A fox poses for a photo on a wintry Reston morning

My hostess, Mindy Celeste, thought I was a bit crazy to go out in 14°F weather this morning just to see what I could see, and so did I. But it was sunny and beautiful, and there was no guarantee the sun would stay out, so off I went with layers and a heat pack for my gloves.

It turned out to be a good decision. After a couple minutes I stopped to watch a couple of cawing crows, but as I am wont to do, looked over my shoulder to make sure I wasn’t missing anything cool in the opposite direction.

And what do I see a hundred yards away but a thing-that-could-be-a-really-large-cat-or-could-be-a-fox.

It turned out to be a red fox.

fox standing in oak leaf litter on open field in front of wire fencefox standing in oak leaf litter on open field in front of wire fencefox walking in oak leaf litter on open field in front of wire fencefox walking in oak leaf litter at edge of woodsfox stopping in oak leaf litter at edge of woodsfox walking in oak leaf litter at edge of woods

This is the third fox I’ve seen on my visit to Reston. I saw the first one on the day after Christmas, but only for about a second as it darted across the path fifty or so yards ahead of me.

>> Enjoy more Reston wildlife posts.

The second one was yesterday when I was deeper in the woods. I’d been standing quietly at the edge of a creek for a while when I noticed movement about fifteen feet to my right.

Alas, my camera was in its bag, and by the time I got it out, the fox had already had time to be startled by my presence and start moving away. I could still see it, but couldn’t get the camera to focus past the brambles it was moving behind.

Soon, it was behind a log, then a hillock, and the next time I saw it, it was almost a hundred yards away in the underbrush. Then it disappeared.

Still, these are more fox sightings than I get back in Madison.

Who knows? I might get to take more pictures of foxes before I leave.

One can hope.

Did you know there are 45 subspecies of red fox? You can read all about it in my post Critter of the Day: Red fox (Vulpes vulpes).

 

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