Fox & Kit
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As I arrived just after sunrise the first thing I saw through the early morning fog was one of the kits laying dead in the grass next to the road. A couple of the local residents were standing near by, saddened by thought of this young life cut short. If only the car had gone a little slower, or the driver been a little more attentive perhaps this could have been avoided. Please drive with care!
After I moved the body of the dead kit to the side of the street where the mother's den is located, she came from behind the shrubs where she had hidden and sat down and looked across the road at me. The markings on her face looked almost like tears had been running down.
After playing and running around for a while the kit decided to take a break.
I noticed I was being watched by mom from the shadows of the bushes a short distance up and across the street. she then began working her way around the bushes and shrubs of the homes towards a place directly across from the dead kit laying along the road.
I returned later, just before sunset, hoping to capture images of the parents and the two remaining kits. I found mom and one of the kite together in the grass. I was hoping that dad and the other were off together someplace doing what foxes do.
The mother fox watched me carefully through the thick early morning fog as I positioned myself across the street hoping to capture images of her and her remaining kits. She alternated her glances from me to her dead kit laying across the street from her position. I layed down prone in the grass so as not to be as visible nor interfere with her activity. I also like how images look when shot from a low "critter-eye-level" point of view.
So as not to interfere or distract the foxes I layed down pron in the grass across the street from where they live. The mother, who is extremely alert, spotted me anyway. Then, almost as if to mock me, stretched out prone in the grass directly across the street from me and watched me as I photgrapherd her. She stayed like this for a few minutes until a loud vehicle drove by scaring her back into the yard of the nearby home.
After a little while of watching me and glancing at the body of her kit, the mother fox felt safe enough to cross to my side of the street to check on her kit. She crossed the road and approached the body cautiously, nuzzling it with her nose as if to prod the kit to wake up. After lingering for a few moments she then walked back across the street. As I watched I noticed that she again looked as though she was going to cross the street again, but was frightened by cars going by. I decided to move the body of her kit to the opposite side of the road so that she would not have to cross the dangerous street again.
After a while the mother fox was joined by one of her two reaming kits. Mom attempted to groom her baby, but the kit just wanted to play.