Mama fox, pups teach wildlife lesson

On Saturday night, a mama fox taught a new lesson from an ancient course on wildlife breeding.

The result was that field scout Brian Murphy was able to capture a rare and spectacular photograph of mama fox nursing her pups.

The encounter started when Murphy, who lives on the outskirts of Walnut Creek at the foot of Mount Diablo, was awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of rustling beneath his backyard deck.

“There were five fox pups,” Murphy said. “They were playing below my window.”

This is the same location, in a dry creek near a culvert, where two years ago in the spring, Murphy sighted and photographed a baby fox hiding. They used the dry culvert as a den.

“Then last Tuesday night, I saw a gray fox on the slope above the den,” Murphy said. He knew something was up, he said.

From his concealed location, after sighting the five pups, he watched “mom take them on an adventure to show them the neighborhood, with lots of shrubs around to hide, if necessary.” When she’s out hunting, Murphy noted that she “stashes” the pups in the den to keep them safe.

Two years ago, in a similar encounter at the same site, the pups did not leave the den until early June, so that would give Murphy more than a month to watch and photograph them.

“I’m just going to really enjoy this and try to make the most of the rare opportunity,” Murphy said. “As the pups get older, they will spend more time during the day outside.”

The lesson here is that, given breeding success at a site, wildlife will return to that site.

That is one of the best ways to see wildlife newborns, including the miracle of a baby’s first steps.

One of the best spots for bobcat, for instance, is Muddy Hollow above Limantour at Point Reyes National Seashore. For wild tule elk, try to spot-and-stalk from Parking Area 4A at the Grizzly Island Wildlife Area near Suisun City. For deer, try the western flank of Mount Burdell in Marin.

In time, you can develop your own spots, watch in stealth mode and see a world few get to see in the Bay Area.

Brian Murphy / Special to The Chronicle A mama fox nurses her five pups at a location near Walnut Creek where a similar litter was born two years ago.