Raising a family
-
- July
- 28
It must be tough being a mom and trying to keep your young ones dry when it rains seemingly every day.
That’s what this robin is struggling with, as she tries to shelter her brood from the weather. The photos come courtesy of my colleague Tracey Princiotta, who lives in Somers and has the nest close to her front door.
The other photo below is more along the lines of “It’s summer and the living is easy.” This one comes from my colleague, Frank Becerra, a TJN/Lohud photographer, and shows a family of red foxes enjoying a warm day earlier this month in Southeast. Being a red fox apparently isn’t all that easy, either, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Bold italics are my addition.
The life of a red fox is hazardous from birth. Litters of nearly naked, blind and deaf newborn pups are left in dens while vixens (a.k.a. mom) search for food. The pups are vulnerable to any mammal or reptile that can crawl about in the burrow.
Long-tailed weasels, ermine, skunks, mink, gray foxes, snakes, or woodchucks are the most likely threats.
As the pups emerge from dens at about four weeks of age (in April) they become the prey of hawks by day, or owls by night. They also are vulnerable to crows, coyotes, gray foxes, bobcats, house cats, and dogs. If the den is close to a road, pups often are killed by car and truck traffic. When pups find exposed mice in newly cut hayfields in June, they are drawn into the open and again become vulnerable to owls and hawks.
Here’s an AP story about red foxes showing up in downtown Detroit.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 11:55 am by Mike Risinit.
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Journal News staff writer Greg Clary writes Earth Watch, reporting on environmental issues in the lower Hudson region. Clary has been a reporter, editor and columnist at the Journal News since 1988 and has covered police and courts, transportation, municipal government, development and the environment in the Lower Hudson Valley, among other topics. 
Laura Incalcaterra covers the environment, open space and zoning and planning issues for The Journal News. A Boston College graduate, Laura grew up in Rockland, attended East Ramapo schools and has worked for The Journal News since 1993. Laura has written features and covered North Rockland, crime, government and a host of other issues.
Mike Risinit covers Patterson and Kent in Putnam County, as well as environmental topics touching on the Hudson River and the Great Swamp. Risinit has been a reporter at The Journal News since 1998.
