Wildlife in Photography

Remember when I said I wanted to find a fox? Thanks in large part to the recent snow, I got the chance.

Tonight I set off to film the bird flyovers at Holmes Run Park, but was distracted by the presence of canine tracks. Along the path they made sense, but when I saw them veer off without any accompanying shoe prints, I decided to investigate.

Slowly I tracked the creature for a short distance before the tracks seemed to come to an end without any explanation. As I stood there and tried to figure it out, I saw the most beautiful shade of orange out of the corner of my eye. Looking up, about twenty feet away I saw the Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) creeping down a hill. As we both raised our heads and realized what was going on, it panicked (I did a little bit too, to be honest – my camera wasn’t set yet for the light conditions). As it darted under a nearby fence and began to run, I made a split second guess on the exposure and fired away.

I was surprised to see the size of the animal. I was expecting they would be much smaller, but it was still great to see. My best image from the experience wasn’t what I was hoping to get, but it’s much more than I expected from that particular outing.

After a few loops of the area and failed attempts to track it, the dark became too much for any more photography and I packed out for the day.

Besides seeing the fox, I also made a few portraits of this guy:

While I can technically check a red fox off my mental list, I’d love an opportunity where I can actually work the scene a little. I’ll keep trying. More snow please!