I decided to go out this afternoon even though it was -20 °C with a windchill of -25° C!! There is a small wooded nature park near the local shopping mall that has been preserved as a green space by our enlightened mayor. There are trails, a stream, and several bird feeding stations as well as interpretative signs about the flora and fauna.
Well, after doing a bit of shopping at the mall, I walked to the park as it is on the way home. It was getting close to sunset but I wasn't very worried about "bad guys" lurking in the woods - not at these temperatures! Even so, as I walked the trail I stopped twice to look back. Well, the second time I did that, there he was! A most handsome, magnificent fox!! I was hoping to get a glimpse of one because of all the tracks I was seeing but instead of just a glimpse I had this most wonderful encounter.
He stopped and looked at me and I called to him. I told him over and over "I love you". (I tend to get emotional at times like this and just keep babbling). I wonder what these creatures think of me! Anyway, he was in fine form and was feeling playful. He leapt in the air a couple of times and then ran in quick spurts to my left. He was trying to get downwind of me to find out what I was. I saw him put his muzzle up and take deep sniffs of the air. I guess I wasn't considered a danger because he came closer and just like a dog playing in the snow, he crouched down with his bottom up and pushed his nose into the snow. I almost felt like I could say "here boy!" and he would have come right to my side! Then he did a wide semi-circle around me and I lost sight of him. I was breathless!
Walking on a bit, I scanned the woods to the right. There he was, not far away standing beside a tree and looking right at me. He came closer, made a long stretch putting his chin on his paws and then proceeded to trot away down the frozen stream. I whispered one more "I love you" as I watched him go.
Although I didn't have a camera with me, here is a picture I took of another fox on another walk. What a perfect day!
Posts
What a crazy lady you are to be out walking today. Or, perhaps in light of the events, I should call you a foxy lady? That's it.
ReplyDeleteI never mind if someone wants to call me a foxy lady! :-)
ReplyDeleteI would have been SOOOO Excited to have seen him!! How Fun that walk must have been! Great photo of the other little guy though!!
ReplyDeletehughugs
Doris I felt as though I was walking with you! It's wonderful to get so close to the creatures and critters all around us. I've seen foxes fleetingly when I've been going to work early but I've not had the experience you have. I think the fox heard you say that! In the film, Secret life of Bees, the bee keeper tells her young helper, "You have to show them love" The helper then says out loud to the bees... "I love you, I love you, I love you." I think they have to be told!
ReplyDeleteThanks Donna for your comment and Daffy, yes, I think you are right. I make a point to say hello to squirrels and cats that I meet on my way to work too. I think they respond to that. (I know my cats LOVE it when I tell them they are pretty! :-))
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful. We go out walking at Riverwood and see many many tracks, but have never seen an animal belonging to any of those tracks. How wonderful that would be.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you have ever watched any of Rosie O'Donnell's videos of her talking to the Dolphins, but they are amazing. They swim around her boat and she calls to them "here boy, here boy" and they come right up to her. Amazing!
There's me thinking that it's been cold here in London but compared to there it's been positively warm at around zero!
ReplyDeleteWe have foxes on the allotments and one lady has sometimes had them feeding from her hand.
They really are lovely animals, and your post and that photo are wonderful!
Here's my close encounter with Missy Fox
http://flightplot.wordpress.com/2009/02/21/hello-again/
Flighty xx
Cuppa, no I hadn't seen Rosie O'Donnell's videos. How amazing! I really think animals want to make contact with us. Maybe next time you will be lucky at Riverwood.
ReplyDeleteFlighty, thanks for the RSPB link (I've bookmarked it) and I checked out your fox posting. Wow! I never get tired of looking at foxes!