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December 1997
Walking in woods by the Androscoggin River not long ago, I saw a small
cave. The earth had been dug out
under a boulder that was curved on its underside.
Duck down was spread thickly on the earth, and looking into the cave, I
saw two duck feet sticking into the air. There
were at least four duck carcasses cached there.
"Fox," I thought. When
food is plentiful, they often bury or hide remains of their kill to come back to
during lean times. They dig a small
hole in the earth and cover the kill with soil. During the winter when the earth
is frozen and snow is on the ground, they bury the surplus under the snow, where
crows and other creatures often find and eat it.
A fox may dig up and then rebury a cache, evidently to be sure it is
still there.
Fox spend most of their time hunting, and although they will hunt during
the day or at night, close to human settlements they find it safer to work in
the half-light of dawn or dusk. When
I have been lucky enough to see a fox, it's usually in early morning twilight
when the hush of darkness is still on the land. More frequently, I see signs of a fox's presence.
The meadow mouse is a primary food item of the red fox.
Orchardists appreciate this preference because mice damage trees in the
orchard. Red fox also eat
woodchucks, hares, squirrels, chipmunks, ground-nesting birds and eggs, berries,
fruits, and corn. Beetles,
grasshoppers and crickets are also eaten, especially by young fox.
Carrion, creatures killed and left by other animals or those killed by
cars on the road, is part of their diet. Certain
prey they kill but don't eat unless food is very scarce.
These include weasel, moles, shrews and snakes, which they leave lying
about, or may cache but never return to dig up.
Looking at the other side of the coin, bobcat, coyotes, and humans with
their dogs are among the predators of fox.
While not especially fast, the fox has great endurance and is wily and
intelligent, continually learning what it needs to do to survive in changing
situations. Their ability to avoid
notice, or to elude pursuit, is so admired that we have the expression "sly
as a fox."
The red fox lives at the edges between open country and woods. As settlers
cleared farmland in the forest on the eastern seaboard, the range of the red fox
expanded with the development. Open woodlands and brushy areas bordering on
wetlands, farmland interspersed with woods, and even our rural suburbs provide
the cover and the prey they need to live.
They also require water, and use areas within about 350 feet of waterways
as habitat and as travel corridors.
Red fox may live up to ten years in the wild. They do not hibernate during the winter and are solitary
during that time. Foxes mate in
January or February, and a pair stays together until late fall. The female, called a vixen, prepares a den before she bears
the young. She prefers to use the
burrow of a woodchuck or porcupine, and may use the same den year after year.
I keep hoping one will choose the burrow of the woodchuck that enjoys my
gardens so much. When a vixen does dig a den, it is in loose, sandy soil on the
south side of a hill. Fence rows, meadows or brush areas at the edge of woods are
also likely sites for dens.
The young, called kits, are born in March or April, averaging four or
five in a litter. Both parents care
for them, and while the vixen is nursing, the male hunts and brings food for her
to the den. By the fourth or fifth
week, the kits are playing outside the den, under the watchful eyes of the
parents. When they are weaned, by
the eighth or ninth week, the parents bring them whole animals to tear apart.
At about three months, the kits learn the art of hunting by accompanying
their parents, who train them in fox ways.
They learn to avoid detection and to escape pursuit.
At four months, the kits hunt by themselves.
By October, they leave for good to find new hunting grounds, sometimes
twenty or more miles away from where they were born.
It is not known if the same pair mate again the following year.
During the summer months, a red fox family can find enough to eat within
about a mile radius of the den. In
winter, when each fox is on its own, an individual may range at least twenty
square miles to find enough food. On a single winter's night, a fox may travel
five square miles as it is hunting. They don't use dens in winter, but during
really severe weather, a fox may find a sheltered spot to lay up for a day or
two.
The red fox is a beautiful and fascinating creature, and snow cover
offers opportunity to find their signs. Along
woods roads, for example at Butler Head in Bath, I have seen fox urine in the
center of the path, and fox tracks. Naturally wary, and having a great sense of smell, a fox
avoids humans. They are a ghostly
presence, seeing but rarely seen. It
gives me pleasure just to know they are around, and to think they may be
watching me.
By Nancy Coverstone (ncstone@umext.maine.edu), University of Maine Extension Educator in Androscoggin and Sagadahoc Counties
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