Widely distributed across Eurasia, North Africa, South China and North America, red foxes make their living hunting birds, insects and small animals, mainly weasels and mice. Red fox pairs mate for life, though they usually only live together during the winter months, sometimes hunting together, sometime not.

During the fall, I began observing a young female fox practicing in earnest all her mother's hunting lessons. By December, she had two suitors, one of who she vehemently chased away. The other she enticed with playful games, yips, nips and high pitched whines. Observing this fellow was not easy. Usually he was just a flash of red amid brown field grass or an orange flutter on a distant hill as he pounced on or dug for mice. But after the young female had chosen him, I saw them together on many of their winter morning romps. - BM