A couple of years ago, my wife and I started placing trail cameras at various locations around our home and in several locations in nearby wooded areas.

What an eye-opener; I knew wild critters were roaming around out there, but I had no idea that so many of them would end up roaming through my yard — and a lot more often than I realized.

Like everybody else living in the countryside and even those living in town, we have had our share of rabbits, chipmunks, and squirrels frequently.

Now, with the cameras, I’m finding we have a lot of other visitors, including fishers, possums, raccoons, skunks, grouse, deer, foxes, and even bears, bobcats, and coyotes. Just last week, a coyote or two different coyotes showed up on two different cameras that were quite a distance apart.

Of the animals that we are seeing, certainly bears, bobcats, coyotes, fishers and even foxes seem to generate more of my interest and curiosity.

I’ve seen my share of foxes over the years when I’m roaming the countryside, and if you pay attention, you can spot a fair number splattered on roadways as well. What’s interesting now, however, is that with the cameras, we are seeing foxes near our house several times a week. We live out in the country surrounded by woods and overgrown fields, so that’s ideal fox habitat, but I’m still surprised that so many sightings occur so often.

All the fox sightings triggered my curiosity, especially after we spotted a big gray fox on camera a couple of weeks ago. Over the years, I’ve seen mostly red foxes, but I have also seen a fair number of gray foxes. The red fox, of course, has reddish-orange fur, while the gray fox has a blackish-gray coat. The red fox is slightly larger than the gray fox, but foxes may look heavier because of their thick, heavy fur coating. Foxes are in the same family as the dog, coyote, and wolf and thus possess the same sharp senses of sight, smell, and hearing.

What’s interesting is that the gray fox has the ability to climb trees, and it’s the only member of the canine family with this ability. A number of years ago, I was heading towards Montoursville on Route 180 when I spotted a gray fox five feet up on a tree limb; it was the only one I’d ever seen in a tree.

Another interesting difference I found between the two is that red foxes seldom shelter in holes or dens during winter, but rather, they sleep in the open with their bushy, well-insulated tails covering their noses and bodies to help keep them warm. Gray foxes often hole up for three or four days during severe weather.

I suspect that one of the reasons why we have been seeing so many foxes on camera recently is that breeding takes place in February. Apparently, foxes can be heard at night “barking” to make their presence known to members of the opposite sex. I have not heard the barking, but I don’t sit outside at night in February listening to the bark.

Some folks apparently think that foxes are very hard on the rabbit population, but what’s interesting is that the same cameras that have been showing me all the foxes recently also show rabbits running through the yard quite frequently. I’m getting a real education from those simple little cameras.