I was sitting on the arm of my sofa this morning around 7am, trying to wake up, looking out the adjacent window at my fairly new groundcover roses and just caught in my peripheral vision what I thought was a regular grey barn cat of our neighbor's that wanders the neighborhood. The neighbor brought 2 barn cats up from his rural place to kill rodents. I glanced to my left and I realized it was a GRAY FOX! I got perfectly still so as not to be seen, as he was just on the other side of the window! He jumped off the side of the porch through the privet hedge and into the very rose bed I was watching. He never turned his head toward me. He stood there for a minute, ran across the sidewalk, crossed the adjacent flower bed, heisted his leg to urinate on a crepe myrtle trunk and scurried on across the street and into that neighbor's foundation hedges. He had a line of black fur down his tail one end to the other, which I've net seen on the red-tail foxes we see down at our cabin property. He was mostly grey all over with tan just on his lower legs and face. Guess he was hunting for something for breakfast. Sadly, I had no camera at hand.

Some may recall we had a Red Fox make an appearance 2 days in a row during the Texas Snowpocalypse in February, sauntering back and forth on our front sidewalk in the snow/ice each evening. We found his den/hole when we cut down the dead Casts Iron Plant leaves that encircle all our trees. We filled that hole up with rocks so I wouldn't twist an ankle in it (I'm good at that), but perhaps he's digging another den somewhere around here, as we occasionally see little poop piles on that same sidewalk or the driveway perpendicular to it. Just yesterday my husband said he found a small pile about the size a mid-size dog would leave way up at the head of our driveway by the garage door. So I think a new Mr. Fox may be "checked-in" at a local "hotel" for a short stay. Hope I get see him again. I think such moments are so special.

The Gods are NOT smiling on me today. I've been trying to get a photo of my little gray fox visiting the yard ever since the Texas Snowpocalypse freeeze in February. He usually saunters down my front sidewalk aroung dusk, or 7:00-7:30 pm, like clockwork. Tonight I was determined to bathe in mosquito repellant (skeeters are terrible lately) and just sit on the front porch until he appeared. Got my better Lumix camera in hand only to learn the battery needed recharging. Grrrr. So I came back inside real quick and got my little Canon SureShot as it was nearly 7:30. Would you believe when the fox emerged THAT camera battery was nearly dead, too!!!! Grrr! I would push the shutter but it hesitated every attempted shot, flashed the dreaded red battery symbol and would then take the shot, albeit blurry. Grrrr! No time to run back in and get my spare battery for that camera! I persisted; the camera resisted. The fox was on his way to hunt for dinner. Anyway, maybe next time I can share a much better photo of him with you.

Here are the only two shots that were not so blurry you couldn't make him out. Clearly a gray fox as the black fur streak on his tail is just barely visible in one of the shots. He was very small actually, maybe 7-10#, roughly the size of my late rat terrier. He had the classic cat-like facial features when viewed head on with the appropriate facial markings of a gray fox. His body and head seemed so tiny, which really surprised me. He was not the least bit afraid of me as he clearly looked up at me more than once on my porch perch desperately trying to get the camera to try to take a couple shots. He sauntered on his usual route, down the cross sidewalk, over to my driveway and on to the neighbor's yard. He looked back at me a couple more times before he disappeared down the neighborhood. Seems so odd to see them in a city of nearly 60,000.



I'm more determined than ever I AM going to get a good shot of this little guy. Going out tomorrow (mosquitoes are too bad right now) to closely inspect that flower bed underneath the new spring-emerged Cast Iron Plants where he emerged to see if I can find his "den". We filled the lst one we found in March with rocks, as I twist my ankle in every yard hole. He may have removed them and dug it out again. I KNOW he emerged from that bed and did not come across either street on my corner. When I first saw him, he seemed to emerge upwards, as if from the ground itself. I'll find it. He seems solitary, so I doubt it's a female with kits, though it's that time of year. They mate February - April as a rule.

Maybe it was the gullywhomper of a rain storm that hit us at 6-7pm yesterday, but the fox did NOT make his usual evening appearance at all last night. I sat on the porch for nearly an hour, from 7-8pm and he was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he has just moved on to another neighborhood. I'll check again this evening though.

Nope, he hasn't moved on. I walked to the front of the house at 7:40 and he was walking back INTO my yard from the yard on my right. I grabbed the camera and got a couple pics but not of his head, darn it! But maybe next time. He looked right up at me, my camera is set to to burst of shots, but my shutter finger hesitated for a second and that's too long for this speedy little guy. He ran across the street quickly and was out of sight in the blink of an eye.

Saw our little buddy again yesterday morning, but not this morning, as we overslept his usual outing timetable. Mosquitos are just so darn bad after all our rain this month, I can't sit out there even covered in repellant without getting eaten alive. And I react soooooo badly to insect bites. Maybe the fox will stick around until fall when the mosquito numbers go down a bit. I do believe he is living under the Cast Iron leaves in the same bed. Have searched thoroughly and we see no hole dug out anywhere in that bed. They must only dig holes for dens in winter or if they have a litter of kits to rear. This guy seems to be truly solitary.

Saw our buddy on his regular sidewalk route heading out for dinner at dusk 2 nights ago. Man, is he ever elusive and FAST! I keep the camera right by the window and STILL can't seem to get any more shots of him. He vanishes from sight in surrounding bushes once he reaches my driveway. Sigh. I'm holding out for Fall when mosquitoes die down a bit so I can just sit on the porch and wait him out. It's a 1½ hour range he tends to exit his daytime hiding place to head out for his dinner. Look at me, calling it a MALE fox when I have absolutely no idea what sex this animal is. It's too fast to scope out the "naughty bits", as John Cleese hilariously referred to them (Monty Python and the Flying Circus show) years ago. LOL

One time a coyote walked past me without even looking at me. We were just 8 feet apart.

Beautiful creature

I had the pleasure to have a red fox family staying on our property this spring
No good photos



Most mornings one or the other (mom &dad) would sit out in the front pasture and Hunt and watch the house
They have a very unusual cry, the den was over the hill and in July we saw the kits once
I think they have moved to better hunting down the road now the kids have grown
I occasionally see them darting in and out of the cornfields .

It is always a pleasure to share our property with the wildlife
.... or maybe they are sharing with us

A year or so ago when we drove down to our cabin an hour away, after entering the access lane that is about 1/4 mile long into the main property, a red fox popped out of the side bushes, got in front of our car and guided us all the way down the the main property. It was just fascinating having him right in front of the car (we were moving <5mph) that entire distance. He would turn his head around, but seemed indifferent to the car following him. He never picked up his pace the entire distance. Beautiful animals. I've only seen the gray foxes here in the city, at this house or my last one across town.

Did spot a coyote in town at night by our Walmart parking lot many years back. They were having trouble catching him for some weeks and had written about him in the newspsper so people wouldn't let their small pets roam unleashed. He had killed 4-5 small pets in our general neighborhood when the article was printed, so our little 10# rat terrier was not walked even on leash during that month. .

OK, our little gray fox trundled down the sidewalk last night at about 9:15. Wonder if he is digging a den in the same flowerbed he used last year? I'll have to go out and check it over carefully. Now that our aspidistras are growing back after the Texas 2021 snowpocalypse, he has some hiding places once again. I just happened to be watching TV and looked out the window at our Christmas lights right when he sauntered by the only 3' of sidewalk visible from inside. He always moves quickly, head down, like he's "on a mission". When I got up to go to the front door sidelight windows to see him, I couldn't see where he went. Hope he comes back regularly now. He's been AOL since August! I guess this might not be the SAME fox we had around last winter.