A Wyoming Winter Visitor

The cold continues at 60 miles North of Nowhere.  A whopping ZERO this morning at 8 a.m.  But at least this morning the wind has abated.  Instead of 40 mph it's only 9 mph which seems like nothing.  Last night when I went to bed the wind was clipping along indicating a new front was moving in.  I guess the cold was the new front as the wind is out of the north instead of the usual southwest.

I've read accounts of how the wind would drive people insane in frontier Wyoming.  I believe it.  It's darn near had me there a time or two.

One of the perks of living here is the wildlife and now we have somewhat of a mystery on our hands.

I first became aware of our winter visitor when Bob, the stock dog, began throwing barking fits in the morning.  When I went to investigate, I found this:

Can you spot the visitor in this photo?

Oh here he is!

A fox! He was sitting intently watching for prairie dogs to devour. Hey Bud,

 I wish you great success. Eat all you can.

I think he is a red fox as he is unusually large for a fox. Isn't he beautiful!!!

We also have swift foxes in Wyoming but they are smaller and because he 

is larger and red, I believe he is a red fox (Vulpes vulpes). It took me a

couple of tries to get a photo of him. I had to be sneaky because as soon as

 I stepped outside, he would look over his shoulder at me and move into the 

drainage ditch behind him in the photos. 

He didn't seem very afraid though. The dog did not bother him at all.

Maybe just camera shy? He visited quite regularly for a couple of

weeks but now seems to have moved on to better hunting grounds.

Several years ago, one of the stock dogs, Brookie, would play regularly 

with a young fox. She would chase it, then it would chase her. This

went on for the course of a summer. Since the dog does not bother

this guy, we are wondering if this is the fox who used to play with

the dogs? A mystery we probably will never solve.