Next time... I plan to get a better picture. I've got to reach for my old time-y camera. I'm keeping it right here on my desk. It's a mistake to grab the iPhone. What a fumbling idiot I become when suddenly excited by a chance to photograph the fox! Too many button images to look at and emphatically touch. I got that one picture and then — even though the beastie paused to take a shit — I could not get a second shot.
UPDATE: Meade texts from the backyard:
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47 comments:
even though the beastie paused to take a shit
Capturing nature in all it's grandeur.
Must be good eatin' around there.
did you shout "scat!"?
Damn it! I used the contraction (it's) rather than the possessive (its). I often mix those up.
Not sure we want a picture mid-squat...
According to an NPR nature program I saw a couple of years ago, there's a biologist at U Wisconsin studying foxes in Madison. It seems there are many foxes living unseen in the neighborhoods,generally hiding during the day and coming out at night.
Maybe you can get a night vision motion-prompted camera?
Foxes shitting, exclusively on Althouse Only Friends.
We had a fox that would occasionally come by in one of our Colorado houses. Loved watching it because it was so graceful and catlike while also exhibiting dog like behavior.
You are describing a phenomenon known to hunters as "buck fever." You think you're prepared and then you see the animal and the excitement and adrenalin throw you off. Try not to get too excited even though you've been hoping for this moment. You've seen the fox a number of times now. You will see it again. Make your plan. Periodically think about what you would do if the fox was in your yard this second (visualize reaching for your good camera). Then, if you still don't get the shot, don't worry it will be back and you'll have another chance.
You have two big advantages over hunters. The photography season never closes and your observation post is the place you would be whether you were waiting for the fox or not.
Did you see the PBS series on how Foxes are thriving in urban areas?
They are!
Fox News.
Just wait until you hear it "bark" at 2:00AM.
@Bitter Clinger
Thanks for the great info and advice.
I will do that!
@YoungHegelian
Thanks. Great video.
I have heard foxes yelling like that (in our yard).
Along with Bitter Clinger's advice (and I'm sure you've already done this?), have your camera settings dialed in...focus, etc. with an emphasis on an aperture like f22 so you have a long depth of field where everything will be in focus.
Buck fever! My iPhone and iPad have a feature, which I assume is universal, that lets one swipe left from the Lock Screen to go straight to the camera. But I never remember to do that in the panic of the moment when I want to take a fleeting picture. I see that I should practice taking all my pictures that way, so that I’m ready to do it in a hurry.
That said, my advice is to go for video.
Meadehouse needs a bottle of Timorous Beastie scotch, a name inspired by the Robert Burns poem, To a Mouse.
Fox on the Run
Fox on the Run
Stake down a nice T-bone in the middle of the yard an hour or so before foxy usually arrives.
Make sure it's in view from your deck/window.
Pre-focus camera onto that exact spot.
Wait.
Problem solved : )
I bet a game camera would do the job. Try Dick's Sporting Goods, in the back of the store where they used to sell guns.
"Try Dick's Sporting Goods..."
Sounds like male patriarchy...I mean 'Dick's?'
I agree with Left Bank. The iPhone has many advantages in a rushed situation:
--Instead of trying to time a picture, leave your finger on the shoot button and your iPhone will shoot video. Swipe right and the video continues without having to keep your finger on the button. Then, you can go back and select the best frame for your picture;
--The editing features of the iPhone are great. Often, I will blow up and crop pictures. Also, the options for exposure are useful.
The new deck looks nice. I recall the old one coming down last year. I didn't notice any posts about the new one. I have to go to Lileks for construction updates; commercial and residential.
The trail cam is a great idea.
I was in a farmers shop, on Wednesday before deer season. It was all converted into the Deer Hunter Club House. Picnic tables, dart boards, stocked fridges,and full bar. (for when the day was over). Several pulley lifts with spreaders to dress out the days kill.
But the neat thing was the big bulletin board. It had hundreds of pictures of guys with their kills, but the best pics were of big bucks caught on the trail cams. Dozens of close ups crisp clear, full of detail. I'm reminded I was going to look into buying one for myself, as our property is in the country and deer are common. Off to Amazon now.
We had a family in the neighborhood last year. I hope they breed again. They were great fun, though the place became a killing field when the kids got old enough to help out.
If it shat in your yard, then it is a bigot.
"My iPhone and iPad have a feature, which I assume is universal, that lets one swipe left from the Lock Screen to go straight to the camera."
Yes, that's what I have, but I have to click the right side button to light up the screen, then look at the screen to see the camera icon and put my finger on that icon in a punchy enough way to be recognized. That's hard to do while wanting to keep my eye on the fox. Astoundingly hard to pull off. Also the picture must be taken by touching the red button on the screen.
With the camera, I need to turn it on and take off the lens cap. These are physical things that I don't need to look at. And the button to take the shot is a real-life button that doesn't need looking at.
It's on the move for nesting rabbits, slow squirrels and the odd pet. On my daily trek along the fox river you can tell when the coyotes have grabbed a beloved pet. Usually a cat. Their poops are either white, ginger or calico.
You might try getting a motion-activated "trail camera" and strapping it to a strategically located post or tree in your yard. The pictures aren't as good as a good iPhone shot, but if the light is right, you can get some surprising photos of backyard interlopers.
I bought some from Wildgame Innovations on Amazon almost ten years ago as gifts for family members. The cameras lasted several years, and they captured photos and videos of deer, bears, foxes, and other critters. That said, I suppose a traditional security camera installation might be a better choice for a deck, as opposed to a battery-powered trail camera. (I have no connection to Wildgame Innovations aside from having bought those cameras years ago. At the time I chose them because the price was right at ~$65, and the Amazon reviews were decent. I can't speak for any of their current models.)
This trail cam is supposed to be really good. But I guess it sort of defeats the fun of getting a great pic yourself.
Shows up at Althouse's place, takes a dump, then runs away.
What should we name the Fox?
We were once given a bottle of fox urine to put around the garden to keep the voles and mice away. I wondered how they got it in the bottle.
"Shows up at Althouse's place, takes a dump, then runs away.
What should we name the Fox?"
Chuck?
And thanks for teeing it up for me, Rabel!
Ann, your beastie can totally eat up Burns's beastie. Though I wonder if it'd even bother.
We have a wacky, five-stringed instrument (violin/viola combo, basically) with corners like shark fins that my husband found on eBay about twenty years ago. He'd named it "The Beast" until it actually arrived and we saw how pitifully small it was, so of course it became the "Wee Beastie." Later on, we bought its big brother, ostensibly to be tuned a fifth lower -- except we didn't, tuned it just the same and used a viola d'amore top d string for the E.
You'd think that would cause some physical problems, overtightening to that degree, but it was and is fine. The only real trouble is that the weird shape means that the bouts widen as you approach the bridge, which makes it very difficult to play on the top or bottom strings w/o hitting the body of the instrument. Cutting new bridges for five-stringed instruments kept the local luthier tolerably busy for years when we had this bug; the geometrical issues are fascinating.
You're welcome.
Tap the screen and it lights up. Swipe to the left and the camera automatically comes on. It's super quick.
At work I use my iPhone stopwatch when ausculting dogs and cats because it’s easier to look at the screen on the exam table instead of my wristwatch (my patients don’t stay still :-) )
After weeks of doing this and fumbling through unlocking the screen every time I finally learned how to go straight to the clock app. What a maroon I am- I think my techs were too kind to embarrass me by explaining it.
The Fox's name is Butterworth. This name fits because the fox is difficult to photograph *despite* being quick.
@younghegelian. On my suburban street, a fox began to cry (yelp?) like that and several of my neighbors feared that it was a woman being attacked and calling for help. Also, I was surprised to learn how small foxes are. I was walking with my 45 pound dog off leash and a fox appeared and he chased the fox. The fox slid through a fence of vertical staves, and my dog was unable to follow.
"photos by Meade" (Fox contributor)
If you have a decent pair of binoculars you can shoot with your iPhone through one side. I was trying to shoot some wood ducks and it worked great...
I have a whole collection of photos I've taken of wild animal scat. I used to collect specimens and keep them in labeled paper bags but didn't have a really safe place to keep them [some animal scat can harbor toxic parasites that can be inhaled].
I am unsurprised that mockturtle is a collector, as well as a spreader, of shit.
I agree, the iPhone camera user interface and ergonomics are not conducive to quick shooting -- things like wildlife and sports photography where things happen fast. Nowadays, I will have several camera bodies ready with several different lenses attached for most any situation, from fisheye to 500mm!
My innards aren't feeling that well either, but I don't take pictures of what comes out and post them on line.
...
Here's hoping today will be a day without having to look at pictures of fox poo. I can't leave my house without stepping on deer scat. I should collect rent from the deer (and the mice and the tics and the microbes that prey on all of us).
...
P.S. Call the vet. Your fox is sick.
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