May 28, 2014
Swift Fox, Pawnee National Grassland, Colorado

We've returned to the Pawnee National Grassland in northern Colorado for our biennial visit to photograph the Swift Foxes (Vulpes velox). I quickly found some active-looking dens on our first afternoon, but didn't see any foxes until the next morning. That particular den, and the den in this image, is too far from the road to photograph from a vehicle, so I've been getting the foxes used to a photographer by moving a bit closer each morning and afternoon. I might be too cautious because the Swift Fox in this image hasn't minded me much at all. It watches me approach and then pretty much ignores me. It was interested in the noise that a Clif Bar wrapper made when I opened up the first one, but didn't seem interested when I opened up the second. This image is from yesterday afternoon when I set up close enough to get some nice images with the 600 and 2x. For this image, the sun was behind a dark cloud, but there was enough space around it and the other clouds to produce some wonderful diffuse light. The kits came out for the first time this morning, so be prepared for some cuteness in the days to come.