Recommendations for where to see/photograph swift fox and kit fox in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona
I need recommendations for where to see two species of fox – the kit fox and swift fox. The kit fox is a desert animal and should be in desert regions of Utah and Arizona at the very least, and possibly desert portion of Colorado and New Mexico. Specific suggestions would be appreciated. The swift fox prefers grasslands but should be present in the prairies of eastern Colorado and New Mexico. Again, specific places would be great. Foxes tend to be more active in the early AM or late PM or at night, and can be non-trivial to find. However it is also the case that they like to hang out near campgrounds, or the periphery of settlements in hope of scavenging human leftovers. Swift fox can sometimes be found (I am told) near prairie dog towns. This for a trip in April (i.e. the next 3 weeks) which is mostly focused on landscape photography.
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7 Comments
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Curtis Hart
California and Nevada are better for Kit Fox. 164 E of Searchligh NV has been pretty good for me. Also drive the back roads off of that one. Public lands in Mohave County AZ can be good, but my rate was maybe 20% there. While I have seen many of main roads, I high clearance vehicle is better. Most CA desert projects I’ve worked on I saw them regularly. For Swift Fox, Wyoming seems the best. Specifically 30 heading north out of Laramie late night, 11 PM or later.
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Nathan Myhrvold
Thanks Jon and Curt for the suggestions. Jon – I have looked at the various Colorado trip reports – thanks for the suggestion. Curt – where in California for kit fox? This trip starts in Grand Junction and is not primarily mammal focused – it’s more about landscapes. But at some point I will be able to make a dedicated trip.
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Curtis Hart
All the other places I normally saw them were at work, so there is an NDA in effect and you wouldn’t be able to access most sites anyways. In general, they are not that uncommon, but can take time to find. When I work in the desert I normally start 30 minutes before sunrise, so I typically see them on the drive in. As for photography, the only thing that really worked for me was to find a den site and visit before sunrise. With some luck, they may stay above ground until it’s light enough for photography. I found one while walking a transect for work that was close to a road, so I could stop by any day with little effort. This was several years ago, so I doubt it is active and I’m not sure where it was anyways. Near Desert Center. If you go for a dedicated trip, NV, CA, and AZ are probably best due to their spotlighting laws. Last I knew you can freely spotlight in these states as long as you don’t have a weapon capable of taking game in the vehicle. Typically the hunting regulations for the state will have this info and one should always double check. Also, that should be 164 W of Searchlight, towards the CA border in my original post.
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Nathan Myhrvold
I have photographed the San Joachim kit fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica) in Carrizo plain. However, I need to go back and get a better picture. However, since that is a sub-species, I would like to photograph the nominal species – i.e. the normal kit fox (Vulpes macrotis or Vulpes macrotis macrotis), found in deserts of CA other than the San Joachim valley and in AZ, Utah. There are supposed to be some visual differences between the two – mostly what would show in photos is larger ears on the normal kit fox rather than the San Joachim.
I have seen the normal kit fox darting across a road many times, but don’t have a good shot.
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Curtis Hart
I’ve seen a lot of both species, but these aren’t the states I would recommend for them.