3 Comments

Gray Fox PSA

That’s what greeted me as I arrived here at the Museum this morning, a Gray Fox. If you’ve spent much time here at the Museum, especially in Explore the Wild or Catch the Wind you may have seen this fox or perhaps one of its kin. If you’ve read this Journal in the past you may have read about the foxes here at the Museum. Gray Fox live here, they’re wild animals and not part of any display or exhibit.Read more
11 Comments

The Fox

I’ve been getting many reports of Gray Fox sightings by both staff and Guests. I myself have seen a fox on just about a daily basis, sometimes twice, or even three times in one day. Just the other day I heard one of the fox barking in the woods up behind the Red Wolf Enclosure. A few minutes later it was standing on the path about 30 feet away. I looked at the fox and the fox looked at me.Read more
8 Comments

Who’s that coming up the path?

Friday (4/27), a group of crows were making an incredible racket back up in the woods towards the Outdoor Classrooms here at the Museum. They were on to something, an owl, maybe a hawk, and they were going at it with vigor. Something up the in the pines had the crows terribly upset and they wanted it gone, or at least they wanted to make its life miserable for a while. I was up at the Sailboat Pond watching ExhibitsRead more

Fall

There’s little doubt that fall is here. Warblers and other migrant birds are trickling through, the raccoons, groundhogs, and fox are feeding more heavily, and, as mentioned in a previous post, snakes are moving about more. Here’s just a few more signs of the season before us. And, not necessarily a sign of fall but perhaps a sign of exhaustion towards the summer season… Have we seen this snapper behavior before? That’s all for now.Read more

Fox

Can you find the fox in the photo? If you don’t see the Gray Fox in the photo, don’t worry, I’ll show you where it is in a few minutes. I catch glimpses of our resident Gray Fox about every other week. Sometimes it’s a quick look as one of them rushes across the path, sometimes I see a fox stopped on the path eating fallen fruit (mulberries in spring, persimmons in fall, etc.) and sometimes it’s just a yelpRead more
1 Comment

Flowers, Butterflies, Odes, Birds, Snappers, and the Fox

Dame’s Rocket and Blackberry are in bloom. Butterflies find the early blooming blackberries rather tempting. More species of dragonflies and damselflies have been emerging recently. A first-of-the-season Carolina Saddlebags (Tramea carolina) was seen on 29 April as was a new species for the Museum, a Prince Baskettail (Epitheca princeps). I had thought that I spied one of these Common Baskettail (Epitheca cynosura) relatives last year, but couldn’t be certain. The sighting on the 29th confirmed it. On April 23, I witnessed the matingRead more

The Day of the Fox

Gray Fox are seen here at the Museum throughout the year. I sometimes see their tracks in the mud on service roads and there is a den in the woods near the Dinosaur Trail. The frequency of sightings usually picks up in mid-winter. Over the past few weeks there have been numerous sightings by myself, Museum Staff, and Museum Guests…. It was near closing time on Saturday (2/13) as I stood at the entrance to the Dinosaur Trail looking inRead more

Explore the Wild’s Wild Animals

Groundhogs are being seen throughout the outdoor exhibits, especially at the Bird Feeder Exhibit in Catch the Wind. Another less frequently encountered mammal on the Explore the Wild/Catch the Windloop has been seen at the feeders as well, a Gray Fox. On August 28th one was seen directly below the feeders with one eye on the seed at the base of the feeders and another on the birds above. The same day, a fox was seen near the Wetlands Overlook. Fox tracksRead more