Friday, September 12, 2025

Lots o' Fox


I downloaded the wildlife cam last night and found a bonanza of footage! As you can see from the video, I moved the camera to a different spot -- a location about midway down the garden, looking toward the rear wall (where the camera was before).

This new spot seems like a good one. It gives a view down the path at the side of the garden, which means animals pass right by and stay in the frame for a while. You'll see not only multiple shots of our fox, but FOUR different neighborhood cats! I had no idea so many cats are hanging around. I suppose now that the scent of Olga is gone they feel more at home.

Here are some video highlights:

Start Afternoon light, on its own, can trip the camera by shining in the lens. Kind of a cool effect.
0:10 The fox shows up the back of the garden, has a good scratch and a leisurely stretch, and walks right past the camera.
1:16 The fox shows up after dark for another drive-by.
1:30 The bengal cat with the collar and bell comes around, leaving its scent.
2:00 Another cat comes by, a pale one.
2:15 A black cat shows up.
2:30 A squirrel works very hard to dig a hole, apparently burying a nut. It puts its whole body into the task!
2:49 The fox comes by, sniffs out the squirrel's hole, and makes a valiant effort to eat the nut. (Which probably smells like squirrel.) It gives up, goes to the back of the garden for a stretch, then does a couple of drive-bys.
5:20 The fox comes back after dark.
5:42 The bengal cat comes back, then runs away at the sound of nearby cats fighting.
6:10 Still another cat shows up -- this one a tabby.
6:30 The squirrel comes back and eats its nut!

I must say, after all that, I'm glad the squirrel got its prize in the end.

This obviously condenses a lot of action into a short time frame, making it seem like the animals were practically on top of each other. But it's actually several days' worth of activity. Everything up to the 2-minute mark occurred on Sept. 8; the rest on Sept. 10.

12 comments:

  1. Excellent video, I like the daytime bits better than the night ones where the eyes look like those "cheap-as-chips" ($2 store) solar animal statues where the eyes are big round metal bits with a globe in them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for this "foxy" video! That fox feels right at home in your garden. The cats are passing through mostly. I, too, am glad that the squirrel got to eat the nut after all that effort!

    ReplyDelete
  3. If you don't mind, I would rather not see footage of animals "on top of each other" unless it's a bull elephant and a lady hippo.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What fun. And so busy. I wonder what the squirrel thought of the foxy taste of his nut.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is a lovely video. Our gardens don't really belong to us - they are the province of the animals, domestic and wild.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Keeping your garden on the unmanicured side no doubt encourages them. But aside from the squirrel, it is a bit puzzling to me why they visit

    ReplyDelete
  7. I wish I had a variety like you. I haven't checked my game camera in a month and will likely do so today thanks to this reminder, but I know it will contain only two mammals, deer and human.

    ReplyDelete
  8. There's always activity in the garden!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I was surprised to see how much time the fox spent trying to eat that nut. He/she must have been quite hungry.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Foxes and squirrels and cats oh my! I wondered what the fox was eating or trying to eat. Now that there is no more Olga the other animals have new territory.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Gosh, your backyard is a busy place. I'm surprised at that.

    ReplyDelete