Local photographer Sharon Rhodes had the opportunity of a lifetime when a family of foxes moved in next door to her this spring.
“Unbelievable that I was given the opportunity to have a glimpse into the drama of day to day life of a fox family,” said Rhodes who has spent her spring photographing the life and growth of the foxes.
Rhodes first saw the mother fox when she was driving to her home in The Cove and found they were living three doors down from her.
Then for reasons known only to the foxes, the family moved their den to Rhodes next door neighbour’s yard.
With permission from her neighbours, Rhodes began to watch and photograph the growing family.
She used large telephoto lens so that she could observe the goings on without interfering in the foxes lives or overly habituating them to a human presence.
“Best to watch them and enjoy seeing what they’re doing and leave them to be them,” she said.
And with that care and caution, Rhodes was treated to the once in a lifetime experience of getting to watch as wild urban fox kits grew up under the watchful eye of their mom.
“That experience was amazing,” she said, “I really got to understand her as a mom and how protective but patient she was.”
Rhodes watched as the kits were weaned from milk to eating prey brought to them by their mom.
As the kits started to eat solid food, Rhodes said that meals became a survival or the fittest scenario.
Mom would come back with a fresh kill and drop it for the babies.
One of the kits would grab the food and run, chased by its siblings.
“But it was obvious that if they got their face on it first they ate what they wanted and then the other kits were able to share the rest of what was left,” said Rhodes.
Watching as the mom came back with her kills, Rhodes said that she came to respect what an amazing huntress the fox was.
“I saw a duck, I saw a rabbit, gophers, mice, she would come back with,” she said.
“It was constant, she would drop the food, take a break and she was gone again and she’d come back and drop more food.”
After eating, the kits would chase each other and play, offering up a show to the watchful Rhodes.
Initially, when the kits were young, Rhodes said they only came out of the den when their mother was around.
“They only came out really when momma was close,” she said.
“As soon as she would leave the babies would go back into the den,” said Rhodes.
As the foxes matured, she said they started to venture out more, always under the watchful gaze of their mom.
Rhodes said that it seemed that the momma fox had an imaginary line that the kits could approach but not cross. If the babies started to venture too far, mom would get up and steer them back to where she wanted them.
“I never ever saw her be aggressive towards her pups I only saw her be a real caring mom,” said Rhodes.
As the kits matured, Rhodes started to be able to tell some of the kits apart from their siblings.
“I could tell which one was the female…and there was one that had some really dark face markings,” she said.
One of the babies really stood out from because of his unique, blue green eyes and daring behaviour.
“I called him Mr. Adventurous because he was the one who would come a little closer,” she said, “he was almost like a tease but as soon as I’d move he was gone.”
Adding to the challenge of photographing the kits was the fact they were at their most active at dawn and dusk, tending to lounge in the sun if they were out during the day.
Adding to the magic of the experience was the way that the community became protective of and watchful for the family.
“It could have easily been the other way because you can see them as being a great experience, but you can also see them as being vermin and their digging up stuff and they shouldn’t be here,” said Rhodes.
“I give a lot of credit, love the people of Chestermere that they adopted these little guys,” she said.
The adventure of watching her neighbours, the foxes, grow came to an end as the family moved on to a new den, still in The Cove, in early May.
Rhodes believes that mom found a more protected den to keep the kits safe as they had started to venture out when she was away hunting or resting further from the den.
While Rhodes knows where they moved and still tries to photograph the family as often as she can it’s not quite the same as having a family of foxes next door.
“Absolutely unbelievable,” she said of her experience.
