Lacerta Bilineata
Getting Rid Of The Winter Coat (read info text for story)
IMPORTANT: for non-pro users who read the info on a computer, just enlarge your screen to 120% (or more), then the full text will appear below the photo with a white background - which makes reading so much easier.
You'll find my best photos (mostly not yet on Flickr) here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...
THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO:
The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) you see above - a vixen in the process of shedding her winter fur - was perhaps the luckiest shot I ever got. It was certainly the most unexpected. It was also a dream come true that I'd had ever since I picked up a camera again a few years ago to document the local fauna around my house in Ticino (Switzerland).
It's one of the most special photos to me, and this has nothing to do with its quality (which, compared to most of the gorgeous fox pictures I find here on Flickr, is average at best). But before I tell you how I got the shot, you have to know that foxes are - by far - my favorite wild mammals (sorry dear squirrels and roe deer: I love you guys, but it's not even close 😄).
That wasn't always the case. Believe it or not, I suffered from "Fennecaphobia" as a child: the fear of foxes (and in case you wondered: I didn't make up that word, it actually exists 😂). To me, these were unholy, demonic creatures and harbingers of death the sole mention of which would make my skin crawl and the hair on the back of my neck stand up - and I'm not kidding.
Writing about it now obviously makes me chuckle; I mean, I spend half of my time in the city where these furry clowns are very common and so well adapted to urban life they'll probably soon start using credit cards and doing their own shopping - but when I was a kid growing up in the countryside near Zurich in the late 70s and early 80s, you would practically never see a wild fox.
This was at the height of Switzerland's effort to eradicate rabies, and foxes (and badgers and many other small mammals) had been gassed in their dens and shot and poisoned in staggering numbers for over a decade, to the point where - while the deadly virus persisted - entire populations of its unlucky potential carriers were eliminated.
The surviving animals were immunized through bait with a vaccine in it - mostly chicken heads that were laid out all over the country - and this approach thankfully worked very well (today, Switzerland is officially free of the deadly disease). But for a period of time which happened to coincide with my early childhood, the fox population in rural areas around Zurich was so decimated and shy, it was practically invisible.
All I knew about foxes were the constant warnings every kid my age heard from their parents: I was to immediately call an adult if I saw one and mustn't EVER try to get near it or touch it. Fat chance there was for that; I think I was in my early teens when I first encountered a wild fox in the forest (and considering I spent most of my free time in those woods as a child, that should tell you something how rare they were).
Not that I complained: there was nothing, and I mean NOTHING I was more afraid of as a child than a fox. These were creatures I had nightmares about; vampires and werewolves or other monsters didn't scare me (they were from a world of fantasy I knew little about) - but here was a real beast of flesh and blood even grownups seemed to be scared of. It could attack you, and its bite would first make you go insane, and then you would die a horrible, slow death.
Well, thankfully no such thing happened to young me 😁, and I guess as is the case with most things we fear as kids, they also fascinate us. So over time, by reading about foxes and watching countless documentaries, I eventually lost my "Fennecaphobia", and the furry goofballs started to grow on me (it certainly also helped that as I got older, rabies wasn't this frightening topic everyone talked about anymore - plus I saw the wonderful Disney cartoons 'Robin Hood' and 'The Fox And The Hound': THAT was definitely instrumental in me overcoming my fears 😊).
Cut to today where I see foxes for what they are: the most adorable, curious, smart and playful creatures in our forests and cities (again: sorry dear squirrels and roe deer fawns 😄 ). And they are so beautiful; I mean, if you've ever seen a red fox in its full, fluffy winter fur and didn't think this was the most gorgeous wild animal, then you should probably have your eyes (and your soul) checked. 😊
But ironically, live encounters with wily fox in the forest - and particularly around my home in Ticino - have been exceedingly rare for me. In fact, over the past 40 years since my mom acquired this little house I now live in, I've only ever met a single fox in the area, and that was nearly 20 years ago.
So imagine my surprise - and my delight - when I finally got to see (and photograph!) one without even having to leave my garden. Here's how that happened: one day in May '22, I was using the zoom of my camera to scan the honeysuckle shrub right outside my garden for lizards, when I suddenly detected movement in the horse pasture behind the shrub.
I immediately adjusted the lens - and the vixen walked right into my viewfinder. I was so excited I nearly had a heart attack. I had time to click five times, then she was gone; my second Ticino fox encounter in 40 years hadn't lasted longer than 7 seconds.
But I was ecstatic: even though I had taken the shots from a distance of at least 30 meters and used the full range of the zoom, they vixen was in focus, and in one of the photos (the one above), even her eyes were visible.
As you can see, Mrs. Fox was in the midst of getting rid of her winter coat, but if she looks a bit ruffled in the photo, that's also because she was most likely raising a few cubs at that time, and little baby foxes aren't exactly tender with their paws and snouts when they plow through mom's fur in the search for milk. I only saw Mama Fox this once, and then never again.
So, that's it; that's the (hi-)story of the shot and my relationship with these beautiful animals, and now you perhaps understand why both are so special to me. By the way, there IS now a fox that visits my garden nearly every night: I've never seen the fella, but I've found his (or her) tracks - as well as the chaos left behind when he/she's raided my compost pile and my buffet for birds. I guess I'll have to get a trail camera one of these days... 😊
As always, many thanks for reading and commenting: have a great start into the new week everyone! ❤🙏😊
Getting Rid Of The Winter Coat (read info text for story)
IMPORTANT: for non-pro users who read the info on a computer, just enlarge your screen to 120% (or more), then the full text will appear below the photo with a white background - which makes reading so much easier.
You'll find my best photos (mostly not yet on Flickr) here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...
THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO:
The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) you see above - a vixen in the process of shedding her winter fur - was perhaps the luckiest shot I ever got. It was certainly the most unexpected. It was also a dream come true that I'd had ever since I picked up a camera again a few years ago to document the local fauna around my house in Ticino (Switzerland).
It's one of the most special photos to me, and this has nothing to do with its quality (which, compared to most of the gorgeous fox pictures I find here on Flickr, is average at best). But before I tell you how I got the shot, you have to know that foxes are - by far - my favorite wild mammals (sorry dear squirrels and roe deer: I love you guys, but it's not even close 😄).
That wasn't always the case. Believe it or not, I suffered from "Fennecaphobia" as a child: the fear of foxes (and in case you wondered: I didn't make up that word, it actually exists 😂). To me, these were unholy, demonic creatures and harbingers of death the sole mention of which would make my skin crawl and the hair on the back of my neck stand up - and I'm not kidding.
Writing about it now obviously makes me chuckle; I mean, I spend half of my time in the city where these furry clowns are very common and so well adapted to urban life they'll probably soon start using credit cards and doing their own shopping - but when I was a kid growing up in the countryside near Zurich in the late 70s and early 80s, you would practically never see a wild fox.
This was at the height of Switzerland's effort to eradicate rabies, and foxes (and badgers and many other small mammals) had been gassed in their dens and shot and poisoned in staggering numbers for over a decade, to the point where - while the deadly virus persisted - entire populations of its unlucky potential carriers were eliminated.
The surviving animals were immunized through bait with a vaccine in it - mostly chicken heads that were laid out all over the country - and this approach thankfully worked very well (today, Switzerland is officially free of the deadly disease). But for a period of time which happened to coincide with my early childhood, the fox population in rural areas around Zurich was so decimated and shy, it was practically invisible.
All I knew about foxes were the constant warnings every kid my age heard from their parents: I was to immediately call an adult if I saw one and mustn't EVER try to get near it or touch it. Fat chance there was for that; I think I was in my early teens when I first encountered a wild fox in the forest (and considering I spent most of my free time in those woods as a child, that should tell you something how rare they were).
Not that I complained: there was nothing, and I mean NOTHING I was more afraid of as a child than a fox. These were creatures I had nightmares about; vampires and werewolves or other monsters didn't scare me (they were from a world of fantasy I knew little about) - but here was a real beast of flesh and blood even grownups seemed to be scared of. It could attack you, and its bite would first make you go insane, and then you would die a horrible, slow death.
Well, thankfully no such thing happened to young me 😁, and I guess as is the case with most things we fear as kids, they also fascinate us. So over time, by reading about foxes and watching countless documentaries, I eventually lost my "Fennecaphobia", and the furry goofballs started to grow on me (it certainly also helped that as I got older, rabies wasn't this frightening topic everyone talked about anymore - plus I saw the wonderful Disney cartoons 'Robin Hood' and 'The Fox And The Hound': THAT was definitely instrumental in me overcoming my fears 😊).
Cut to today where I see foxes for what they are: the most adorable, curious, smart and playful creatures in our forests and cities (again: sorry dear squirrels and roe deer fawns 😄 ). And they are so beautiful; I mean, if you've ever seen a red fox in its full, fluffy winter fur and didn't think this was the most gorgeous wild animal, then you should probably have your eyes (and your soul) checked. 😊
But ironically, live encounters with wily fox in the forest - and particularly around my home in Ticino - have been exceedingly rare for me. In fact, over the past 40 years since my mom acquired this little house I now live in, I've only ever met a single fox in the area, and that was nearly 20 years ago.
So imagine my surprise - and my delight - when I finally got to see (and photograph!) one without even having to leave my garden. Here's how that happened: one day in May '22, I was using the zoom of my camera to scan the honeysuckle shrub right outside my garden for lizards, when I suddenly detected movement in the horse pasture behind the shrub.
I immediately adjusted the lens - and the vixen walked right into my viewfinder. I was so excited I nearly had a heart attack. I had time to click five times, then she was gone; my second Ticino fox encounter in 40 years hadn't lasted longer than 7 seconds.
But I was ecstatic: even though I had taken the shots from a distance of at least 30 meters and used the full range of the zoom, they vixen was in focus, and in one of the photos (the one above), even her eyes were visible.
As you can see, Mrs. Fox was in the midst of getting rid of her winter coat, but if she looks a bit ruffled in the photo, that's also because she was most likely raising a few cubs at that time, and little baby foxes aren't exactly tender with their paws and snouts when they plow through mom's fur in the search for milk. I only saw Mama Fox this once, and then never again.
So, that's it; that's the (hi-)story of the shot and my relationship with these beautiful animals, and now you perhaps understand why both are so special to me. By the way, there IS now a fox that visits my garden nearly every night: I've never seen the fella, but I've found his (or her) tracks - as well as the chaos left behind when he/she's raided my compost pile and my buffet for birds. I guess I'll have to get a trail camera one of these days... 😊
As always, many thanks for reading and commenting: have a great start into the new week everyone! ❤🙏😊