Moonlit nights and hungry foxes

It snowed here a few nights ago, and just before I went to bed I happened to look out the window because I thought I had left an outside light on. But no, I hadn’t left the light on; instead, the glow of the full moonlight behind the clouds which illuminated freshly fallen snow was so unbelievably bright.  The above picture is my backyard at close to midnight.  I took several pictures of the ethereal scene before I went to bed.

I have always loved night photography, ever since I was a kid when I’d borrow whatever camera my mom had at the time.  Usually those snapshot cameras didn’t do very well at all under such lighting conditions, but that didn’t stop me from trying.  Then I got to use my mom’s 35mm SLR when I went into college, and with the right exposure and right films, it would capture beautiful night scenes.  I also invested in a tripod and a remote cable trigger so I could get the sharpest photos possible.  I was also able to experiment with other cameras that the school would loan out to students, including a 2 1/4″ double lens camera and a 4X5 camera.  I still have that SLR, but I don’t use it anymore.  My phone does a fair approximation of a longer exposure photo, though it lacks the sharp details of film.  But for now, up and until I invest in something better, it does the job.

And right before I turned in for the night, I took one more peek out my bedroom window to see if I could spy one of the neighborhood foxes.  I’ve seen both red and grey foxes around here, the former of which are sometimes glimpsed when it is daylight out.  I’ve been putting meat scraps out for them this past winter, though I’ve always maintained a food scrap pile along with grass clippings back in the woods for whatever might stop by for a snack. I also have a camera set up to catch whatever passes by. But so far I’ve not been able to get any actual footage of a fox taking the food.  Until the night before last.  Here are some screen shots from a couple of video clips. These were taken with run of the mill portable battery powered security cameras, so the quality isn’t great.

This is a grey fox because of the dark marks on the side of its muzzle.  Otherwise, they are quite difficult to tell apart in black and white photos. I have also seen some red ones, including one that ran across my front walkway a few days ago one night.