A Perfect Winter Day

Anybody reading this in the south or on the west coast is going to think I'm insane, but it's a perfectly gorgeous winter day here in Minnesota. OK, so our temps are only in the low teens, but the sun is shining brightly and there's very little wind, so we don't have a windchill to contend with. It's so nice I didn't even have to wear a hat or zip up my coat today! So nice that I was even able to hang laundry outside -- see the steam (it was 14 degrees when I hung these jeans on the line). The weather service is predicting a turn for the worse tomorrow and sub-zero temps next week, so that makes today really enjoyable.

We had a couple inches of light fluffy snow yesterday and no wind overnight to blow it around, so I was excited to see these tracks in the backyard this morning when I was filling the birdfeeders (on the weekend I don't have to get up early, so I can wait until it's light to fill my feeders--instead of the usual 4 AM!) Who do you think made these tracks?

Here's another clue--

I'm reasonably certain these tracks are from a Red Fox! Here's what I learned from Stan Tekiela's "Mammals of Minnesota Field Guide." The fox forepaw is 2" long, oval, with hind paw slightly smaller; and it makes a straight line of single tracks with the hind paw falling near or directly onto forepaw prints when walking. The stride when walking is 10-14 inches.

Here's one of Sophie's footprints for comparison.

And she sometimes drags her feet while she's walking

Because it was such a nice morning, I decided to follow these tracks and see where this fox was headed. It walked down the path between my wildflowers and dogwood shrubs. This area is heavily traveled by bunnies, so I'm sure it was quite interesting to the fox.

However, the fox continued further on in the yard--toward the sumac and some other larger evergreens.

The bunnies spend a lot of time under these large evergreens too--I've never trimmed the branches on the bottom, so it's a nice sheltered area for all kinds of critters. The fox tracks even crossed the bunnies in a few spots.

As I continued following, I noticed two sets of fox tracks crossing each other. Is this significant? Hmmmm.....

And then farther up the hill, I found this. I think I had TWO FOXES in my backyard last night!

I found two sets of tracks together--one set coming into the yard and another set going the other direction.

I continued following the tracks hoping to find some more significant evidence (like some fur or even better, poop!) but the only thing I was able to detect was a faint whiff of fox urine--a very distinct aroma that you don't forget once you've ever smelled it. I'll probably never get the chance to see these foxes because of their mainly nocturnal schedule, but I'm excited to know they were here.