Foxy

Posted on May 2, 2022 by Tammie Rogers

Yesterday was my birthday. Robert and I spent the afternoon putting up some new bird boxes and generally having a nice time (wine was included.) Of course, if I saw something worthy of filming, I pointed my camera.

I filmed some of the birds species that are just returning, like these Gray Catbirds:

I saw a pair of Blue-winged Teal at the far west end of the pond inlet, but only got a decent shot of the hen. She was very pretty, I think.

I also saw the Solitary Sandpiper, again. This time, I had sun to my back, which made for better photos, if even from a farther distance.

We observed a Meadowlark singing at the top of a tree over on the East side of the property as we watched a Tree Swallow pair set up shop in a new nest box.

Here’s a pair of Bluebirds that was hanging around another of our new boxes (not the ones we put up yesterday but the ones we put up last week.)

As evening approached, we stopped at my favorite spot by the pond and watched the swallows (Barn, Tree and Purple Martins) swooping down to the water’s surface to take a drink before turning on a dime to seek insects on the wing. We watched and listed to many Red-winged blackbirds and I caught this last-light photo of a female perched on cattails.

We were about to head home when, all of a sudden, from far across the pond, I noticed movement. It wasn’t a cat or raccoon, a skunk or an opossum. But, it was a small mammal that was the richest color of red I had ever seen on an animal. The sun was dipping on the western horizon and the light was waning, but I aimed my lens towards the creature. I was very surprised to discover it was a Red Fox!

The images are not very good since we were a good 400 feet away with limited light. But, I still think it’s worth sharing this lovely animal. He was fixated on something in the grass, I suppose it could have been a rodent or perhaps a grown nesting bird that was sitting still to avoid discovery. But, I didn’t see it pounce.