26 Photos Of Roxy The Fox, Whose Life I Observed For 8 Months

Roxy walking on the trunk in a heavy snowstorm, backlit with flash.

I watched the satellite images and waited for the snow and prayed for Roxy to arrive just in time. I was lucky when she was exactly at the planned location, I pressed the radio trigger to fly Roxy amongst the stars.

Little Sausage, Roxy's second-generation puppy, peeks through the window.

He's not yet 3 months old, but he's already walking around on his own, getting to know the neighborhood, and exploring everything in the yard.

Underwater capture of Roxy drinking water from the plunge pool.
 
The vixen usually showed up four or five times a night, and I noticed that it would drink water on the third occasion. Presumably, Roxy had eaten enough from the neighborhood and got thirsty. I used a cable remote release and a constant light source. This picture was taken with an underwater camera.

Little Sausage, Roxy's second-generation puppy, peeks through hole in trunk.
He's not yet 3 months old, but he's already walking around on his own, getting to know the neighborhood, and exploring everything in the yard.

The fox enters my yard through the hole in the fence in the backyard.

Roxy walks on the logs in very heavy fog. Volumetric light comes from the flash in the back.
She circles in the village for an hour and a half then appears in my yard several times during the night regardless of the weather.

That’s why I captured her in all the extreme weather conditions.

Bottom view of a fox's epilated belly five days after giving birth to cubs. At the same time, we can see the raised foot posture, typical of foxes.
 
As I waited for Roxy at night, I read literature to learn about the life of foxes. Somewhere I read that at birth, a fox rips the hair out of its belly to line the nest and provide access during breastfeeding. I wanted to capture this in a picture, so I built a big glass table. The fox tried to get acquainted with the structure, so it jumped up 5 days after giving birth.

Roxy poses in the limelight on the old seat on the porch of the traditional, 180-year-old cottage house, in Hungary.
In the evenings, I would turn on the lights in my yard and wait for my photo model to walk onto the set. Working exclusively at night allowed me to get creative with lighting. In some images, I used dramatic, studio-like lighting. In others, I balanced my flashes with ambient light. Working with such an appealing and unpredictable animal at night was both a great challenge and a wonderful opportunity to develop skills.

Roxy watches the inside of the bird feeder to collect the tallow scattered there.

Roxy observing the yard from the top of the old stone wall, and trying to decide if it was safe or not.
This is one of the safest points for her because from there she also sees the street and the courtyard.

Roxy is scrabbling inside a rotting trunk. The camera was triggered by a motion sensor.
 
The curiosity of the scene is that Roxy refused to get into the trunk while I watched her from the window. She just walked around and smelled it. She wanted to keep an eye on me all the time because if she didn’t see me for a moment, her instincts whispered she might be in danger. So all that was left was to use the motion sensor and at night, when I slept, the planned image was completed with undisturbed, natural behavior.

Roxy comes out of the barn with an egg in her mouth. She takes the eggs to the cubs.

Roxy's cub The Little Sausage, explores the yard.

Roxy entered the barn and disturbed the mouse that was snacking on sunflowers.

The abandoned barn, built in 1932, was full of mice, so I left the door open at night, and the foxes completely took over the room in three weeks.

Roxy hid behind the pine trees, watching the window and trying to decide if it was safe or not.

She circled in the village for an hour and a half, then appeared in my yard several times during the night regardless of the weather. That’s why I captured her in all the extreme weather conditions.

Little Sausage, Roxy's second-generation puppy, appears in a garden.

He's not yet 3 months old, but he's already walking around on his own, getting to know the neighborhood, and exploring everything in the yard.

Roxy jumping from the trunk in the yard of a cottage house in the middle of the forest.

She always arrived in the yard from different spots. When she came over the wall, she jumped easily over the 120-centimeter obstacle. Upon leaving, she leaped elegantly from the 170-centimeter wall.

Roxy living in the neighborhood raided a terrace on a house near the forest to collect the leftovers. Taken automatically by motion sensor trigger.

Roxy watches the flash while posing on the log in the abandoned barn.

The abandoned barn, built in 1932, was full of mice, so I left the door open at night, and the foxes completely took over the room in three weeks.

Roxy came soaking wet with mice in her mouth to show what she had hunted, just like cats do.
 
In the meantime, she hopes that she will get something to eat, and see if she can stuff it in her mouth.

In one of the village's courtyards, a rotten tree trunk fell during the night and fell into pieces.

The next day, Roxy examined the new shape and picked out the insects.

Roxy arrives at the yard in front of the traditional, 180 years old cottage house in Hungary. She usually came from 3 directions and always alternated between them.

Roxy walking through the garden observing what's new in the house.