Bumping Into My Favorite Animal: Fox
I walked near the river with my dog and husband the other day. It was a cold day, and the snow had become very hard due to the freezing temperature, making it quite slippery. My previous dog also loved this place. Next to the river, there is a long trail that connects to the dam system. This is a nice place to walk.
My husband has perfect eyesight, especially for far distances. He noticed that there was a fox near us. Foxes are among my favourite animals. I love dogs, wolves, coyotes, and foxes. In my hometown, we have orange-looking foxes called "The Ezo red fox キタキツネ (Vulpes vulpes schrencki)." In the Ainu language, people call them チロンヌㇷ゚(cironnup),スマリ(sumari),キモッペ(kimotpe),フレㇷ゚(hurep).
Since I moved to North America, I haven't had a chance to see foxes. In Hokkaido, Japan, foxes are pretty friendly, often coming near humans. I used to communicate with them sometimes. Last summer, when I visited my mother, I encountered a fox near her house. She lives in the city, but foxes come very close to houses. They walk on the streets normally. However, in my area in Canada, I never had a chance to see foxes up close. I often hear coyotes, saw them once very close, and encountered deer very close many times.
This time, finally, I saw a beautiful fox. He was trying to get his food in the snow, not noticing us at first. He seemed focused on his hunting. After jumping very high, unfortunately, he missed his prey. Immediately after noticing us, he ran into the forest. Canadian foxes appear to be very wild and shy, but they are stunning. They are a bit bigger than the Ezo foxes, I think.
I love this river because it looks almost black, reflecting mountains, trees, and snow like a mirror. In winter, it appears very cold. We came here for fishing a few years ago with our previous dog, and she enjoyed hanging out near this river. People come to this river for swimming, and I swam here once. It's very pure and clean. I enjoy river swimming.
Frozen sumac trees looked beautiful. They look like velvet. I love this deep red.
Well, he was so excited to smell other dogs. He wore his winter coat because it was very cold that day. I don't think he feels as cold as we do, but he likes to wear this coat because he can predict that we are going to ride in a car.
The wind was very cold and moved the river water faster. It looked very deep and freezing.
When we were walking along the river, my husband noticed that there was a fox on the opposite side of the river. Can you see it? There is a black dot in the field in the snow.
Probably, you noticed it. It looks a bit bigger than the last photo. He (I think) is looking for food under the snow. I read that foxes can jump about 2m high. Some researchers have studied their jumping directions and reported successful results in hunting when they jump to the northeast or southwest. So, people predict that foxes scale and use their magnetic sense, which is like the sixth sense, to adjust the direction of their target sounds, and then they calculate the distance between them and their target. Wow! They are so cool, aren't they?
They can run fast and swim very well as well. People call them tricksters or cunning. Also, many Indigenous cultures recognize them as holy clever creatures. I really respect foxes. I think they are one of my totem animals for sure.
Okay. Now, you can see him clearly, right? I love his fluffy tail. My dog was too busy smelling the other dogs. He didn't recognize the fox. The fox recognized us before my dog.
Unfortunately, he couldn't get his food this time, even though his jump was very high and cool. He looked a bit disappointed.
He looked very tough and big. After this moment, he noticed us clearly, and he ran away into the forest very quickly. I really enjoyed watching and observing him. I was very happy to bump into him.
Japanese 日本語
大好きな動物、キツネに出会う
先日、近所の川岸に主人と愛犬と一緒に散歩に行きました。とても寒く、雪が凍って引き締まり、大変滑りやすくなっていました。昔飼っていた犬がこの場所が好きで、一緒に来た思い出があります。川の横にはトレールがあり、ダムへと続いています。散歩するのにいい場所です。
主人はとても目がよく、特に遠くを見るのが得意です。そんな主人が近くにキツネがいると気づきました。私は犬、狼、コヨーテとキツネが好きで、中でもキツネがお気に入りです。故郷にはキタキツネがいます。アイヌ語でチロンヌㇷ゚（cironnup）、スマリ（sumari）、キモッペ（kimotpe）、フレㇷ゚（hurep）というらしいです。
北アメリカに移り住んでから、これまでにキツネを一度も目にすることがありませんでした。北海道のキタキツネはとても親近感があって、人間の近くに近づいてきます。彼らとコミュニケーションをとるのも割と簡単です。去年、実家を訪れた時、近所でキタキツネに出会いました。母は市内に住んでいるのですが、キタキツネが普通に道端を歩いています。しかし、カナダではキツネを近所で見かけることがなかなかできませんでした。コヨーテの声は頻繁に聞きますし、一度ものすごく近くで見たことがあります。鹿もかなり近距離で見ることが多いです。
今回、ついにきれいなキツネを見かけました。雪の中の獲物を狙いに集中していて、こちらに気がついていないようでした。残念ながら、獲物を逃してしまったようです。私たちに気がつくと即座に森に逃げていきました。カナダのキツネはかなり野生的で恥ずかしがり屋のようですが、とても格好良かったです。蝦夷のキタキツネより大きめに感じました。
この川はもう黒に見えるくらい美しい色です。山、木々や雪を映し出す鏡のようです。冬は、とても寒そうに見えます。ここに以前飼っていた犬を連れて釣りに来たことがあります。彼女は川の横で過ごすのが楽しかったようです。この川に泳ぎに来る人が多いです。私も少し前の夏にここで泳ぎました。水が澄んでいて綺麗でした。川で泳ぐのは好きです。
凍ったスマックの木が綺麗でした。ベルベットのような深い赤色が好きです。
私の犬は他の犬の匂いを嗅ぐので忙しそうでした。とても寒い日でしたので、コートを着せました。コートを着なくても本来は問題ないと思うのですが、コートを着ると車でどこかに行くことができると思うらしく、喜んで着ます。
風がとても冷たく、勢いよく川の水を動かしていました。凍えるほど冷たそうな水ですね。
川の側を歩いていると、川とは反対側の雪が積もった野原に主人がキツネを見つけました。雪の中に黒い点が見えますか？
ひとつ前の写真よりも大きく写っているので、おそらくキツネがいる場所がわかったのではないでしょうか。彼（たぶんオス）はおそらく雪の下の獲物を狙っているようです。キツネは２メートルほど高くジャンプできるようです。キツネがジャンプする方角について調べていた研究者が発表した情報を読んだのですが、北東や南西の方角に向かってジャンプするキツネは、獲物が取れる確率が高いそうです。キツネは第六感のような磁気感覚を利用して方角を測り、獲物の音がする方角との距離を把握しているとのことです。わぉ！なんとカッコ良いのでしょうか。
さてさて、もうはっきりと見えるのではないでしょうか？ふわふわのしっぽがいい感じですね。私の犬は他の犬の匂いを嗅ぐのに必死で、キツネがそばにいることに気がついていませんでした。キツネの方は私の犬より先に気がついている様子でした。
残念ながら、とても高くていいジャンプだったのですが、今回は獲物が取れなかったようです。ちょっと落ち込んでいるように見えました。
大きくてタフそうなキツネでした。この後、こちらの様子にはっきりと勘づいた彼は、急いで森の中に逃げていきました。キツネを観察するのはとても楽しかったです。やっと出会えて嬉しかったです。
It's a wonderland. So beautiful with all the ice.
Yeah, it’s cold but beautiful place to visit❄️
Back in Indiana I never saw any foxes, but I know they were around because I could see their paw prints very often, in mud or snow. I know what their paw print looks like because we learned that growing up for many wild animals, but in other things I know almost nothing about North American foxes. That's great that you could see one. Great photos!
Thank you! You don’t often see foxes in Indiana, except for their paw prints, right? I believe North American animals tend to be more wild and less likely to come near humans. This is just my opinion but wild animals in Japan seem to come closer to human lives compared to North America. I've seen raccoons, herons, hawks, and more very close to us in the Kanto area as well.
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Keep Up the good work on Hive ♦️
Thank you!
Yeah, it’s cold but beautiful place to visit❄️
@koto-art you're most welcome