Sleepless in Midland

Fox Friday 4-30-2021

Whoa! What's that?

Winking?

Two foxes eating from the same dish.

Fox Friday 4-23-21

Two looking our way.

Good neck rotation.

Fox Friday 4-16-21

Cat and fox coexist.

Same day, several hours later -- cat and fox square off again. This time the fox didn't come any closer until the cat left.

Fox Friday 4-9-21

Typically the foxes give way to the cats. However, this young fox must not have gotten the memo.

Cat tries to scare fox, fox ignores cat. Eats.

Three foxes. It's seldom that we see three in one frame these days.

A while back there were four -- two adults and two youngsters. One of the youngsters may have struck out on his own. We don't know what became of that one.

Meanwhile, Spring is here, which should be the mating season. So maybe the adults will produce another litter.

Fox Good Friday 4-2-21

The cats don't like sharing the space with foxes.

An early A.M. meeting.

Then that night, same thing happened.

And now for something completely different.

A beautiful Blue Jay.

Fox Friday 3-26-21 In living color

Here are some rare shots of a fox before darkness set in -- the camera captured the images in living color instead of grayscale. He's wonderfully camouflaged with his earth tone coat.

More of the same.

Cats invade the fox food buffet from time to time. Here's one trying to claw the tell-tale.

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2:44 PM 3/26/2021

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Fox Friday 3-12-21 Don't mess with the tail!

Canines don't like other animals messing with their tails.

      Playing with the tail gets a reaction.

      Cat coddles happy homeowner.

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9:59 AM 3/11/2021

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Fox Friday 3-6-21 New camera!

This little one comes in low and stealthy.

One watches while the other eats. Get a load of that tail.

Stretching it out.

The old Bushnell trail cam conked out. The new one is a Gardepro A3. It takes a much wider picture, and it doesn't have its own brand name emblazoned in the photo like the Bushnell did.

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5:21 AM 3/5/2021

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Fox Friday 2-26-21

Just a nice shot.

Majestic stance.

Three at a time.

The Fox Cam went kaput on Monday. Maybe it was a delayed reaction to the deep freeze of the previous week. In any event, the foxes are still getting fed, and they get to eat without prying eyes.

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3:24 PM 2/25/2021

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Fox Friday 2-19-21 Hard freeze

Fox is thigh deep in the snow.

Snow flakes streak past the camera.

Wondering what that word "Danger" means. Actually, it's a piece of plastic material used to mark construction sites. It makes a good Tell-tale for wind direction.

Tapping the ice -- the water in the bowl was hot a few hours earlier, but by this time of the morning it's frozen.

His legs must be awfully tired if he has to sit on the hard snow.

Fox Friday 2-12-21 Dominant male gets the spoils

In this series of pics a fox stands guard over the food and has to fend off an intruder.

The contest didn't last long.

The Dominator claims the food!

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2:34 PM 2/11/2021

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Fox Friday 2-5-21 -- Incoming!

 A grand entrance.

Grand exit.

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3:07 PM 2/4/2021

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Fox Friday 1-1-21 Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Fox knee deep in snow. The snow has covered the food, and he seemed unable to find it.

Foot prints in the snow next morning. It appears as if one was following in another's foot prints til the second one split off

Closeup of a foot print.

Fox Friday 12-25-20 Christmas edition -- Festivus foxes?

Fight over food? With two bowls there should be enough to share.

But they ganged up on him.

Maybe they're celebrating Festivus -- you know, the airing of the grievances.

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5:52 AM 12/28/2020

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Fox Friday 12-18-20

Lil Gray makes an appearance, tries to act tough. But the fox holds his ground.

Fox ended up in command of the food bowl.

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2:30 PM 12/17/2020

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Fox Friday 12-11-20 -- The Monolith!

Looking at monolith.

What the hell?

Oh well, might as well eat.

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9:11 AM 12/12/2020

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Fox Friday 12-4-20 -- Weekend edition

Taking turns with the food and water.

Fox in the fog.

"Stay back, that drumstick is mine!"

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10:24 AM 12/6/2020

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Fox Friday 11-27-20 -- Four foxes!

For the first time in quite a while there were four foxes together one night at the feeding station one night this past week.

They look so much alike it's hard to distinguish them. But I think the two at food bowls are the mom and pop, and the one in the background is one of the offspring. The one closest to the camera may be the interloper who showed up not long ago -- one of the others ran him off shortly after this photo was taken.

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1:14 PM 11/29/2020

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Fox Friday 11-20-20

Fox and Lil Gray engage in a stare down.

Lil Gray backs down.

A while back Lil Gray, no bigger than a kitten at the time, somehow stumbled upon the fox feeding area. Not long after that he was comfortable enough to climb all over me while I changed the camera memory card. And of course he continued to enjoy the free food. Anyway, it's nice having him around.

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2:55 PM 11/20/2020

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Fox Friday 11-6-20

Nice frontal shot.

Stretching it out (except for the tail).

Two sharing a meal.

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9:23 AM 11/5/2020

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Fox Friday 10-30-20

Lil Gray and fox square off. The foxes give the cats a lot of leeway.

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3:06 PM 10/30/2020

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Fox Friday 10-23-20

Stretchhhhhh...

His trademark tail twist.

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2:34 PM 10/23/2020

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Fox Friday 10-16-20 --- foxes compete with cats for food

The foxes are wary of cats.

Defensive position. Cat moves in. Fox backs off.

Fox stares down cat. Detente. Safety in numbers.

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2:46 PM 10/15/2020

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Fox Friday 10-9-20

Last week we saw a fox playing with a battered baseball.

So this time the fox picked up baseball and carried it off, not to be seen again.

A playful wrestling match -- ending in a respectful detente over a shared interest.

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4:26 PM 10/8/20206

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Fox Friday 10-2-20

The other day a battered baseball showed up near the food station. And it mysteriously moved around the yard in the nighttime.

Turns out it was a plaything that one of the foxes must have carried into the yard. This series of four photos shows a fox playing with it.

Play ball!

Must be a canine thing. It's nice to know they're having fun.

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2:45 PM 10/1/2020

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Fox Friday 9-25-20

The food gets put out for the foxes around nightfall, and they show up shortly thereafter. The foxes steer clear of humans, and I've always wondered whether the sight of me would scare them away.

On one particular night I couldn't remember if I had turned on the camera, so I went out to check on it. As you can see from the set of three photos below, the fox saw me and disappeared. But happily, he returned just a couple of minutes later.

He had been hiding in plain sight, but he was definitely well hidden.

Three foxes. Six bright eyes.

Sometimes ya gotta have a good stretch.

A good, big yawn. It's early in the AM, almost bed time.

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4:22 PM 9/25/2020

Fox Friday 9-11-20 -- Feedin', Fightin', and F____n'

Feedin'

Fightin'

Um. I don't know what's happening here.

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4:45 PM 9/10/2020

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Fox Friday 9-4-20 -- fighting, all that fighting, now we know why

Fight night?

The foxes have gotten belligerent.

More scuffling. Why?

Aha! There's the reason -- a newcomer is trying to infiltrate the pack. Originally there was a pair of foxes. Those two had two offspring a few months ago. But here we see five foxes in one frame. That's a first.

Until recently cats were the only intruders in the fox world. The papa fox might miss those days. But the cats are still there.

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2:35 PM 9/4/2020

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Fox Friday 8-28-20

A good stretch.

Two hours later, another good stretch.

The youngster picks up the bowl and carries it away.

However, the next morning he seems baffled by the upside down bowl. Turn over, damn it!

Dog gone it. That upside down bowl is a real mystery. If I stare at it long enough, maybe it will right itself.

Oh well. I can always eat out of the other one, as long as there are still scraps remaining.

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4:24 PM 8/27/2020

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Fox Friday 8-21-20 -- one of the young ones is a curious little digger

One of the young foxes is fixated on the mat.

There just has to be something under it.

Sufficiently dislodged from its regular spot.

Momma straightens it out.

There. All done. They'll never know we've been here.

But wait. The little one is at it again, this time digging a hole.

What was under that mat? Who knows.  It was probably just a case of juvenile curiosity.

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2:28 PM 8/20/2020

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