Denning Red Foxes

Last week, our dogs started barking. Going to the door to find out what they were after, I saw a red fox slowly running off behind a house.

Today, one of the dogs seemed very interested in a particular spot outside. There was a red fox again.

This fox was not as red as the first one, but it was larger and seemed to be “fluffier”. It stood for a short while and then ran away. Shortly afterwards, another fox, very red and slim, appeared in a yard two houses away. This one circled between two yards, at one point going directly up to a house. It may have been trying to get to where the first fox had been standing. The direct route was blocked by a fence.

At about nine-thirty in the morning,  not long after the fox sightings, I helped my mom walk the dogs. We found the tracks of the two foxes where they had crossed the road. All around the block, a distance of a little more than a mile, we noticed fox tracks. Apparently, this pair of red foxes has decided to den in the neighborhood. Or they may just be checking out the area. Here are two pictures contrasting the footprints of a domestic dog (left) and a red fox (right).

Red foxes mate in the January to March range. The kits are born as early as March or as late as may. They disperse after four months.

While often thought of as sneaky raiders of poultry, red foxes will actually eat almost anything. These food items include  small mammals, insects, crayfish, grapes, and other fruits.

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