Into the Light

Mom and Kit

Day 5 (4/17/25) 

We finally were able to get some daylight shots of the kits. They are growing so fast. We also got some video of them. It is so fun to watch them running around. I am not sure how far they stray from the den but the video camera is a little ways down the trail and they come running past that. I had been wondering how red they were getting? When the parents were carrying them around they were mostly gray. Now they are still grayer than the parents but are mostly red. In just a week’s time they have grown quite a bit and are now looking more like the parents. Every once and a while, we catch a picture of the parents bringing some tender morsel to the kits. In one series of shots you can see a little one dragging around what appears to be a bird carcass. It may be awhile before I get to check on them again.

Foxy

Grumpy

Make a Little Noise

Watching the Sunset

The Three

Wait Mom

And then there were three!

The Three Kits

Day 3 (4/15/25) 

We were so excited seeing two kits at the den but when we checked today there were actually three. I am not sure why we didn’t capture all three in the first set of pictures but apparently they were just never out all together. We were hoping to get a daytime shot of them to see how their color has changed but nothing as of yet. They are very active all night long, with around five hundred pictures in three nights, but as soon as the sun comes up they are gone. Tomorrow I am going to check the video camera and see what we have. I hope we get some good video footage of them frolicking around. It has been an exciting last couple of days.

Two Kits

Hanging Out

Good Morning

Good Night

Their Back!

 

First Kit Sighting

Day 3 (4/12/25) 

After three to four weeks without much activity at the den suddenly on April tenth they were back with the kits. We were so excited to see that the kits are now up and running around. They are still little fur balls about half the size of the adults right now. It appears that there are two of them. They haven’t made a daytime showing yet but at night they are out scampering around. The camera went from almost no fox pictures to over four hundred in a week’s time and it is mostly the kits. The other thing that we noticed is that now there are no other animals hanging around the den. I am setting one of the cameras on video to see if I can capture some of their antics.

Mom

Froliking 

Mom and Kit

Two Kits

Nosey Neighbors

Opossum

Day 2 (4/9/25) Nosey Neighbors It seems that the fox parents have moved the kits to a different den. We still see them running past this den but rarely see them stop. A friend had told us of another possible burrow but as of yet we have not found one. In the mean time there have been a lot of other visitors. Almost every night opossum and raccoons drop by sniff around and then go about their business. Last night we had an interesting capture on the video cam. An opossum snuffling its way to the camera suddenly grabs an animal from under the leaves and gobbles it down. At first I thought that it may have been a mouse but I am now thinking a salamander. You can see a long thin tail and rear legs before it gets chewed up and swallowed but the infra red camera makes identification hard. On a side note, I wasn’t sure whether to use Opossum or possum but it turns out that scientifically possums are much smaller, from Australia and closely related to kangaroos. We were kind of surprised that so many animals visit the area around the den. Almost every night there are at least some. They seem to have no fear of the fox, some actually sniffing around the den, perhaps because they aren’t currently living in it.

Bunny

Racoon

Squirrel

Woodcock 

The Fox Files

 

Mid February

Day 1 (3/22/25) Fox Files

Last year we came across a fox den on one of our walks. We decided to set out a trail cam and see what we could see. We observed the fox family for several months but realized we were too late to get early pictures of the kits which were pretty much full grown. At first we didn’t even realize that they were the kits. Eventually we noticed that the young ones were slightly healthier looking, whereas, the adults were thinner and scruffier probably from taking care of the kits. Apparently, both parents help raise the young with the male providing food and protection while the vixen nurses the young. Sometimes there is a second female that helps with the nursing and care.  We learned a lot that first year but determined that we would have to get a camera out earlier next year.

This year we put the camera out in mid February. At first it was hard to tell if they were using the same burrow. They occasionally showed up on the camera but rarely going into or out of the den and never during the day. Even when there was snow on the ground there was little or no evidence of the den being used but we kept filming. Eventually there was more activity but even then it appeared as if they were just passing by the den. We like to check the camera sparingly as to not bother them so today was the first time in a while. We were surprised to find evidence of the kits being moved three times over the last couple weeks. It looks as if there are four of them. It is a little hard to get the full picture of what is going on with random pictures so I am thinking of changing over to video for a while. From what we can see, they were moved into and then out of the den again and then maybe back in. Some of this was done during daylight giving us some good pictures. We were surprised to see how dark the kits are. They appear to be mostly gray blobs. At first I wasn’t sure what I was seeing. Right now they appear to be about the size of a football. I am sure a lot of it is fur. Hopefully they will stay in this den and we get some good footage of them growing up.

Enjoying the Sun

First Move

If you look closely you can see its little face

Nighttime Move

Third Move

Quebec City

 

Day 4 (8/7/24) Quebec City

In contrast to Toronto’s contemporary architecture, Quebec City is steeped in history. Built on a bluff overlooking the St Lawrence River Quebec City was the last bastion for the French troops in Canada. Nearly the entire old city is surrounded by walls. Sailing into Quebec City leaves quite an impression. We once again started the morning with a walk around the city. Since it is built on a bluff we figured the best thing to do was go all the way to the top and work our way down. Fortunately we got an early start because it soon got rather warm and crowded. We slowly worked our way up past the “Chateau Frontenac” to the “Plains Of Abraham”, the site of the final battle between the French and English which saw England the victor. Chateau Frontenac dominates the landscape from the moment you come into the harbor. Although it has always been a hotel it is the embodiment of every fairytale castle imagined. Everywhere you look in the city is a piece of history. After leaving the plains we worked our way past the Citadelle. We thought about watching the changing of the guard but we weren’t sure that we would have made it in time and were on a very tight schedule so we continued working our way around the back of the fort and started down through the city. In the afternoon we had a tour scheduled. It turned out to be a bit of a letdown after our wonderful morning. The tour started with a trip out to see a local waterfall. It was a rather long ride and after seeing the waterfalls of Iceland and Norway I guess we were a bit jaded. When we got back to town we ended up going to much the same area we had seen in the morning so when we finally got off the bus we asked permission to walk back to the ship on our own. Quebec City is beautiful and definitely somewhere that I would love to spend more time at.

Chateau Frontenac

Pink Guys all over the city

One of many many canons 

Plains of Abraham

The Guards

Eileen's Guardian Angel

More of the Chateau

One of the many Sculptures

Fishing at the Falls

The Falls

The mural I thought I missed

Trois-Rivieres

 Day 3 (8/6/24) Trios-Rivieres

We docked early in the morning at Trois-Rivieres. It promised to a beautiful day. After a quick breakfast we headed out for a walk around the city. Unlike Toronto, Trois-Riveres was easy to tour on your own. Those are our favorite type of city. Although it did not boast Toronto’s contemporary architecture it had its own European charm. After lunch we had our first trip out on the Zodiacs to tour one of the rivers for which the city got its name. On the tour we got to watch one of the science teams placing their fish baiting cameras that they use to help identify the health of the fisheries in the area. It was a pretty mellow tour but the driver did open it up a bit on the way back to the ship. He told us that all the zodiacs GPS was tracked on a screen back in the bridge. Later we decided to check out the pool and spa area. It was supper time so we had the facilities to our selves. The spa consisted of a jetted pool, sauna, sweat room, hot tub, cold bucket shower and snow room. We gave everything a try. After that we watched as the ship pulled away to continue our journey.  

Unique Store

Down town

Town Square

A couple neat sculptures

Musical I presume 

Another sculpture

Science team placing cameras

The Pool

Leaving Trois-Rivieres