Grey Foxes

     One sunny summer evening when I was a boy, I climbed a small tree in a hedgerow between fields to watch for birds, mammals or any other creatures that might be near the tree.  I was settled in the tree only a short time when I saw a striped skunk waddle under my tree and disappear in a thicket.  A short time later a grey fox walked by near my tree, sniffing here and there on the ground as it went.  Needless to say, I was thrilled by my success so quickly.
     Another time, one cloudy evening in March, when I was a young adult, I was walking along a forest and thicket path to just enjoy nature without a particular agenda.  I was alone and quiet, and when I rounded a bend in the trail, there close in front of me was a big, handsome grey fox, probably a male.  I stopped walking, surprised, and the fox bounded into a thicket and was gone in a second.  I was excited.  
     Grey foxes live here in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, but not in big numbers because this area doesn't have much forest land anymore.  I've only seen a few of these beautiful foxes live and wild in this my home area in my lifetime.  But grey foxes live commonly in a variety of habitats, including woodlands, wooded swamps, thickets, deserts and others throughout the United States, Mexico and Central America.  Obviously, they are adaptable.  
     Grey foxes are beautiful creatures that blend well into woodland, thicket and other habitats.  Their upper parts are as gray as tree bark, but their legs, chests and throats are the warm-brown color of dead leaves on forest floors.  And there is some white on their chests and throats.
     This type of fox eats mostly small rodents, rabbits, little birds, insects and other diminutive critters that it hunts mostly at night.  It also eats birds' eggs, fruits and berries when they are in season.  Turkey young and other ground-nesting birds are particularly vulnerable to grey foxes.   Some greys, in turn, especially the naive young, get caught and eaten by golden eagles, coyotes, bob cats and other, larger, predators. 
     Grey foxes, being small and slender, climb trees well to escape larger ground predators.  Even today in overly-civilized Lancaster County that is a good trait for grey foxes to have.  Coyotes can chase down grey foxes, but they can't climb trees, allowing the escape of grey foxes.
     This species of fox mates in February to March, depending on the latitude and weather.  Greys in the south breed sooner than their relatives in the north.  Grey foxes pair off for the season, if not for a life time.  Females deliver their litters of four or five pups in deserted wood chuck burrows or in shelters in hollow logs, tree stumps, brush piles, log piles, rock piles and other cavities that offer cover against predators and the weather.
     Grey foxes are mostly nocturnal and elusive, making them difficult to spot.  But even if the reader doesn't see this kind of fox alive in the wild, it is well worth knowing that such a lovely, intriguing canine exists in our woodlands the year around.