... the little fox babies are out of the den. I was way too far away with this shot. It is heavily cropped. But was excited by it none the less. I just put my blind up on Friday and will start using it when I think Mom and Dad fox are comfy with it.
Thanks for looking.
Posted by Toni Lankerd on April 17, 2011 at 9:01 PM
Nice catch, Debbie...and what a sweet pose of the little one looking at Mom!
Nice find. Looking forward for some more photos. I ran across a den in back of my house a few weeks ago. I'm hoping that I will see some young soon. What kind of blind are you using?
Posted by Deb Little on April 20, 2011 at 11:52 AM
Oh Philip.... sad news. With the storms that ripped through central Ohio and all of the rain in the past 2 days, the creek rose quite a bit and the foxes dens were under water. We watched momma fox move 4 of the 6 babies to another area. And it broke my heart when she came back time and again to search every den for the other 2 babies. She finally gave up the search and unearthed every bit of food she had buried to take to the new place. It's not really a new place that she moved them to, it's a den that they winter in. I don't think Momma fox likes the new place as well as she did the creek bank. She will have a harder time keeping tabs on the babies in the new place. I am hopeful that once the water settles down and gets back to normal, that she will move them back to her original group of dens.
I use an outhouse style of blind. Usually the little ones don't care when I am in it (based on past years experience), but mom and dad fox usually know when I am in there and watch from a distance. Sometimes the little ones will come up to the blind and poke their heads in the back of it see what I'm doing. I use the blind for mom and dad's piece of mind. I am convinced that the babies wouldn't care if I were out in the open. But then I don't want the babies to get used to humans and trust them either. That would be a death sentence for them. The dad fox is pretty comfortable with my husband and I. We think he is one the little ones that grew up here a few years ago. He is that comfortable here.
I'll post some pics of the flood waters and momma's search for her babies once the power comes back on at my house.
I hope you are able to get some good images with your little fox babies.
Posted by Deb Little on April 25, 2011 at 12:20 PM
Here's a pic of momma fox searching for her missing babies.
An update on the foxes: Momma fox moved the 4 babies back to her original den just 2 days after the flooding and the loss of her other 2 babies. Unfortunately the rain just kept coming and flooded the area of her den again over this past weekend. I have only seen one baby since. The others could have been napping and only the oldest was out of the den when I looked. So I am hopeful that the others have survived this latest round of flooding.
Posted by Toni Lankerd on April 27, 2011 at 9:26 AM
I hope you're right, Deb, and that the other little ones were sleeping. Please keep us updated on momma Fox!
I did see three of the fox babies nursing momma fox last night at the original den site. Momma fox has gained back some of the weight she lost during the time of the flood and moving the babies.
I will try to take some pics this weekend. I think it is finally suppose to stop raining tomorrow. I can't remember an April with this much rain before.
Posted by Toni Lankerd on April 30, 2011 at 8:59 AM
Good to hear at least 3 pups survived, Deb!
It has been a rather wet April. I was surprised to find out that west MI has had almost a record rainfall for April, but OH has received even more than us! Hopefully the weather will both dry up and start getting warmer soon.
Discussion
8 repliesThanks for looking.
I use an outhouse style of blind. Usually the little ones don't care when I am in it (based on past years experience), but mom and dad fox usually know when I am in there and watch from a distance. Sometimes the little ones will come up to the blind and poke their heads in the back of it see what I'm doing. I use the blind for mom and dad's piece of mind. I am convinced that the babies wouldn't care if I were out in the open. But then I don't want the babies to get used to humans and trust them either. That would be a death sentence for them. The dad fox is pretty comfortable with my husband and I. We think he is one the little ones that grew up here a few years ago. He is that comfortable here.
I'll post some pics of the flood waters and momma's search for her babies once the power comes back on at my house.
I hope you are able to get some good images with your little fox babies.
An update on the foxes: Momma fox moved the 4 babies back to her original den just 2 days after the flooding and the loss of her other 2 babies. Unfortunately the rain just kept coming and flooded the area of her den again over this past weekend. I have only seen one baby since. The others could have been napping and only the oldest was out of the den when I looked. So I am hopeful that the others have survived this latest round of flooding.
I will try to take some pics this weekend. I think it is finally suppose to stop raining tomorrow. I can't remember an April with this much rain before.
It has been a rather wet April. I was surprised to find out that west MI has had almost a record rainfall for April, but OH has received even more than us! Hopefully the weather will both dry up and start getting warmer soon.