The increase of the wolf population and the decrease of the Coyote population at Yellowstone has created the opportunity for the increase of the Red Tail Fox population. Up until only a few years ago coyotes were found around almost every corner. It is not the case any more. I would typically take away from yellowstone thousands of Coyote photographs. This last trip NOT ONE photo. Not even one Coyote sighting. The Fox and the Coyote have similar hunting and scavenging technics. The first time I saw a coyote jump up and dive straight down on a mouse I about lost it. Since that first time I have watched coyotes for hours hunting. Much less time has been spent with the fox. They are not a public critter. They run when greeted by US two legged weirdo’s. With more fox I had more opportunities this trip. I had to plan better for the shots than with the coyotes. High on Mount Washburn I found a hunting fox. I was much lower in elevation than she was so the opportunity to get a nice ridge shot presented itself.
This cute gal was hunting but not having much luck finding a snack. I was hoping like crazy for her to do the jump-dive thing on a rodent. For a video of a Red-tail Fox diving into snow click here. If that does not make you laugh? Finally she started her approach and then up she went. At that point I remembered I was shooting with my Nikon DF not the D4s. I keep the D4s on the 600mm lens. The D4s shoots at 11 frames per second. The DF shoots at best 5 frames. DANG IT!!!! At least I got the dive shot….
This next shot was the killer! I never got the belly shot before. All I could think was that must really hurt. They must have a nose made of steel. Unlike diving into snow (like in the attached video) to dive head first right on it’s nose? OUCH!!!!
Another great adventure that day. And big laughs.
Here is link to Wikipedia about the Fox.
(By the way I need to edit my blogs better for spelling, grammar and mistakes. My last post I said I had taken 300,000 photos this trip. Uh 300,000? It was more like 30,000. Still a ton but more closely to what really happened)