June 10, 2014
Swift Fox With Prey and Swift Fox Kits Playing, Pawnee National Grassland, Colorado

It was a two-images-for-the blog kind of day, but I wasn't so sure when I arrived at the den in the afternoon. It was cold and windy in the morning and Swift Foxes (Vulpes velox) don't like to be out in weather like that. (The photographers aren't too keen on it either.) We didn't see any foxes so no images. Not a very good start to the day. It was warm with a light breeze when I headed out to go to the den late in the afternoon which the foxes like. The vixen was out at the den when I arrived and didn't mind me setting up by the Jeep but she ducked down into the den as I made my way out. I waited and she came out about 15 minutes later. She relaxed in the sun for a while then went to the den entrance. I thought she was calling out the kits, but instead she told them to stay down there while she went hunting. (My swift-fox language skills could use some work.) She hunted insects between my and the Jeep and then behind me. Then she made her way across the road and down a hill and out of site. I figured she would be gone for a while, maybe even an hour or so. Five minutes later she came running across the road towards the den and as I started tracking her to photograph her, I saw that she was carrying a Thirteen-Lined Ground Squirrel (Citellus tridecemlineatus). The light angle wasn't great, but the behavior sure was! She took the prey directly into the den and then came back out about a minute later followed almost immediately by the kits. The kits stayed out for more than an hour and a half! Usually they've only been out for about 45 minutes, and I had lots of good photo ops as they played in the wonderful evening light. It ended up being one of my best days with swift foxes ever!

I also saw all five of the kits. There are two runty ones, and the runtiest has a bad right front leg.