A Close Encounter With Red Fox Kits
Updated: Mar. 10, 2020
Capturing a shot of these adorable red fox kits was a matter of patience and good timing.
As a passionate hobby photographer for about eight years now, I love snapping pics of everything from badgers to bears. Red fox kits had also always been on my wish list of critters to photograph.
Living in rural Alberta, I recently received some tips from local residents as to where these elusive little guys were living.
Every evening my husband Troy and I would take a drive to see if anybody was home in their den. There was one time we saw the mama fox take a rodent into the den, and we spotted a few gnawed bones scattered about, but the kits didn’t appear.
After several evenings of touring, waiting and watching, we finally spotted five playful kits. The one thing I have learned as an amateur photographer is that photographing wildlife takes great patience, and mostly the luck of being in the right place at the right time. This sweet family lived on the side of a hill, west of our town of Caroline, where we could respectfully watch them from afar in our vehicle.
Using a 500-mm telephoto lens propped up on a beanbag on the car window for steadiness, I watched them in awe. Their cute little fuzzy faces were hard not to love. Watching them tear around, race up and down the hill, scamper in and out of the den, roll in the sand, and pin each other down, it was quickly apparent that there was already a hierarchy being established as to which was the dominant kit.
I feel very blessed to have finally captured this “bucket list” photo and to have spent some time watching this adorable, energetic bunch.
Next, check out a gorgeous gallery of the wildlife of the Laurentians, photographed from a kayak.
