Larch Creek Birds

What the birds (and frogs) are saying at a creek in western Washington
Plate 45
Red Fox
Mivart, St. George Jackson, 1890
Mammal

Red Fox

Vulpes vulpes
Canidae
New for the creekUnexpected nowMammal
Occasional. Never better than a coin toss here in any week of the year.
Field marks
A slim, rusty-red fox with black legs and ears and a bushy white-tipped tail; in the Northwest some are grey or dark 'cross' forms.
Male & female
Alike; males slightly larger.
Voice
A hoarse, screaming bark at night in winter, especially in the January–February mating season, that has sent many people to the window convinced of something much worse; also a sharp 'wow-wow-wow'.
Diet
Mice and voles, located by hearing them under the snow and pouncing in a high arc; rabbits, birds, fruit, insects, carrion.
Habitat
Farmland, forest edges, suburbs; more an animal of open country than coyotes are in this region.
Nesting
An earth den, often an enlarged burrow; kits born in March–April.
Size
8–15 lb, about 3½ ft nose to tail-tip: a house cat's weight on longer legs, with a tail like a feather duster.

Lowland foxes in western Washington are mostly descendants of fur-farm escapees, unlike the native Cascade red fox of the high mountains. A fox 'scream' in autumn is unusual enough to be worth listening to the clip.

Season how expected it is here, week by week

50%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecheard at the creektoday
Fig. 1. BirdNET's range model for this location: the chance this species is present in each week of the year. Orange ticks mark weeks it has actually been heard at the creek; the dashed line is today.

At the creek 6 calls on 1 day, first Oct 31, last Oct 31

2300:00 — 0 calls001:00 — 0 calls02:00 — 0 calls03:00 — 0 calls304:00 — 0 calls05:00 — 2 calls06:00 — 0 calls607:00 — 0 calls08:00 — 0 calls09:00 — 0 calls910:00 — 3 calls11:00 — 0 calls12:00 — 0 calls1213:00 — 0 calls14:00 — 0 calls15:00 — 0 calls1516:00 — 0 calls17:00 — 0 calls18:00 — 1 calls1819:00 — 0 calls20:00 — 0 calls21:00 — 0 calls2122:00 — 0 calls23:00 — 0 callssunrisesunset
Fig. 2. When it calls: all detections by hour of day (today's sunrise and sunset shown).
36Oct 2 — 0 callsOct 3 — 0 callsOct 3Oct 4 — 0 callsOct 5 — 0 callsOct 6 — 0 callsOct 7 — 0 callsOct 8 — 0 callsOct 9 — 0 callsOct 10 — 0 callsOct 10Oct 11 — 0 callsOct 12 — 0 callsOct 13 — 0 callsOct 14 — 0 callsOct 15 — 0 callsOct 16 — 0 callsOct 17 — 0 callsOct 17Oct 18 — 0 callsOct 19 — 0 callsOct 20 — 0 callsOct 21 — 0 callsOct 22 — 0 callsOct 23 — 0 callsOct 24 — 0 callsOct 24Oct 25 — 0 callsOct 26 — 0 callsOct 27 — 0 callsOct 28 — 0 callsOct 29 — 0 callsOct 30 — 0 callsOct 31 — 6 callsOct 31
Fig. 3. Calls per day over the last 30 days.

Recordings

Clearest recording · Oct 31 5:46 am · 92% sure
spectrogram
Recent · Oct 31 10:39 am · 90% sure
spectrogram

From the encyclopedia

The red fox is the largest of the true foxes, and the most widely distributed member of the order Carnivora. It is present across the entire Northern Hemisphere, including most of North America, Europe and Asia, as well as parts of North Africa. Its range has expanded alongside human settlement, with the species having been introduced into Australia, where it preys on native small and medium-sized rodents and marsupials. The red fox is listed as of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Because of its impact on native species, it is included on the list of the "world's 100 worst invasive species".
From Wikipedia, "Red fox", CC BY-SA 4.0.