It is really more silver than grey, and it also has red markings, which was a little confusing when trying to ID the species. I almost thought it might have been a baby coyote for a second, but it is clearly a fox. Grey foxes are as common as Red foxes in Massachusetts, but this was the first time I've had a really good look at one. It's adorable!
Grey Foxes eat fruit as well as small animals and large bugs, such as grasshoppers. They are monogamous, and live 6 - 10 years in the wild. The truly amazing fact about Grey foxes is that they climb trees! "They have strong, hooked claws that allow them to scramble up trees to avoid predators or to get fruit. They descend primarily by jumping from branch to branch,"(Animal Diversity Web). That I'd like to see!
What a great sighting!!
ReplyDeleteI saw an animal trot by our glassed in porch last night. The light was on outside so I got a good look at its back end. I think it was a gray fox. We had them living across the street in Newton and we now have them in Framingham. One other favorite sighting outside the porch at night were two baby skunks playing like puppies this Spring!
ReplyDelete...you lucky duck! I've never seen a grey fox in the wild. I get to see red foxes every now and then, but never enough! :-)
ReplyDeleteMy Boyfriend and I JUST say a Grey Fox while pulling into our apartment in Holden, Mass at 7:45. He saw the reddishness and I said, 'I think it's a baby coyote' It was under a large 4x4 vehicle. It was pretty cool to see! It is also 10-15 degrees normal today than usual so I hope the poor guy didn't get really confused!
ReplyDeleteWe live in Plainville and have a ton of wildlife in our back yard... Last night we had the pleasure of seeing the grey fox for the third time! I of course had to look it up after the second time because I had no idea what it was... They are amazing and I am so happy that it calls my neighborhood home! Some day I hope to see babies :)
ReplyDeleteWell...
ReplyDeleteI was making my son breakfast and my dog was outside barking up a storm (which means anything from "oh look a bird" to "there is a dinosaur about to eat the house") and low and behold he is no more then 5 feet from him was a grey fox (in fact the first grey fox I had ever seen outside the M.o.S). Here in Franklin I had seen Reds in the woods and were shocked they were like red German shepherds strolling through the backyard but never a grey. Sleep deprived I did not snap a pic and I am regretting it. The fox was roughly the size of my dog (15-16 in at the shoulder but much lighter) and curious about my dog so it kept trying to get in close and sniff him (the fat, 40 lb terrier mix) but the dog was having none of it. I tried throwing dog biscuits at them to distract my dog (and maybe make a fox friend) but I had breakfast to make and socks to find. Maybe he will come back... he didn't seem scared of the dog just slightly annoyed the dog was not cool with the whole "how 'bout a handshake, bro" mentality.