New fox acquaintance

Photos from Forest Fox

A few nights ago, I was visited by a fox kit that was clearly from a different litter than the gang I've been watching -- noticeably younger, still with the extra-enormous ears, and her markings not developed. She let me feed her for about 20 minutes which melted my heart into a puddle.

But yesterday I met yet another very young one. He came waltzing around an hour before sunset! He, too, seems to have started to understand the Food Woman legend. But I'm not sure whether he's a sibling. He seems smaller than the other one, yet is developing clear markings. He has the lovely black stockings, and the white tip on his tail, though his redness has not developed yet. Mysteries. I love it.
[Note, 20:12 -- Rika, who lives just south of me and overlooks the "fish and bowl" where the foxes play, saw today one group with a mother and four babies, and a separate group of two little ones. Looks like two litters in all.]

I found a nice site about foxes:
http://www.foxforest.com/
One of the best features of this site is Voices Carry, which gives you actual recorded sounds of foxes vocalizing.

The first time I met a fox up close was about 3-4 years ago. Pícaro was out for the night, as was his wont in those days, and at 2 a.m. I heard the worst imaginable sound. I leaped out of the loft, instantly awake, and raced to the seaward door. I was sure that Píc was being disemboweled by a coyote. In fact, he was in a nose to nose standoff with a fox, and the fox was the one making the horrible noise. You can hear almost exactly what I heard if you listen to "Fox in distress." "  Squabble" is also quite similar.

The "Territorial response," by the way, is something that frequently goes on all night. In real life, it sounds like a human child is being tortured. Most unsettling.