Update: Phippsburg Four

     I took these photographs yesterday. The fox kits are warier now and harder to photograph. In search of food, they are roaming further from the den and for longer stretches of time. They are becoming more solitary and not spending as much time together in a 'puppy heap.' They look much more like their parents with lots of red in their fur. This is a skeleton of a chicken carcass, I'm guessing. It had been picked clean and was discarded by the den door. A concerned citizen posted this cautionary sign. Since there are fewer than six cars a day on this dirt road, it's amusing!

FOXES

Near our house, there is a Red fox den with four kits. I'm estimating that they are about 3 weeks old. They are old enough to roam from the den and play at catching grasshoppers and other quarry. They are not terribly shy. I took these photos without getting out of my car. I had to be patient, though.
     I read a book for a while, waiting for them to pop out of the den. The book was an autobiography of a woman with bipolar disorder. I understand a lot about her life; when I see beings like these baby foxes, my heart and mood soar in a very bipolar way.
     I waited for them alone, deep in the spruce woods, which some people would find uncomfortable. It's very still and after awhile, a little spooky. You could have heard the famous pin drop on the lush pads of emerald moss. I was careful not to make noise by inadvertently clunking the camera or leaning on the car horn - something dumb like that. I'm sure that Marlin Perkins never did anything that stupid. After all, the man advertised insurance! I had my camera ready, in case the foxes appeared and I was rewarded. Eventually, the mom showed up. I had heard her rasping bark coming through the woods. Her rust colored fur was beautifully highlighted by the sun. She was quite vocal with the kits issuing a growling purr to them. They barked back at her grubbing around for what ever food she had brought to them. She hacked up globs of stuff she'd brought which they enthusiastically 'wolfed' down. They rolled around on the ground, leaped from rocks into the brush, made mock attacks on one another, and then curled up together and went to sleep on the moss.