More Young Foxes

I've been out to check on the fox den every days, but usually the family is either out and about or tucked away inside as I hadn't seen them in some time. Yesterday when I went out near sunset, however, I spotted them a little higher up on the hill above their den so I stopped to take a look. I saw two of the original three fox kits I photographed, and here's a comparison of one of them. It's hard to see, but he/she has really grown quite a bit - maybe doubled in size over the last two weeks. That striking coloration on the younger picture has also faded out to a more traditional coloring - it was still just as curious, though:

The father fox has tolerated my presence once before, but this was the first time the mother fox was there at the same time I was. She started walking directly at me, and while some of the local foxes are used to approaching people looking for handouts, I definitely got a "leave us alone" vibe on her advance. I took the hint and just snapped a few photos before hiking on further up the hill, figuring I would just go for a hike on the dunes and enjoy the sunset.

A little further along, however, I came across ANOTHER mother fox with three kits. I spotted them from a few hundred yards away and approached slowly, and as soon as the mom lifted her head I stopped to see what she would do. I was expecting her to "chase" me off as well, but instead she just looked at me for a while as her kits jumped all over her. Finally, she turned and trotted off in the opposite direction, and the vibe I got from her was "Okay, YOU watch them for a while". Taking her departure as permission to hang out, I approached a little closer and spent about a half an hour with these newly discovered young foxes, who were very happy to just go about their business while I observed and took photos.

This fox looks almost coyote-like to me, especially standing in the sunshine on a dune that looks almost desert-like.

The local rabbit population has declined quite a bit, and these fox kits were hanging out in a field covered with former rabbit burrows. They were running in and out of all sorts of different holes, so the burrows appear to have been adapted into a big fox kit playground.

The way this black fox kit was tossing around and chewing on its toy, I thought it had a piece of bark or something to play with. Closer examination of my pictures revealed its actually (at least a part of) some type of prey - probably provided by mom or dad.

I went out hoping to see foxes, but had no idea I'd see seven (two moms and five kits in total) and spend the evening with a newly discovered family!