It donned on me this morning I hadn’t shared any images of this not-so-little-anymore young Red Fox. I had been tracking its mom as she went about hunting for food for her brood but lost sight of her for a time. I then spotted her emerging from the woods and wondered if there wasn’t something in there I should check out.

Doing my best slow, quiet commando approach, I worked my way to the top of a berm and there it was – this cute one. It was within some very thick trees so lighting was at a premium and once it realized I was there, it didn’t hang around.

A chance encounter and my first time ever seeing one of these in person. This beautiful animal ran across the road ahead of me and thankfully, stopped just long enough for me to snag a few pictures. It was straight into the early morning sun so tough shooting conditions but I was ecstatic just to have seen it.

These small foxes can be found across the grasslands of North America although they are not seen often. It was nearly extinct in the 1930s but due to conservation efforts, education and reintroductions, their numbers have rebounded.

This was my second run-in with this foxy lady over a span of two weeks. This time however, this Red Fox vixen wasn’t begging for food from folks driving along the road. She in fact had proven that she can hunt on her own and managed to catch herself a nice little feathery meal. I for one would prefer bacon, but I guess beggars can’t be choosers. 😉

Coming down Mount Evans, Colorado I came across this foxy lady. She was going down the middle of the road and when cars would slow, she would walk right up to them. It was clear she had learned some bad habits about begging for food and the tourists were probably all too happy to oblige. There was a house right around the corner so it could be the locals are feeding the problem as well. I didn’t feed her of course but I did take advantage of the photo op.

Please, don’t ever feed wildlife, no matter how much they beg or how much you think it looks like they might need it. You are endangering them and habituating them to going to humans for their basic needs.

Having antagonized one of their siblings so bad it went down into the den to escape, these two sought out looking for a new target. They never did find anything but had a lot of fun walking around and exploring the big, new world around their home.

I have to say that Fox kits are undoubtedly the cutest animal I have ever photographed. My goodness. Look at those two and those eyes!

While they aren’t seen often, Red Foxes are quite common across the entire Northern Hemisphere from near the equator to the Arctic Circle. They are extremely adaptable and able to coexist in areas with large human populations.

These two cuties provided me with a couple of hours of entertainment last weekend. They were quite content to relax and soak up the early morning sun most of the time but every now and then, they just couldn’t resist some playtime. They would run around, pounce on each other, nip and tackle. Only one other time have I photographed Fox kits so this was a rare and very fun encounter.

I am hearing that the mother has apparently moved the den and six kits to an unknown spot so my time with them may already be over. I was really hoping to get more chances to photograph them. Anyone know of any Fox dens in northern Colorado and care to share the location? 😉

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mom’s out there – four legged and two legged.

A tip from a fellow shutterbug led me to this beautiful Red Fox vixen and her den this week. She apparently has six kits so is very busy keeping them fed. I made two visits over the last couple of days and have never seen more than three of the young ones at once but apparently she is splitting them between two dens, a wise move to keep them safe.

I can’t say I have ever heard of “National Puppy Day” but I guess that is what it is. I don’t have many pics of pups beyond my own dogs so dug into the archives for this one. I reckon it also works for #TBT as it was taken in early May of last year. This cutie Red Fox and its litter-mates were playing in a suburban front yard and my friend was kind enough to let me know so I rushed over. The sun was already below the horizon so light was dim but I managed a few okay captures including this one. So darned cute!

Reaching back to last March for this image in what had to have been one of my favorite wildlife encounters of 2016. This handsome creature was relaxing in a friend’s backyard and he was kind enough to invite me over for a photo session with it.

For 20 minutes or so the two of us snapped away with the Fox giving us an amazing variety of poses, all the while not really caring that we were right there by it. Red Foxes aren’t really all that rare but it is rare to see them, let alone get this kind of quality time with one. Just an amazing encounter.

This pic and some others of this fox are available here.

One for #ThrowbackThursday. This gorgeous fox was hanging out in a friend’s backyard at the end of March. It was quite tolerant of our presence and we captured tons of images of it as it relaxed on an early spring day. A little more than a month after this picture was taken, fox kits made their appearance in the neighborhood showing that the adult and its mate were quite successful in continuing their bloodlines.

Red Foxes are quite common across the entire Northern Hemisphere from near the equator to the Arctic Circle. They are extremely adaptable and able to coexist in areas with large human populations.