September At The Pine Grove Fox Den
Summer is over, and the fox kits in Saxonville have separated from their parents. I have seen tracks of foxes at both the Saxonville fox den, and the Pine Grove fox den. The Pine Grove den was inactive this year. While it was visited by a rotation of coyotes, fishers, foxes, raccoons, and rodents, nothing decided to live inside the den, or use it for having young. The den was probably originally dug by the pair of coyotes who I heard from a friend now den on a piece of private property a few blocks away (I have no proof of this, and the location is completely surrounded by fences, and people's yards, making it impossible to look for the den, and set up a trail camera. I set up a trail camera on a dead aspen tree which was about 10 feet away from the entrance. The camera was there for only two days, but I got plenty of footage...
A pair of red foxes visited the den...
...One of them stayed for a long time after it's mate left, probably because the den and mound are both surrounded by pine saplings, which makes the mound great, hidden bedding spot.
...and there were multiple clips of the resting fox going in and out of the den. This means the pair is considering having a litter here during the Spring of 2023. I hope they do...
A fisher stopped by the following night, and entered the den for a second, and then it must have smelled the fox pair because it quickly left in the direction of the camera. This is the third fisher i've observed this month, and all 3 observations were from completely different areas. Maybe all the fisher kits are moving out of their parent's dens at once, because I guess there are a lot of fishers out in September...
And there were also of course plenty of cottontails and gray squirrels. They apparently didn't smell, or didnt mind the scent of the foxes, and the fisher. Maybe the rain washed their scent's away. This rabbit seems spooked by something, but only runs back and forth:
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