Why I Oughta...

 We have a pretty active NextDoor online community.  And as you'd expect, there's TONS of animal/critter sightings on there - including the occasional coyote ( Here's one that I saw on my walk to the train on our block ).  But, Downers Grove has what I think is A LOT of foxes in our town.  We have so many that there's now a restaurant named after the phenomenon (at least, I think that's why they named it that way).  I've posted about some of them on the blog including earlier this year when there was one sitting on the driveway across the street from us early one morning .   This past week, The KotBT and I were out in our front yard dragging our garbage cans down to the curb in the early evening when we spotted the Fantastic Mr. Fox crossing our street - from the creekside of the block to our side.  Here he is trotting across the street: I have a series of other posts about critters/wildlife on the blog including a close-up encounter with a fox ...

I was out moving the lawn sprinkler around ( the gear drive one that I bought this Summer ) and I noticed someone watching me from across the street.  It was this guy - a little Fox - sitting on the driveway watching my moves.  I looked down and then when I looked up, he was gone.  For reference, this is the driveway that you can see in the video here from 2017 with the same white garage door peeking out . Not the first fox we've seen - but I mostly see them closer to Maple Avenue - behind the Lincoln Center - but a good reminder that they're around and our neighborhood is home to plenty of wildlife. Two years ago, I posted this photo of a Coyote on my walk to the train .  Last Summer, a duck laid an egg in our yard .  And earlier this year, I spotted an Owl up in a large tree early one morning .  We've had a bunch of run-ins with foxes up in Wisconsin - in fact I saw one up on the porch one Winter morning .  Foxes are talked about all around...

There I was minding my own business early one morning recently reading on my phone when out of the corner of my eye, I noticed some movement out on the back porch.  I looked up and saw this guy's head peeking out from behind a post.  Those pointy ears and his bright coat told me he wasn't a coyote.  He was there for just an instance.  Then off he went down the stairs.   I shot up and made my way to the window to see where he was heading.  After some frollicking in the snow, he made his way into the neighbor's yard and disappeared.   Nat tells me that she's come across a similar fox last fall up there - so he's a known neighborhood member.  Turns out... they don't attack dogs .  So they have that going for themselves...