At dawn a few days ago I saw something in my yard I had never seen before: a fox family. (This was live, not on the trail cam.) I have seen foxes, of course. They come in pairs, breeding pairs I suppose, and the male eats while the female watches for danger, and then they switch.
(It occurs to me that Gary told me this information. “Oh, that’s the female.” He didn’t roll these foxes over and inspect their privates. Maybe one fox is just small-boned. No idea.)
This time the male and female ate together, along with a smaller fox, which I assume was their teenage son. (Again, I have no basis for this. Well, he did eat a lot and seemed to be insecure about his appearance.)
Then a fat white opposum came by and chased them around the yard. Dad disappeared (typical), Mom defended the teenager, and eventually, the Fat White Opposum won.
Gary surmised that the foxes had forced the opposum out of its den when the breeding season began and --
“Gary, we don't have to make up a backstory for all these animals. Let’s just enjoy what we can see.”
However, when I looked out again at eight and saw an adult red fox eating nuts, did I assume it was Mom getting the rest of her meal, yes I did. And then she left the nuts behind and rooted through the grass for cicadas. She had about fifteen cicadas for dessert. Because she was eating her feelings because her husband abandoned her when confronted by the big white opossum bent on revenge.
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