SCOUNDREL SEASON: A RED FOX PHOTO AND VIDEO ESSAY.

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          Key to photos and videos:

          1. I present to you The Scoundrel.
          2. He runs nearby me and sits down rapidly.
          3. Parting company at night.
          4. Majestic scoundrel!
          5. Regal!
          6. Sometimes he’s just a head or ears.
          7. Bro just wants to be my dog. And he is! Every couple of days for a minute or two at a time — he is my dawg.

          All media from 2026, except: 

8.

We’ve posted this before, but we strongly believe the scoundrel from nos. 1-7 to be the kit who appears from 0:30 to 0:44 in this video (no. 8) I made about three years ago. He may be the only surviving member of a seven-kit litter. He has probably known me most of his life. I say simple things to him — “Oi mate! You’re a good-looking fox, man! — so he always knows it’s me. When we say “scoundrel” we mean “beloved trickster.” We mean “fabulous critter” and “savvy beast.” Our best friend from the wild animal kingdom. It is, in fact, our highest compliment for a beastly soul. His mother is still out there. I see her about once a year. She is persevering . . . and so am I. 

Now for some exit music: “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” by The Stooges (1969.) Find your sweetie pie and play it loud. Though Iggy Pop probably meant these proto-punk lyrics in an abundantly suggestive manner, we know that wanting to be someone’s dog can spring from a deep well of vulpine friendship, oi.  

CUB LIFE: THE RED FOX KITS ENGAGE IN NUTTY MAYHEM & WE HAVE THE FOOTAGE.

My fondness for foxes knoweth no boundaries. In fact, I have befriended a wild red fox and these are her cubs. Some days, I count seven of them. Some days, eight. It’s like, one day, there’s an extra kit, somehow. They leap, do the kits. They tussle. They careen ahead. On the nuttiness scale, I give them a 10 out of 10. Their nutty mayhem exceeds the norms, by several standard deviations! My friend, the mother fox, must shake her head at all this mayhem. She has more kits than the woman who lived in that funky old shoe. Clearly, the mother fox digs all of these offsprings, because all of them look good. At the end of the clip, you can see that I’ve made a new buddy. Li’l fella. Li’l critter. Oh yeah. 

Yes, I know about the flamingoes. Please don’t tell me that a wild red fox (allegedly) broke into the zoo and ate two dozen flamingoes. (And one duck.) I concede this alleged mal-pheasants (sic). Some of you eat meat. Some of you, like me, are vegetarians. (Or okay, they cook me a fish once in a while, where “they” equals salmon canneries.) Did the squash ask to be harvested? Did the salmon leap willingly into the net? Did the flamingo hanker to see the wild red fox (purportedly) squeezing through some kind of preposterous hole in the fence? We all want to eat. Nobody wants to be eaten. These geese seem to be gradually reaching a state of awareness concerning such matters. As do the kits. 

The shadows of the little ears in late day sun motes. The pouncing! I mean, with seven (or eight) siblings, that means seven (or eight) pouncings, daily, hourly, momentarily. Lo, the pouncings. The game of tag around the tree. The chases. The tail-bitings. Lo, the tail-bitings. Occasionally, you’ll view the solitary kit, the introspective kit, the sensitive soul, the tortured artist! But not for long. Because they pounceth anew. They tail-biteth anew. Lo, the little ears in late day shadows. I think it is a perfectly defensible position in life to want, to be, one of these kits. I know I want, to be, one of these nutty cubs.

Further Reading: 

For more information on the chapbook that chronicles my relationship with the mother of these kits, please see this here post, and thanks again to Phyllis Rosenzweig at Primary Writing Books, for publishing said chapbook.

Moreover, this is the post that started it all. 

The videos are titled: (1) Red Fox Kits Nuttiness! (2) Fox Kits Organize a Delegation to Meet the Geese. (3) Cub Life -- The Red Fox Kits. Oi. 

MY BEST MATE FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM: A WILD RED FOX PHOTO ESSAY

By now, many of you know my best mate from the animal kingdom. These photos were all taken in March and April 2022, about 24 to 30 months after I first met this wild red fox. Many thanks again to Phyllis Rosenzweig at Primary Writing Books, who published a book of poetry and photography about this unlikely friendship. Lo, my fox friend has given birth to three or four fluffy kits. They bounce around happily in the undergrowth and shrubberies. My stunning rusty red friend, pictured above, took some time to visit with me, before returning to motherly duties. A key to the photos follows.

1. Classic blogger / fox eye contact.
2. Drinking water from a puddle.
3. Checking on the kits.
4. A good looking fox. I melt every time.
5. Whoa! What was that?
6. Foxy activities.
7. The whole fox. What a tail!
8. Healthy, alert, jokester, rusty red, fierceness.