A Red Fox Kit walks the rotting catfish that the Mother Fox brought him, back to the den to share with the other Kits. I watched as the Mother Fox carried this enormous rotting catfish all the way down the wildlife drive around Raymond Pool. She would go for a hundred feet then sit the catfish down and pant for a little bit, then pick it up again and walk it another hundred feet. As she approached my car she sat the catfish down and made a soft call and within seconds, this kit came out of the grass and the catfish was exchanged. Off the kit ran with the catfish back to the den. The Mother turned back around and headed back to where she came on the search for more food. I feel unbelievably privileged to see family interactions in the wild like this. It’s good to see the Foxes finding their own food as opposed to relying on handouts and baiting from unscrupulous photographers as in past seasons. I’ll also never complain about getting a slightly overcooked fish fillet at Long John Silvers after seeing the fish these foxes end up having to eat.
For more information on Foxes, visit this page.
For more information on the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.
UPDATE: Apparently this shot hit the front page of Explorer for a brief time. That’s a first for me. WooHoo !
