2020 Fox Photos!

Happy New Year! Here's hoping that 2021 is less weird. 2020 sure was a good time to live on a farm! I've decided that I should institute an annual post on the foxes who frequent our property.

Our original resident fox, Basil, tends to make regular appearances in the fall, winter, and spring. His favorite spot to curl up is under a tree near the little creek that runs between the house and the pasture. He usually doesn't even lift his head to look at me anymore, unless I deviate from my routine. I have a lot of grainy cell phone videos of him but every time I point the DSLR at him he flees.

This day in March 2020, I briefly managed to catch him unaware:

Until he woke up and took off:

He was feeling braver a few days later:

I had a good laugh when the trail cam caught him in this compromising position, looking quite offended by the intrusion:

(Yeah, it's from 2019 but it's too funny not to include.)

It also caught him with his breakfast one day (sorry, bunny!):

In the summer he spends less time curled up by the creek, but in 2020 he made more frequent daytime visits than ever before. One day he surprised us all by lying down in the sun right outside the barn, much to the delight of our very loud coonhound!

I managed to sneak into the barn and take an artsy photo through the window of handsome Basil framed by red twig dogwoods.

The frequency of his visits probably has something to do with the cat food in the barn:

In spring of 2020 we had the best surprise of all: cubs! In keeping with the herb/Simon & Garfunkel theme, we christened the second adult Rosemary and the cubs Parsley, Sage, and Thyme. To be honest we can't usually tell who's who anyway but it's fun to pretend. Sometimes there was even a third adult, so there seems to be some sort of interesting modern family dynamic going on here.

Proud dad, or mom, or aunt...who knows really but what a gorgeous red coat!

The cubs were around a lot this summer but when fall rolled around and new neighbors moved in next door with five dogs, the fox sightings sadly became less frequent. I saw Basil for the first time in months on Christmas Day, curled up in a ball under his favorite tree, then again the next week. I'm hoping as winter sets in he will visit more again!