March 18, 2012 - Gray Fox

On Thursday, we were at our lake home in northern Minnesota. I was really surprised to see this Gray Fox in our yard. They are usually out only at night and this one did arrive late, about 6:30 P.M. It stayed nearly 45 minutes, eating seeds and peanuts from the ground under our bird feeders. I read that Gray Foxes have the most varied diet of any of the wild dogs.

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Gray Foxes are pretty small. They stand 14-15 inches tall, with a 22-24 inch long body, and a 10-15 inch tail. I thought this one looked about the size of a large house cat

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On Friday, the fox made a brief appearance at about 3:30 P.M. and unsuccessfully chased a Red Squirrel. Gray Foxes, while abundant in the southern two-thirds of North America, are not common in our area of Minnesota. I also read that they are the only members of the dog family that regularly climb trees. They grasp the tree with their front legs and boost themselves up with their hind legs.

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This is a really beautiful little animal. Note the grizzled gray fur and the rust-colored outlines. Its ears are lined with white and it has a white throat. A line of black fur runs along the top of the tail and its tail has a black tip.

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