Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Fox Sign in June



Young dead possum outside of active fox den. This little fellow was really ripe in the unseasonal heat we had the weekend before last!

The corn is growing very fast now, and within a week or two the fox will no longer be in the hedgerows, but be laying up in the cool shade of the fields where they can hear an approaching human from a long way off.




Fox sette.
Note vertical hole fairly typical of a fox sette, along with the long kick out. This sette is right on the edge of a corn field, and hopefully this large sette will get occupied by raccoon as the corn nears maturity in September.





Fox track located along wet swale that is now drying out in the June heat. Note the claws clearly evident at the front of the track -- a classic sign of a canid. Cat tracks do not have claws. This track is narrower than it is wide. A Jack Russell or other domestic dog track will be closer to round. A wet swale like this will attract nesting birds, a lot of bugs, and small snakes and frogs -- ready food for fox which are also attracted by even a small patch of standing water.





Another fox sette, this one with a rounder hole, but with the same long kick out from where the fox has dug out the dirt. A fox is a type of dog (canid) and they dig just like a dog does, throwing dirt backward without much order, unlike a groundhog. Note how sandy and dry this soil is -- an easy dig in a good location for this fox.

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