The other day we were walking in the Hampton Harbour Wildlife Management Area and noticed a large den (with two others close by) with animal tracks leading under the Hampton bridge. As I walked across the road to the residential homes, I was startled. A red fox quickly trotted across the street in the direction I came from. I never thought I would see a fox in the dunes. Wow! What a beautiful creature.
The red fox is one of the most adaptable mammals in North America and has an incredible ability to survive in a range of habitats, including sand dunes! Foxes hunt at night, and they are primarily carnivores. With the amount of rabbit scat in these dunes, my guess is that rabbits are the foxes' primary food source. When they walk or trot, foxes place each foot directly in front of the other, so their tracks are arranged in a straight line rather than side by side. Another way to identify their prints is to notice that their hind print is slightly smaller than their fore print.
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