Have you seen a Sierra nevada red fox?

[cgundersen]

Hi All,

I alluded to this matter in a post in the Campfire section, but for greater visibility, I thought it would be best to alert folk here. Specifically, on a recent trip in which my wife and I transited Grinnell-Hopkins ridge, there was a piece of equipment that we inferred was a motion-activated camera (and it included the indication that it was placed there by the Department of Fish and Wildlife; DFW). I finally touched base with DFW and promptly heard back from Brian Hatfield, the individual in charge of the project. And the goal of the project is to monitor Sierra Nevada red foxes (SNRFs). So, for those of you who might be lucky enough to run across one of these rare creatures (I certainly have never seen one), please have your camera ready, because Brian's dream is to get photographic evidence to go with location data. For more info on SNRFs see the link below. To report a sighting, use the second link. And good luck!

Cameron

https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Ma ... da-Red-Fox
https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Ma ... ing-Report

And for more about these foxes, including photos, see this link: https://www.eslt.org/2020/01/30/how-you ... fer-zones/

[Love the Sierra]

Thanks for posting Cameron.
I have seen a Channel Islands Red Fox on one of the Channel Islands. Just beautiful! Never knew that there were red foxes in the Sierra.

[ironmike]

Likewise, I’ve seen them elsewhere (e.g. Yellowstone) but never in the Sierra.

[cgundersen]

Aura, Mike,

Like you, I've occasionally caught a glimpse of a fox in other places (like, coastal Sonoma), but not the Sierra. I figure it will give me a good distraction (looking for a fox) the next time I'm wondering how many more false ridges lurk between me and the "real" ridge I'm aiming for. Cameron

[Bluewater]

Thanks for posting this here. I may have seen a family of what looked like foxes near Lonely Lake back in 2015. These are the only photos I could get before they scurried away. I looked at the fox pictures on the link you included, and these look similar, but I'm definitely not an expert. Possibly the Sierra Red Fox?

Andy.

[cgundersen]

Hi Andy,
Wow! They sure look like the foxes I've seen in other photos. Since my contact guy (Brian, as noted earlier) operates outside the national parks, this may not be of direct interest to him, but I still think he'd be keen to see this, if you're willing to share. The link to report sightings is above. Thanks,
Cameron

[Bluewater]

Hi Cameron, I’ll send them via the link and report back what he says (if he confirms they are red foxes etc).

Thanks, Andy.

[RollingTree]

Fascinating. Thanks for sharing. I saw a trail cam at the top of "Don't Be Smart Pass" last year and wondered what it was for. I suppose the researchers use them track a variety of wildlife, maybe Bighorns in that case. Coincidentally, I did see what seemed like a rather more "plump and fluffy" than normal Red Fox this year at Birch Lake, but it skittered off quickly when I was still a good ways off. I was wondering where the owner of this "dog" was as I approached. Presumably not a Sierra Nevada Red Fox though, given the rarity.

[cgundersen]

Hi rolling tree,
David Caruso mentioned the same camera in an earlier post; I'd like to think that there is cooperation among the different folk who are monitoring the wildlife (and occasional humans) who trigger their devices, but who knows? Anyway, sounds like you might have gotten a glimpse of one of those foxes up by Birch, especially if no "dog owner" appeared. I realize that it's a bit of a fool's errand to think I might be lucky enough to see one of these foxes, but with the entire HST community involved, who knows? Cameron

[cgundersen]

Today's LA Times had an article reporting that Mr. Hatfield's cameras in the Taboose Pass area had recorded the presence of these foxes to go with additional evidence from the Mono Creek area. I'll paste the link below and once again encourage anyone who encounters these elegant animals to report sightings as noted in the original post:
https://enewspaper.latimes.com/desktop/ ... 134c4dd8d9
Thanks,
Cameron