SWFeral Loc: SWNM

And I must say I'm rather relieved, much as I enjoy watching bears be themselves. One got to be too much itself though, and ruined one of my cameras (a good one). So let me do a quick plug for Trailcampro, with whom I have done business for a number of years now and who replaced the mutilated camera under warranty, even though I doubt that it still was.

The first photo in this group is as lousy as it can get, but I included it because it came from one of three videos I've gotten since September of a western spotted skunk and a grey fox interacting. I would say, actually, playing together. The fox trots ahead and turns to wait for the tiny skunk, a favorite animal of mine, and then they scamper off together, the fox holding its tail as high as the skunk holds its tail, and looking ridiculous. This snapshot was the absolute best I could do with what I had. Mostly I thought some of you would enjoy the story.

My big stars this fall have been bobcats (coyotes being a close second), and I'm learning that they repeatedly follow the same path so closely as to almost step in their own footprints. In fact many animals seem to have very specific routes that they stick to. One bobcat in particular has caught my attention because, shortly after I found the foreleg of an adult bobcat near the highway last summer, the camera down the hill started getting a young one that looked too immature to be on its own. Over the weeks I felt relief each time I got a new video of it looking increasingly less tentative until by winter she, I think (due to the absence of anything obvious from behind) has developed a confident, lanky strut. She's also been well trained, because rather than racing past the camera in a blur she stops to pose.

As always I will say that I have several cameras of varying quality, and it usually seems like the crummy ones get the most interesting animals, though I could be exaggerating. There is one image with no creatures in it--a day or so after a prescribed burn (which came within eight feet of one of my cameras, burning the trunk of the tree next to it) there was a wet snow which triggered a video. I saved a frame to share.

I hope you enjoy seeing these surreptitious shots of my friends!

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Another wonderful set! Thanks for taking the time and making the effort to set up and maintain these trail cams that let us see the candid side.

SWFeral Loc: SWNM

It's my favorite thing to do. I would not skip sharing what I see with my friends on UHH!

luvmypets Loc: Born & raised Texan living in Fayetteville NC

I absolutely love the fox and skunk!!! Who would ever think that in the wild these 2 would become friends!! Amazing!! I sincerely hope you will share more of this unusual pair in the future.

I presume the nose and eye is a coyote?

I always love the "kitty" pictures and stories. So glad Miss Bobcat has done so well.

Dodie

Cany143 Loc: SE Utah

....thus proving --incontrovertibly-- that foxes have the more refined sense of aesthetics when it comes to the making of selfies, be those trail-cam triggered or anything lesser.

Could that refinement be a result of playing with skunks? Or is it something more innate? Might you enlighten me further, Feral? I really DO want to know!

SWFeral Loc: SWNM

And I hope there's much more to share about the fox and skunk. When I saw the first video back in September I thought the skunk was chasing the fox off...but then the fox turned and waited as the skunk clambered up and over a boulder, and they ran off together. I can't begin to imagine how this got started.

Yes the extreme close-up is a curious coyote. I should have more photos to share of bobcats, coyotes, foxes, and lions (and of course deer and elk). It's only the bears who have slowed down and presumably gone into hibernation, though if it doesn't get cold and stay that way, who knows?

SWFeral Loc: SWNM

If I try to enlighten you, or anyone, it will be such an obvious snow job as to be laughable. I will say of foxes that they seem to squat to pee and defecate more than any other animal, an insight I have gained through my cameras. Not sure how aesthetically refined that is. As I learn more, I will share with you.

NMGal Loc: NE NM

I love all the critters your trail cams capture.

SWFeral Loc: SWNM

Me too. They're good for us to see.

Barn Owl

SWFeral, Thanks for all your effort and skills in use of the remote trail cameras. Hope you will continue to post on UHH.

SWFeral Loc: SWNM

I will, unless someone says this isn't real photography (well I do edit the photos). Those cameras keep me out and moving. As far as skills go, there's always room for improvement. In fact this morning I need to go and remove the key from the locking cable on a camera I recently moved!

srg

goofybruce

too bad they can't talk... they might tell an interesting story of two otherwise "enemies" who grew up together in neighboring caves on the wrong side of the mountain.... or one of how the skunk chased away a coyote or wolf that had the fox in it's clutches... or how the fox got "educated" about skunks and that smell stayed long enough for it to learn that having that smell on him/her, 'saved' it from a possible life-ending encounter.... Dang, we have the makin's of a true backwoods legend here!!!

SWFeral Loc: SWNM

Thanks--glad you liked them.

SWFeral Loc: SWNM

I am interested in any theory anyone has. One friend suggested that one or the other of the little due ended up being nursed by the other's mother. I know when I saw the first video of their interaction I thought the skunk was chasing the fox away. But then the fox let it catch up, and off they went together, but not until the skunk struggled to scramble up onto the boulder on which the fox waited. It had been no challenge for the fox to hop up there, but the skunk's legs are only about an inch and a half long. Anyway, you can be sure I will be adding to this story as I get more hints!