... and beyond...
March 24, 2016
Suddenly, a fox runs across the backyard with a big old squirrel in its mouth.
I missed the really close shot. But caught him running through the next-door neighbor's land...
... and beyond...
... and beyond...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
50 comments:
Meow! Here kitty kitty...
Too funny - we just looked out the front window to see 3 deer walking down the street. Oh wait, there are 2 more for a total of 5 deer. My comment - 'just keeping walking' I don't like the deer in my yard.
coupe - foxes are canines.
Well, obviously we have a predator in Madison. They climbin' by yo windows, snatchin' yo squirrels up, tryin' to eat 'em. So y'all need to hide yo kitty cats, hide yo Easter bunnies, and hide yo husband cause they predatorin' everybody out here.
Well done! It's uncommon to even see a fox on a routine basis, much less be able to get good photographs of one hunting.
Let's call the fox "Donald" and the squirrel "Chris."
Circle of life...
You call that Fair and Balanced? 'Cause I don't.
Our squirrels pig out at our bird feeder. There are couple of regulars that are getting so fat, they can barely haul their fat asses over the fence when I bang a spoon on a pan to get them to scatter.
It occurred to the other day that those fat squirrels are going to make some hawk or eagles's DAY. I can just hear the conversation:
"Man, I had the fattest squirrel I ever had the other day from that back yard right THERE!"
Can you get that fox's number? I have some squirrels in Minneapolis that need seeing to. The little grey bastards nibble on everything, and want to nest in the attic.
I'm surprised the Left hasn't tried to outlaw this. You know, there is "inequality" between the fox and the squirrel. It's not fair.
We get foxes. The last one I saw was lying outside our chicken coop. Hens kept disappearing, so we hardened the coop with wood and wire.
About 24 hours later, there was a fox carcass lying outside the coop. I called various government officials to ask what I should do, in case it might be dangerous. They told me to bag it twice and throw it out. I did that. It made a little noise when I poked it-- probably its soul flying out of the corporeal realm.
Sweet!
The red fox, vulpes vulpes, is a beautiful and shy animal. We should be glad to see them around.
Nice shot. Do you use a digital camera, or your phone for photos?
Squirrels are evil. They raid nests and eat birds' eggs. Probably eat baby birds too.
Oh, Lordy, about three weeks ago we had a goddamn red fox sit right outside our French doors on the patio and, at 5:30 in the morning, start "barking" for 25 minutes. Woke me up, woke up the Mrs, & the poor cats were found crouching in the stairwell growling.
"What's the bother?" you say. This is what a red fox sounds like.
I looked at a coat the other day that looked just like that fox. Not my color.
Gosh I'm hungry
I just managed to grab the phone. Will keep a good camera nearby now.
I need something I can turn on very quickly.
Should have caught a MUCH better shot.
Cool!
Professor, congratulations on capturing a great photo op! I live in a rural county (Amador, CA) & have never had the pleasure of observing predator w/prey like this (nesting hawks across the street from me have exhibited same success but avians not the same as mammals). I recall an earlier post regarding UW's elation at foxes on campus as well as some positive tho'ts on turkey's on campus (no, not the SJW kind). Uncontrolled the turkeys will destroy the landscape & the foxes, as they procreate, will assuredly reduce the feline & small canine population of Madison, WI. Waiting on Zeus's opinion or, has he been muzzled like pupparooza?
#CecilTheSquirrel
Foxes. Coyotes. Madison is a wildlife wonderland.
I could use a fox in my yard. Hate those dame tree rats.
We have a den of fox in the bluff out back every spring. We've seen a lot of activity, kits playing in our yard etc, but never a kill. That may be because they are well fed by idiot neighbors. It never occurred to me to photograph. Good work AA, hope you get some more.
@YoungHegelian, a few months ago I was working in my basement, looked up and saw a red fox looking in through the French door that leads out to my patio. Pretty bold of the animal. We have goldfish in an aquarium in the basement -- surely he couldn't smell them? We seem to have fewer chipmunks since he showed up but I saw no signs of fox tracks in my yard over the winter so perhaps he moved on.
Yesterday I saved the life of a juvenile squirrel. I was walking around the corner of my house and saw a beautiful hawk -- a Cooper's, judging from the barred tail -- in my flowering pear tree. I tried to hold still, but it was already spooked and flew off. A minute or so later the juvenile squirrel came down the trunk of that same pear tree and ran across my yard to the neighbor's Leyland Cyprus trees. If that hawk had stuck around (we have numerous trees in our neighborhood) he still could have had a meal.
@Meade, wrong kind of fox to steal a woman's husband. You need a female fox -- a vixen, to be precise.
Cypress is a tree; Cyprus is an island. G*d d*mn Microsoft's spell checker!!!
Some day I'll remember to proof read.
I grew up at 211 Lathrop St. Never once saw a turkey or a fox. Lots of raccoons though.
I wonder what's changed.
Where's the like button?
Very nice photos, I'm jealous. We live in the country, I have lots of good deer pics, and some squirrels, Eagles for sure. Fox out here are very hard to run across. They must have acclimated to city life in Madison.
Is this Trump and Lyin' Ted?
Too bad the fox didn't have a Kotex in his mouth.
Lawnboy maybe can photoshop a Kotex into this shot.
Look at those lines in the snow! They have to have been made by a conscious thinking being. Aliens!
Cy pres. So close. Trust me on this one.
Steve Uhr said...I wonder what's changed.
I believe the wildlife people have been releasing farm turkeys (sort of like fish hatchery) into the wild for the last 20 years.
The wild turkeys were pretty smart about predators, but these farm raised ones are just stupid. They probably die faster, which keeps the program funded in Congress.
The thing is, while the farm raised turkeys have an immunity to the bird disease, they all carry the bird disease, so the wild turkeys die off and the predators have a feast.
So anyway, you're seeing farm raised turkeys introduced into the environment as a way to fight the bird disease (I forget the name of the disease), but over the last 20 years, the farm birds have basically caused the death of all the wild birds.
I'm in the Minneapolis suburbs. I have seen a fox and a coyote in the neighborhood but lately what we're seeing is wild turkeys, and lots of them. I saw twelve of them roosting in someone's yard a few blocks away. We also have a snapping turtle that's the size of a hubcap that comes ambling up from the pond at the end of our street.
I'm thinking a feature in Puparrazi is in order...
There are five species of squirrel in Wisconsin, including a particularly large species called a Fox Squirrel. Maybe that's what the fox was carrying. Maybe that's how he got to be a fox in the first place: you are what you eat!
http://fourlakeswildlifecenter.blogspot.com/2013/11/tree-squirrels-of-wisconsin.html
Blogger iowan2 said...
Very nice photos, I'm jealous. We live in the country, I have lots of good deer pics, and some squirrels, Eagles for sure. Fox out here are very hard to run across. They must have acclimated to city life in Madison.
Preditors gravitate to where the prey is. Clean farming eliminated a lot of rural habitat so the preditors go where the habitat supports the prey, the suburbs.
Squirrels are just rats with bushy tails. Good on the fox!
Are you certain of the masculine gender "him"? Or is it the same as all ships are "she"?
I call gender microaggression.
"Suddenly, a fox runs across the backyard with a big old squirrel in its mouth."
That should be "a big ol' squirrel."
Bob Boyd: That should be "a big ol' squirrel."
Beat me to it, BB.
Otherwise, nice work.
In broad daylight! Around here they are only crepuscular.
We went through a two-year spell where foxes were visiting us almost every day. Then the mother of the clan died and they scattered, never to be seen again. But they were amazingly entertaining. Here's a few dozen photos of them (it's an album open to the public).
https://www.facebook.com/Archie.H.Waugh/media_set?set=a.10151381171678112.496452.534988111&type=3
Them's good eatin'!
Have some fox love!
Post a Comment