Gray FoxFew animals on Cedar Ridge have provided us with more entertainment and beauty than the Gray Fox.
Gray Fox
We first saw the Gray Fox one evening during the early winter of 2005. It was just a glimpse, after they set off our motion light in our front yard . The 2005-06 winter was particularly snowy, with a total of about 1oo inches of snow. I had seen a Gray Fox once before, in our back yard when we lived in Aitkin County. That sighting was also in the winter, at night, during a light snow fall. The two fox begin returning sporadically, checking out the scraps we had been putting out for our Pine Martens and Fishers. The fox got used to the motion light, but when I opened the front door, they would run down into the cedars. I told Mary if it was possible to assemble a fantasy animal baseball team, the Gray Fox would probably play shortstop. When they are frightened, the first 30 yard sprint is an actual blur. If you could zap them with a radar gun, it has to be an incredible speed in such a short distance.
Gray Fox
Each night the fox would stay for longer periods of time. Sadly, we could see they both were rather emaciated. The deep snow had provided a difficult barrier for the hunting of mice,voles and hares. We started putting out more scraps and finally some dry and canned dog food, which by morning had disappeared.
Gray Fox breed in the winter from January - March, there is a 51-53 gestation period. It is widely know in fox literature, that the Gray Fox has the ability to climb trees. I have never seen this happen, but I once had a pet Red Fox that I watched climb a spruce tree like walking up stairs... and back down with adept dexterity and grace.
At times, we were treated to strange sounds emitting from the deep cedars. When we opened a door the male fox would bark, making a rasping, piercing sound, much like a large cat in a jungle movie. If you were camping and didn't know what this racket was, you would probably sleep with one eye open... it is that erie a sound. I believe these male fox antics vary from being territorial, to a mating ritual... or possibly both.
Both fox came through the winter in great shape and became evening sentinels along our forest edge. We would see them each night after their dining, sitting, preening and cleaning each other's fur. The female fox gradually spent time on our lawn when the snow melted. She would curl up in a ball and sleep for a period of time, obviously in complete trust of her surroundings. The male would stay in the forest and not be as visible, but he was always on guard for signs of danger.
The Gray Fox is a nocturnal animal, so we seldom would see them during the day. As the days grew longer, they would come at their regular time, but we now could see them more clearly and appreciate their beauty. The Gray Fox is a stunning animal and I jokingly refer that their face and nose looks "pin stripped", like a sports car. The body of the fox is salt and pepper gray, with a rufus red neck and shoulders. Their tail is a beautiful thick, rust to gray with a black stripe from the back to the very tip. When they sit, their tail will lay out on the grass, proudly displayed. In the winter they use it as a "blanket" for warmth, wrapped around their feet.
In a previous post, I eluded that the Gray Fox hates wind, heavy snow and coyotes, "not necessarily in that order." I have observed the first two and know that if we have a wind storm or heavy snow, the fox are on hiatus. Sometimes after heavy snow, disappearing for a couple of weeks. If we have a wild wind and rain, they will take the night off and hole up in their den. Their den can be a crevice in our ledge rock, a log, or under the floor of a dog kennel. Yes, I said dog kennel. Not having a dog, I built a kennel for our son and daughter in law's dogs. The kennel was attached to the east end of our garage, a tall chain link fence on a wood floor. In the twilight hours, I would see the female Gray Fox walk around our wild flower bed below our house. She would disappear behind the dog kennel and garage. One morning I sneaked around the garage and found that she had dug out the soil from the corner of the kennel. She was living under the floor in relative splendor compared to other Gray Fox.
The male fox became a lone entity at dinner, we watched as he carried food away into the forest. This kept up for many weeks, as each evening he would dutifully carry food away. We didn't see the female fox for quite sometime until one May evening, she showed up to eat on her own. She ate her fill and walked up on our lawn, curled up and fell asleep. Later the male fox would come and eat, then sit by her on the lawn until she woke up and they both disappeared into the forest. This went on for a few weeks until July 25th in 2006, we had a pleasant surprise. Early in the evening, two fox appeared on the little hill above our cedar forest. I didn't pay much attention to the two because I took it for granted it was ma and pa fox coming for dinner.
Original Mother Gray Fox & Kit
To our delight, it was mother fox with a miniature version of herself. The kit was absolutely perfect, there wasn't a hair out of place and she was a "spitting image" of mother fox. We were thrilled to see the kit, because now we knew why the male had been carrying off food for those many weeks. Our speculation was that the female had kits sometime in April and now we were witnessing the arrival of their first offspring. We knew that the Gray Fox could have up to seven kits, but we had no idea how and when the adult fox debuted their kits.
July Gray Fox Kit
August Gray Fox Kit
Mother fox would bring the single kit each night. At the end of August we ended up with a total of five Gray Fox kits, all lined up on the edge of the forest brush, close to the front lawn. The two adults would show up with the kits at different times. The male would usually have three with him and the mother fox would have two. The mother would come up on the lawn to get the food and bring it to the kits, while the male would sit in the forest and watch. Only when all the kits were fed, he would come up and eat what was left... a model husband to be sure.
The kits stayed with the adults through fall and early into the next winter. About the time the breeding season started in late January, the female fox dispersed the family. The lone kit that remained, was the first one that the mother fox brought to our lawn. The male fox ended up disappearing, never to return. We felt something had happened to him in the late winter. It is thought that the Gray Fox mates for life, but I am not so sure of that because of happenings later in this post.
Late in March of 2007, the original, female kit, brought another male fox to our ridge. He obviously didn't know the drill, because she would now come up to our patio. The mother fox and her, would sit on our front lawn and I would feed them anything from the dreaded "white" hot dogs to dog food, and chicken scraps. The original mother stayed here on Cedar Ridge with her kit and new mate. Like all good mother in laws, she kept her distance as the new pair started their life together.
On May 31, 2007, I was sitting at the computer and from our east window, I noticed a movement by the dog kennel. The kit from last year had taken up residence under the dog kennel, so I assumed it was her. I thought it was strange she would be out there, because it was later in the morning. To my surprise it was two, tiny Gray Fox kits, taking in the warm morning sunshine. I watched them play with each other, chewing on dead grass as a house cat would do and attacking any insect they could find.
Enjoying the Sunshine
This kept up for a couple of days and then they disappeared. We found out that the mother had moved them, for they were not under the kennel anymore.
The new father would come each night and run the same drill as his predecessor last summer. We could always identify him because he was the largest Gray Fox on the ridge. He also had a little notch out of his right ear, so he was easy to recognize. As summer turned to fall, we ended up helping raise four more kits, the two adults and the original female fox we affectionately called "Granny".
"Granny Fox"
Through the winter of 2007 and 2008, the family stayed together until after the mating season when it again became dispersal time. The kits left one by one, until it was just the male and female, plus "Granny." The 29th of May, the new kits appeared at the same location outside the kennel. The new mother had let her kits appear, two days before her mother sent her out into the sunshine of Cedar Ridge... exactly a year later.
What transpired after the first kit sighting is pure speculation. We never again saw "Granny" fox or the new mother. One cold, rainy night I heard this whimpering and crying in our front yard. I turned on the motion light and went outside and found a Gray Fox kit crying in the pouring down rain. When he saw me he wobbled as fast as he could along the side the house to the kennel. I got him back to the dog kennel and I went back to the house. The next morning I came out the side door and found a wet pile of fur lying on the lawn. It was a dead kit. I picked him up and brought him over past the kennel and buried him in the forest. I was upset for the fact that there was no sign of trauma, and for certain, any predator would have carried him away.
Gray Fox Kit
Daughter in law Blythe & Kit
Gray Fox Kit
The next few days were very sad for us, we ended up losing all the kits but two. We now knew that the mother fox was dead and probably "Granny"; we hadn't seen either of them for days. I put on leather gloves and was able to catch the last two kits. My daughter in law Blythe took one home, but the kit was too weak and died the next day. She and I drove the last remaining kit to "Wild and Free Rehabilitation Center" in Garrison, Mn. We left the kit in their care and hoped that they could save the last remaining Gray Fox on Cedar Ridge.
I called the rehabilitation center every few days to find out the kits condition, but after about a week the last one died. Dr. Deb, the veterinarian, told me the stress, loneliness and other problems probably led to his death.
The male gray returned one afternoon and we observed him digging around the kennel. He knew something was wrong and could not find his family. Father fox returned for the next few days, trying to dig around the kennel to no avail. He left the ridge in early June and we never saw him again that summer.
In the fall, on October 8, 2008, father fox returned. His unmistakeable size and the notch in his right ear, positively identified him. At his side was a small, beautiful female Gray Fox, checking out her new surroundings. The male Gray Fox had found a new mate... thus dispelling the 'mate for life' theory. Now, at the height of the mating season, we hope to see another litter of Gray Fox kits romping in the spring sunshine.
It is a joy, to have the Gray Fox back home on Cedar Ridge.
"The fate of animals is of greater importance to me than the fear of appearing ridiculous; it is indissolubly connected with the fate of men." ~ Emile Zola
Check out these friends of wildlife...
Support the "Wild and Free Wildlife Rehabilitation Program"
http://www.mlecmn.net/~wildfree/supporti.htm
Wild & Free ~ Wildlife Rehabilitation Program
P.O. Box 241
Garrison, MN 56450
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