John Davis, our good friend and Rosslyn’s conscientious wildlife steward, contacted me this weekend with an excited update.
Good photos on your cell cam last few days, including a Gray Fox, I think, January 11. We rarely see those.
I’d just been reviewing recent images from the camera he referenced, a Reconyx, cellular-enabled camera that is tethered to my Verizon account, enabling real time oversight of our rewilding efforts at Rosslyn. I had paused on the three images John mentioned, but I had concluded they were an Eastern Coyote, a much more frequent subject for our wildlife cameras. Had I judged too hastily? When I told John that I was curious why he thought the handsome wild dog a Gray Fox rather than a Coyote he pointed what I’d overlooked.
I may be wrong, but that canid looks a bit small to me and has black top tail, as Gray Foxes oft do.
John confirmed that he thought he’d seen fox tracks in that same location on Sunday. Nevertheless nature’s narrative can be mysterious…
I offered to Photoshop the image to see if I could improve identification, and he suggested magnifying the image. The originals didn’t offer excellent data to work from, but here’s what I came up with after attempting to manipulate two separate photographs.
Although the two images are blurry and pixelated, offering little improvement over the orginals, the black tail marking is definitely evident. (If you’re wondering about the subtle difference in the second image, it was taken from this original.)
I admitted to John that I’m still uncertain. It seems to me that, given the diverse pelage (Thanks for teaching me that word, John!) of our native coyote population, it doesn’t seem to me impossible that the healthy canid in the photographs could be a smaller coyote. Of course, I sure hope that it’s a Gray Wolf.
John reached out to our friend and Adirondack neighbor, conservation biologist, and wildlife photographer extraordinaire, Larry Master, to see what he thinks.
Looks like a Gray Fox to me! Note dark dorsal side of its tail and relatively short legs. — Larry Master
For comparison, here’s a far more legible photograph captured by the inimitable Larry Master.
To really appreciate not only Larry’s breathtaking photography, but also this exceptional photo documentation of the Northern Gray Fox (and countless other species), visit that link and start clicking through his photographs. The hour hand on your clock will likely turn into a high speed fan!
Rosslyn’s wildlife sanctuary, an informal but earnest effort that has been evolving for well over a decade, is increasingly diverse, but we’ve not yet witnessed a Gray Fox. In other words, I’d really like for John’s and Larry’s assessments to be accurate. We’ll keep watching, and I’ll update this post if there’s news.
In the mean time, here are some relevant insights that John published recently in a post for the Adirondack Council.
Gray foxes are the more arboreal of our two native foxes. Indeed, gray foxes can climb trees and sometimes den in trees. They can often be distinguished from red foxes, if not by color, by their shorter legs and thinner fur. Red foxes are the more likely to be seen in fields, where they often pounce on rodents.
[…]
Both red and gray foxes are masterful hunters of rodents, making them beneficial to limiting the spread of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. –— John Davis (Source: Adirondack Council)
So what do you think? Do we have a verdict? Has the Rosslyn wildlife camera documented a Gray Fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) or an Eastern Coyote (Canis latrans var)?
I’ll close with the last of the three photos in the sequence above. If you squint you just might see that dark tail vanishing near top right of the photograph. Hopefully more soon!
George – About 5 years ago, a solitary Gray Fox began to frequent my yard, eating the seed spilled under the bird feeders. I had never seen one before, so I had to look it up in my guidebooks to confirm the ID. Two years later, we were thrilled to see two adults and their healthy brood of kits had made a den among tree roots and fallen logs in my back yard. Gray fox are now regular, welcome visitors. They sometimes snooze in the tall grass, or sit behind a boulder, peeking over the top to see what may be for dinner. Such beautiful creatures! And I no longer have mice in my basement!
What a beautiful experience, Suzanne. I spent decades in the Adirondacks before witnessing the stealthy Gray Fox. Recently they’ve begun to make frequent cameo appearances on our wildlife cameras, and I’m surprised anew each time! They are beautiful indeed.