A Surprise Evening Visitor

This evening, we had a surprise visitor.  Sheila and I were in our new pergola in the backyard just before dinnertime and I noticed a gray fox just on the other side of our horseshoe pits just standing there watching me from about 40 feet away.  At first glance, the gray fur made me think it was a coydog but, within another second, I realized we had a gray fox visiting us at very close range.

Sheila couldn't see him from where she was sitting so I was quietly saying, "fox...  fox...  fox..." while staring at our visitor.  I was careful not to move because I didn't want to startle the fox and have her run off immediately.  

At first Sheila thought I was cursing (I was working on a tabletop heater at the time so I could have been cursing if something was going the way I desired) but she quickly realized I was saying "fox".  She stood up and slowly walked to where she could catch a glimpse of our little visitor. 

I thought for sure that this fox would dart off when Sheila came into view but she didn't...  she simply stood there, about 40 feet away, looking back at us.  All of us were keenly aware that we were watching each other but it didn't seem to faze the fox.  She just kept watching us, almost nonchalantly.  

The birds, in trees all around us, were definitely not too happy about the fox being in the backyard.  They were all chirping warnings very loudly!

The fox moved to another location in our backyard and continued to watch.  She would move to a few locations, almost confidently, over the next few minutes but continued watching us but more notably was not in any hurry to leave us.  She eventually sat down in the sun while looking at us.  It was at this point that I decided I should go inside to retrieve one of my cameras.  

Whenever this happens...  wildlife appears then I go inside to retrieve a camera...  the wildlife is always gone when I come back outside so I wasn't too confident this fox would be anywhere in sight when I returned back outside but if I didn't go get a camera I would regret it.  I was pleasantly surprised when she was still in our backyard when I returned with a camera in hand.  

I made a few very quick but, unfortunately, haphazard adjustments to settings (but still missed two key settings) since it was dark outside the last time I used my camera.  Now it was sunny so I would need drastically different settings.  I missed changing my shutter speed which resulted in a bunch of motion blurred photos but I did manage to capture a couple of really nice shots nevertheless.  I also missed changing the focus area which resulted in the focus point landing on foreground objects and not the fox.

It would have been great if she was still sitting in the sun when I returned with my camera.  The sun was perfectly illuminating her face when I went inside to grab my camera.  That would have made for a great shot.  Unfortunately, she was now standing in the shade but she allowed me to get within about 30 feet of her so I could capture a few photos.  Plus, the evening sun was sort of backlighting her which made for a nice warm photo so at least I still ended up with a pretty good image.

Two things stuck out as a bit odd to me.  First, this fox is almost always darting through our yard, taking the same exact path, at around 2am every night.  Now it was daylight.  This was highly unusual.  The other thing I felt was a bit odd is that she is clearly nursing and she was a bit too close for comfort...  a bit too brazen.  Hmmm...  maybe it has been her mate that has been darting through the yard at 2am?  Her brazenness and interest in us made me wonder if she wanted something from us...  food...  attention for her kits...  or something else.  She wasn't acting skittish at all.  She was cautious but did allow me to approach much more closely than I expected.  

After I captured the above photo, she disappeared but I suspect she'll be back.  

Most people don't know this so it is worth writing about here...  Gray foxes are very adept at climbing trees unlike red foxes.  If I remember correctly, their leg joints can rotate a bit so they can easily climb trees using their long claws.  They only live about six to eight years in the wild so they have a very short lifespan.  They spend a lot of time in trees and can actually easily jump from tree to tree.  Gray foxes often will nest in trees and raise their young in trees.  

Hopefully this fox will be back with her kits sometime soon.  That would make for some nice photos too!