Meet Mr. Fox. We actually met him before the rest of the family because he spent so much time out hunting. He totally ignored humans so we got to watch him hunting ground squirrels several times a good two weeks before we saw Mrs. Fox and their two kits. He was a very good provider and a tenacious hunter. We found him digging in some sagebrush one day. He dug over a foot and a half deep and at one point got so irritated at a sagebrush he ripped it right out of the ground. When you consider the size of a fox (smallish) versus the size of the sagebrush (much bigger than the fox) it was pretty impressive to see him just rip it out of the ground, carry it a few feet away, and disdainfully toss it aside. He spent hours hunting, probably for himself first, but he always brought a big, juicy ground squirrel back to Mrs. Fox.
He is on the left in the photo below. He had just handed a ground squirrel to Mrs. Fox on the right. They are standing at the main entrance to their den.
Love that shot of her with the goods! I’m thinking she should have been more appreciative.