sides, and legs; and the black-tipped tail.

 

Litter size in Gray Foxes ranges from 1-7, with a mean of 3.8  When the pups are ~3 months old, they'll forage away from the den site with their parents.  At ~4 months, they'll hunt independently.

For pictures of an adult, see the post from 10 September 2012.

Facts above from Fritzell, E.K. and K.J. Haroldson.  1982.  Mammalian Species No. 189, Urocyon cinereoargenteus.  The American Society of Mammalogists.

Sunday morning visitor

 

We looked out the window this morning to see this Gray Fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) in our potato bed!

Here's a zoomed in view of the delicate face and large, attentive ears.

 

These images were taken in Sebastopol, but if you missed them, I posted a few Gray Fox photos from Bodega Bay last September.

Bounding across the marsh

This morning I was preparing to start a bird survey and was caught by surprise when I flushed this animal from the salt marsh between Doran Beach and Smith Brothers Road (or the Bodega Bay Post Office).  I scrambled to take my camera out of its case, and luckily ended up with a few pictures that I think are good enough for an identification and to serve as a record.

 

This looks like a Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes).  Note the dominant red coloration above, white underparts, black legs, relatively long muzzle, and the bushy tail held horizontally when running.

Some Red Foxes have white tips to their tails, others don't.  I only had a few seconds and a few photos, but I couldn't really see white on the tail of this individual.

 

There are some interesting and somewhat complicated stories about Red Foxes in California.  This is what I've learned so far. There are both native and non-native (introduced) Red Foxes in the state.  

The native foxes are subspecies that live either in the mountains (Sierra Nevada Red Fox, Vulpes vulpes necator) or valley grasslands (Sacramento Valley Red Fox, Vulpes vulpes patwin).  

The introduced foxes are broader in their habitat use and probably originated from either fur farms (common in the mid-1900s) or releases for hunting (starting in the late 1800s; they were imported from eastern Canada and Alaska).  

Because Bodega Bay is neither in the mountains or in the Central Valley, this fox is most likely an introduced fox.  (You'd have to sample its DNA to tell for sure.)  From what I can gather, introduced Red Foxes are found along the coast from Sonoma County to San Diego County, but it sounds like they're rather rare in coastal areas of Sonoma and Marin counties.

Peter Connors recorded a handful of Red Fox observations in the Bodega Bay area in 1979 and in the 1980s.  I'm not sure how many have been seen since then.  If you think you've seen a Red Fox, it'd be great to hear about it!

Here's another image showing the dark legs.  The fox was bounding across the marsh, so the legs are outstretched.

 

To compare with the other more common local canids, review the posts on the smaller and grizzled Gray Fox and the much larger and blonder Coyote.

Silvery gray

Eric is always reminding me to have my camera ready during our drive home.  I'm often lazy about this, leaving it in the back of the car (out of reach) and have missed many photo opportunities.  

Tonight I listened and was prepared, and figured that was probably enough to jinx us.  We were almost all the way around Bodega Harbor, close to Porto Bodega, when this little guy appeared near the side of the road!  

 

I often fail to see Gray Foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) that other people have spotted, so I was thrilled to spend a few minutes watching and documenting this one.

Although the picture above was taken near the end of the sequence, when we first noticed the fox it was out in the open.

 

Note the grizzled appearance (black, gray, and white hairs), the cinnamon color behind the ears and running down the neck, the whitish underparts, and the black-tipped tail.  The species name cinereoargenteus means "silvery gray," an apt description of the dominant color.

Gray foxes are small, ~2.5-3.5 feet long.  The luxurious tail is 10-17 inches long (see below).  Adults range between 6.5-15 pounds. 

 

In the western United States, Gray Foxes prefer "brushy vegetation in association with rugged, broken terrain" (Fritzell and Haroldson 1982).  Their home range size is ~300 acres.

They eat small mammals (rabbits and rodents), insects (crickets, grasshoppers, beetles), and fruit. 

 

Gray Foxes are good tree-climbers.  I'm not sure how often that skill is used on Bodega Head, but I have heard of them appearing on the roof of a house in Salmon Creek.

Here's one more shot as the fox sniffed the air.

 

P.S.  Do you know the Carl Sandburg poem that starts, "The fog comes on little cat feet"?  At Bodega Head, the poem might read, "The fog comes on little fox feet."