Red Fox

My Species Story

If I saw a fox before I encountered them at Iwetemlaykin, I don't really remember. Maybe a glance here or there with a "was that a fox?" around Baton Rouge, but nothing like what I would get in Oregon.

The earliest encounter was a memorable one. I'd seen a fox in the distance at Iwe, and snapped a few pictures of it after noticing that it seemed to be staying in one place. When I reviewed the photos, I was shocked to see there were some kits nearby! I kept watching through my zoom lens, as I wasn't enough of a naturalist to have a pair of binoculars with me yet, and got to see these four or five kits playing for quite some time, snapping a few pictures here and there.

I would see this same fox a few more times in the park, and got a great look at one on a very cold morning in 2019, running through the frosty hills.

I love that all of my good photos of them, they're looking at the camera. They are almost always aware that I'm around, and hear the click of the camera's shutter.

At the Landry Property, I observed them quite a bit but almost exclusively via trail cam. I think I only saw one with my own eyes once, scampering across the edge of the property near dusk.

Now at our little place near Wallowa Lake, there is at least one fox that has gotten very used to people, and very used to being given an egg and maybe a hot dog or two every once in a while. He's beautiful, but is a little too comfortable for his own good with Loki around.