Soniyawahkesis

[purplehaze]

I just had to share these with you as they reflect the highlight of what had already been an exhilarating afternoon walk. Within seconds of shooting the frame in my Moody Monday thread, I turned back to the trail to see this gorgeous silver fox standing within 20 feet of me, staring at me. It seemed not the least afraid, until I raised my camera, at which point it darted, but a few feet further down the trail, it turned and stared some more. In all, I got maybe a dozen shots, but because I was shooting my 18-35, she is very small in the frame (two of the images below are very heavy crops). It was a thrill because I had never seen a silver fox before and we shared a good few minutes communing with each other. The title of my thread is the Cree name for the silver fox, which is a melanistic variety of the red. There apparently is a lot of variation in the silver fox's colouring. You can see in the last frame that this one has a fair bit of red in its coat.

#1


#2


#3

[JBW]

you a lucky lady

[purplehaze]

you a lucky lady

[Donald]

Never knew such an animal existed. Wonderful to see.

One of these moments when you wish you had a different lens on board, but can't do anything about it.

[Rainforest]

How exciting! Great to see, capture and commune :-) You did well with what you had in hand.

[Mike Buckley]

Such an exciting encounter! The first image shows the environment so nicely that I consider the short focal length only a slight compromise.

[Shadowman]

Nice captures.

[rpcrowe]

Wonderful animal...

[bnnrcn]

Very nice Janis, I also like the environment very much in #1

[purplehaze]

Thanks all; glad you enjoyed the images. I certainly feel privileged having had such a close encounter, and lucky that she hung around long enough for me to overcome my initial fumbles.

[Jim A]

The title was the first thing that wanted me to view the images and thread - so exotic! Very glad I did stop to look, Janis - what a marvelous experience and so lucky getting the pics. It must be good karma

[Wavelength]

Excellent images of a rare one

[purplehaze]

Thanks Jim and Nandakumar. My sister tells me that this fox has been in our yard on several occasions and has even come up right on her deck. A friend of ours had an experience like mine where she and the fox locked eyes for a very long time. I am thinking there is something special about this animal and fervently hope no one decides it is a pest.

[Jim A]

I had a faint memory at the back of my mind that foxes are a particular part of mythology, Janis, and I did a little bit of research. They appear in East Asian folklore, and also, but more relevant in your case - in American Indian lore. Here is an extract -

"In some tribes of Northern California, Silver Fox is a wise and benevolent Creator god. In other tribes, such as the Blackfoot and Apache, Fox is associated with fire and the sun, and according to some myths, it was Fox who stole fire to bring to the people. The Arapahos associate Kit Fox with the sacred pipe. In the Northeast, Midwest and Plains tribes, Fox is generally a minor animal spirit associated with intelligence and wisdom, who occasionally help people or animals to solve a problem or punishes somebody careless or arrogant. Among Quechua and other Andean Indians, Fox appears frequently in folktales as a thief and greedy scoundrel, and seeing a fox is usually considered a bad omen in those cultures."

Interesting!

[purplehaze]

Jim, isn't interesting how cultures interpret the different elements of our world differently, and at times even in opposite ways. I did a bit of my own research and found this story, which I quite like. The story is apparently mistakenly identified as being Creek; it is actually Cree and so is indigenous to my part of the world. I think my fox is one of the spirit animals it talks about. Hopefully it has come to help, rather than punish me.

Edit: It occurs to me that it is rather arrogant to think it came for me, isn't it? After all, I did have a companion on the trail.