Trending
This year February had the most unusual weather. On Wednesday, our local TV weather person said that February in our area was to be a very warm month. That afternoon flashes of lightning were seen, and loud claps of thunder were heard, followed by snow.
However the weather has not affected our wildlife. The vultures have returned to Troy, and the great-horned owls and eagles are sitting on their eggs.
Several years ago, while on our morning walk, in February, Mary Alice and I stopped as usual on the bridge crossing Sugar Creek to look downstream for signs of wildlife. We would often see wildlife such as muskrats, minks, great blue herons and a host of songbirds. That morning the frozen creek was covered with snow, allowing us to see two sets of tracks coming down the creek.
I had no doubt that the tracks were made by a male and female fox that have gotten together to raise a litter of pups in the spring. Since the snow was quite deep, we were unable to determine whether the tracks were made by a red or gray fox. The red fox leaves a track that is up to 2 1/4 inches long, while the track of a smaller gray fox is only 1 3/4 inches long.
The red and gray fox are animals of somewhat different habitats.
The red fox prefers open farmland and big woods, with sparse floor cover; while the gray fox shows a preference for heavier cover, such as cut over forested areas, swamps and areas that have become thick with briar and pole stage tree growth. By knowing this and what type of habitat is downstream on Sugar Creek, I decided that the tracks were made by a pair of red fox. Later in the fall, we saw a red fox running along the stream bank.
The gray fox is not considered to be as cunning as the red fox. A good amount of a gray fox's time is spent in holes, under ledges and bluffs. The red fox, which prefers to stay out in the open, will bed down on top of the ground. The only exception to this is when the red fox has its young.
The young will be born in a hole, usually an enlarged woodchuck den. The gray fox is the only member of the dog family that can climb trees. Although the gray fox is smaller than the red fox, it is the larger red fox that will be driven out when their territories overlap.
The gray fox can live near our newest member of the dog family, the Eastern coyote. However the red fox moves out when a family of coyotes move into the area.
During late fall and early winter, the fox is a solitary animal, preferring to live alone. Then in late January and February, two sets of tracks will be seen in the snow. These are made by a male and female that have gotten together to raise a family. The two will be inseparable, hunting and denning together. The pair will have three or four dens scattered throughout their territory, and time will be spent at each den.
As March approaches one of these dens will be selected as a nursery den and any extra food will be stored there for the female fox after giving birth. Since it is still quite cold at the time, the food — rabbit, mice, etc. — will be kept safe from spoiling.
Here in northern Pennsylvania, young fox pups are born in either late March or early April. The pups are born blind, hairless, and helpless. The female must stay with the pups constantly to keep them from freezing to death. While in the den, the vixen eats the food that she and the male had previously stored. During this period, the male will also drop food at the entrance to the den. When the cache of food inside is depleted, the female will run outside, grab the food left by the male and immediately return to her pups.
The fox is considered a cunning animal, and this is attributed to a long training period with its parents. This training period can last up to four months, making it one of the longest in the wilds of Pennsylvania.
For example, young woodchucks disperse by July; skunks leave their mothers in late summer; and the young of most birds will leave after a two-week period.
The training period, of young foxes, is not only long but extensive. They are taught the who, what, where, when, why and how of hunting, all under the watchful eye of both parents.
After the fox family finally breaks up, the young foxes are fully prepared to strike out on their own. However, over half of the foxes taken during the fall and winter hunting and trapping seasons are juveniles. If they survive that first year, the young foxes will have become cunning animals.
In the fall, wildlife officers will begin receiving calls about strange acting foxes wandering into yards. These will be young pups, who are quite vulnerable, with their freedom compared to a young person leaving for college. After the pups leave, the adults will once again become solitary animals.
The feel of snow, the smell of wood smoke, the sound of honking wild geese and the sight of a set of fox tracks in the snow still excite me. Hopefully, if I live into my 90's, I will continue to learn about and appreciate wildlife and nature.
Bill Bower is a retired Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Officer. Read his blog and listen to his podcasts on the outdoors at www.onemaningreen.com.