Red Fox January 23, 2012
My husband gave me a wildlife camera for Christmas--so far, just photos of my dog and cats. But, I moved it to the driveway where it captured a photo of this red fox on Monday night. The lens appears to have raindrops on it. I think the fox was just as happy to get out after 3 days of rain. According to Eastern Forests, it is their mating season right now.
At first, I thought it was a coyote because of the color but red foxes go through a black and intermediary phase. Also, the fox has a white tip at the end of the tail as shown in my photo rather than black like a coyote. The fox carries its tail straight out, like in this photo, while the coyote carries its tail down while running or walking. I'm fairly sure of the identifcation of a fox after looking at this site:
http://blog.wildsidenaturetours.com/2009/06/fox-or-coyote.html
Another thing that threw me off at first was the tail which is usually fluffy. This fox's tail looks like somebody got a good chunk of the fur resulting in it looking a little more like a coyote. The tail also might have been wet from all the rain.
My Bees Survived
I was worried about my new "Duchess" hive because I hadn't seen the bees out on the many warmish days unlike the older "Princess" hive which had bees coming out on 50ish days. On Tuesday morning, it warmed up quickly to above 50 degrees and the new hive was just swarming with bees, so much so I thought it was being robbed. But, it wasn't. I saw some bees coming out yesterday as well.
I named my new hive "Duchess" partly after the name of the paint for the bottom board and top (Duchess Blue) and also because it was close to the royal wedding (May 2) when I got my nucleus hive. Then, "Princess" seemed like the right name for the older hive. I would like to restain and paint the older hive since the old hive is starting to show deterioration from 3 years of being out in the weather.
Heather January 24, 2012
I saw a few bees on this heather which has been blooming for a month or more.
I am still amazed that it blooms in the winter, even with all the warm weather. I wish I had more than one heather shrub for the bees.
Yesterday, I cut back multi-flora rose, hoping to eventually kill it by starving its roots. I usually do this in late February or early March but I had noticed it was already starting to leaf out. It's been an unusually warm winter so far.
Thanks for your kind thoughts about the loss of my cat! Those hives look great, hope they start going nuts with pollen soon. The past three days here mid day, pollen of three kinds. Sometimes the bees on the board with pollen number over a dozen, had to believe it is January still.
ReplyDeleteRandy--I haven't seen my bees bringing in any pollen. The crocuses aren't blooming yet. It is hard to believe it is January. Today it is cloudy but still 65 degrees!
ReplyDeleteSo glad your hives are doing well. Know you loved documenting the fox! cool! warm in Richmond, too.
ReplyDeleteHey! Per your comment on my blog, as follows. Love that fox, too! They are elusive!
ReplyDeleteAppalachian Lady, First I would say to keep it simple (or course, haikus help you do that! :-)) Secondly, bring some nice haiku samples to read aloud with you. Many are about nature. I think that I've read some good Japanese haikus on dragonflies, in particular. Also, for the kids (and it helps me, too) have them tap out the sound of the syllables on their desk or clap them out. 5-7-5; there are more types as well.
:-)
Glad to see your bees are doing well during this crazy winter. I've often wondered what critters I could capture with a wildlife camera -- maybe even something as cool as your fox.
ReplyDeleteLovely fox photo,have you ever heard the vixen's mating call? Strange and rather scary. So good to know your bees are doing well as they are so precious to our life on this planet.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos! There has been a fox hanging around my house for the last couple of weeks. I don't have a problem with that but I was under the impression that fox tend to avoid areas where people are. I also have a Rottweiler that is kenneled when not in the house. I'm very surprised that this fox would even come around with my dog here. I'm worried that he might have rabies or distemper.
ReplyDelete