Kits will be Kits

I am so grateful for friends who not only appreciate and respect wildlife but call me when they see something special! I received an email from a longtime friend informing me that they had a fox den under their barn and asking if I wanted to photograph the kits. It took about half a second for me to respond with an excited "YES!"

 Once I arrived the next evening I was shown the area of the den and told that they thought there were  five kits. Then I was left alone to see what I could capture. I had my small blind with me and I set it up outside the fence so I was peeking through. It was incredibly uncomfortable and after two hours of trying to stay relatively motionless I finally had the opportunity to photograph one brave kit who ventured out of the den. The good news was that it was pretty clear the young fox had no idea I was there. Between the direction of the wind and the blind, I seemed to be invisible although he did perk up his ears each time I clicked the shutter.

I decided to call it a night and return with a better plan a couple days later.

 When I came back the second time I took a few more minutes getting set up in a better location where I could be more comfortable. Almost immediately after pulling the blind over me I heard a loud noise and turned to see two cows and a horse watching with obvious consternation trying to figure out what this strange creature was that had invaded their space. It turned out to be the best thing to happen because the kits, when they popped out, were apparently fascinated by the bigger animals and kept trying to see what they were up to while once again completely ignoring me in my blind.

 This time around the kits all emerged at once and spent about an hour frolicking as I snapped gleefully away. And, surprise! Instead of five there were actually seven youngsters in the group. I don't know how mama fox feeds them all!

My favorite shots of the day were when the animals were interacting with each other. They would play for a while and then a mock fight would break out and they would growl and bark at each other sounding much bigger than they actually are.

Even though I often try to capture photos of animals without man-made structures in the images, I think the fact that they chose the environs of the barn as their den is part of this story. And the surroundings provide an obstacle course any youngster would be thrilled to explore!