Scene around A-Town: Foxes!
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| The two babies in their den. |
Michael Thomas, a resident of Broyhill Crest in Annandale, took these photos and video of a fox family, with a mother and two kits, in his backyard. “They seem healthy and happy,” he says. Baby foxes are born with dark fur, which lightens as they mature. The kits in the photo already have their tawny red coat.
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| The mother fox. |
Last year, there were five kits in the den, says Thomas, who moved to that house a year ago. “It is quite common for foxes to re-use a den year after year, so who knows how long this extended family has been coming back to this location? Could be decades.”
The video below, taken by Mary Ellen Dawley on May 2, shows a fox trotting through a backyard in the Columbia Pines community and jumping onto a six-foot-high fence.
To learn more about foxes in our area, watch this video from the Fairfax County government.
7 responses to “Scene around A-Town: Foxes!”
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This is not news. Foxes thrive in the county and inside the beltway, wherever there is cover and a food supply like moles, voles, mice, rats, squirrel, rabbits. A thriving fox population indicates a healthy environment. They belong here. You might want to keep your cat inside at night, though.
Calm down Cronkite, I think it's ok to do this stuff once in a while.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_interest_story
The fact there is only one predator left doesn't indicate a healthy environment inside the beltway, in fact we no longer have functioning eco-systems. We do have alot of lawn which has the same environmental benefit as pavement due to the soil compaction and short root base of grass, not to mention the misguided effort by chemical companies to push their herbicides and pesticides on a population that wastes its time and money on this non-functioning outdated model of surbia. Couple that with all the rooftops sidewalks & roads, rapidly declining bird populations, and lack of biodiversity we have big problems here that must be retrofitted to restore functioning eco-systems. Love the foxes though and am happy to see this family doing well. Most I've seen look very hungry and mangey.
What did they say?
Looks overcrowded.
If they would just use vacant dens this wouldn't be a problem! Another failure of one cent gross.
LOL! Some foxes live in the woods behind my subdivision on Sleepy Hollow Rd. The dogs go bananas whenever they see one. The foxes did a great job mopping up the chipmunks that had been burrowing under porches and chewing on automobile wires. Unfortunately, they also murdered the rabbit that lived under one of my bushes. I'm still happy to have them around though. However, they have no idea about cars and are likely to be run over sooner or later.