Man's Best Friend Has New Best Friends? By: Cooper and Hadley Deyo

 

This spring we had some special visitors at our house. Just 30 feet from our porch Mama Fox built her den. In fact, she built two dens. 

Mama Fox is a Red Fox. Female Red Fox are also called "Vixens. She is red, orange, white, black and has a long bushy tail. Mama Fox has visited us before. This is the third year in a row she has birthed her kits in our yard. This year she had seven of them.

Raising seven kits is a lot of work. Thankfully she has help from two other adult foxes. They all work together to bring back food to the den and keep a watchful eye on the kits.

The kits are are dark brown or black. The runt of the litter is our favorite. He is all black. We named him, "Wilbur". 

They like to playfight, wrestle, run and tumble. We mostly see them early in the morning and just before dark. 

We think Mama Fox likes our yard because it is a safe place for her family. 

Once the kits get older their color will change from brown and black to red and orange like Mama Fox. When that happens, we know they will be moving from our yard back to the woods.

Our dog Maple will be sad to see them go. He thinks he has ten new best friends. The fox family is not sure being friends with Maple is a good idea!

Thank you Cooper and Hadley for your interesting and educational fox report! Nature Finds encourages community members and visitors alike to become guest bloggers. Please email your Vernon, VT experiences with nature and your knowledge of  our natural communities to eaglestailvt@gmail.com