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Mr. Fox went out on a. . .
. . . chilly morn . ..well not that chilly. But this little grey fox was standing in the driveway when I opened the front door. For at least half my life I never saw a fox, except maybe in a zoo. As a kid I always wanted to see one in the wild, but never thought I would. Now they are regular visitors to our yard - and quite bold.
This little fella (or young woman - I didn't get a real close look) only seemed mildly curious about my appearance. He looked at me as I opened the door. I froze, he froze. Then he casually went about his business, sniffing about the wall, walking down the road a little, then coming back into view as he crossed the road into the neighbor's yard. He gave me two or three glances - well aware I was there, but that's all. By that time I had remembered I had a camera in my pocket, but he was also quite far away. Unfortunately the flash was active and went off, making the foreground bright and the distance dark, so I had to doctor these shots up in Photoshop, else they would be much better.
Foxes have a curious habit. They leave scat wherever they think you will be most likely to see it. They pick the middle of the road, middle of the driveway, top of a tree trunk, even the top of a stone wall, to do their business. if you;re in the middle of a vast field and there is just one small rock in sight, perhaps a half an inch above ground level, a fox will find it and poop on it. Maybe their marking their territory, I don;t know. Maybe they just don;t want you to step in it by accident. Maybe they're real proud. Or maybe they just don't like the grass tickling their backsides - but then, i doubt they sit to do this ;-)
Yes, I am just a tad worried about rabid wild animals. There are some about. And if thus had been noon time, instead of 5:30 am, this behavior would have worried me. There are local cases on record now of foxes having attacked people - rabid foxes. But rabid foxes do strange things, like hunt in the middle of the day. This is just the time of day - a few hours either side of dawn or dusk - that I expect to see Mr. Fox. Still, there is that little wisp of fear - I felt it yesterday, when I was much further down the road on my walk and a fox (maybe this one) crossed the road about 30-feet in front of me and went off into the brush.