{"id":30916,"date":"2018-02-14T00:38:21","date_gmt":"2018-02-14T08:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sparselysageandtimely.com\/blog\/?p=30916"},"modified":"2023-12-18T19:21:46","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T03:21:46","slug":"another-look-at-foxes-skunks-and-coyotes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/?p=30916","title":{"rendered":"Considering foxes, skunks, and coyotes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Of late I seem to keep coming back to local wildlife<\/strong> in these postings. It’s hard to avoid in more ways than one. When I was driving home in the early afternoon today, a gray fox ran across my driveway. That was a thrill, and it made me wish I had my camera with me; however, the fox took off so fast I probably wouldn’t have had time to snap a picture anyway.<\/p>\n

\"\"Three grey foxes scavenging on our deck.<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m generally glad to have foxes around<\/strong> Mitchell cabin, but one of them is becoming a pest. Every morning a San Francisco Chronicle <\/em>driver throws a paper on our driveway but\"\"<\/p>\n

We’ve seen some foxes that were brazen enough to walk in the kitchen door to pick up a bite.<\/em><\/p>\n

sometimes recently when I’ve gone to retrieve it, I’ve found that a fox had peed on it. Thank goodness the paper comes in a plastic bag. Foxes apparently mark territory the way a dog does, and they choose the most prominent targets around.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Foxes sunning themselves on top of a Toby’s Feed Barn shed that extends into the Building Supply Center’s lumberyard. This photo was taken out a back window at the post office.<\/em><\/p>\n

The number of foxes<\/strong> hereabouts varies from year to year. This past year there weren’t many. In some years, however, there have been so many around Point Reyes Station that a couple of them took to sleeping on the roof of a shed at Toby’s Feed Barn. People would occasionally see them crossing downtown streets and hanging out between buildings.<\/p>\n

When the fox population drops suddenly, that’s often an indication that distemper has spread among them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A skunk at Mitchell cabin.<\/em><\/p>\n

Two weeks ago I wrote<\/strong>: “I can’t recall ever seeing as many squished skunks on West Marin roads as I’m seeing this year. Skunks have very limited vision, and because they can see only what is right in front of them, they can’t see oncoming motor vehicles.”<\/p>\n

To my chagrin, I proved my point shortly after midnight Saturday morning while driving home on Lucas Valley Road. In a wooded area west of Big Rock, a skunk suddenly darted onto the pavement in front of the car. I hit the brakes but there was no avoiding the creature. That certainly put a damper on what had been a fun evening spent listening to jazz at the No Name Bar in Sausalito. At least the car did not pick up a skunk smell.<\/p>\n

\"\"A coyote in our backyard.<\/em><\/p>\n

My happier encounter with wildlife<\/strong> that evening also occurred on Lucas Valley Road, in this case east of Big Rock. While I was en route to Sausalito, a coyote ran across the road in front of me. I was traveling at the speed limit, so I easily avoided it, and in any case, the coyote didn’t cut it close. Judging by the timing of its crossing, this was a much warier creature than the skunk would prove to be.<\/p>\n

I get a kick out of seeing coyotes, but I’m not a sheep rancher. Coyotes put more than half the sheep ranches in northern Marin and southern Sonoma counties out of business after a federal ban on poisoning them took its effect in 1983.<\/p>\n

At Mitchell cabin, however, the main way coyotes make their presence felt is with their nighttime howling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Of late I seem to keep coming back to local wildlife in these postings. It’s hard to avoid in more ways than one. When I was driving home in the early afternoon today, a gray fox ran across my driveway. That was a thrill, and it made me wish I had my camera with me; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":623,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-west-marin-nature","category-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/623"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30916"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40534,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30916\/revisions\/40534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}