Neighborhood Naturalist Winter 2018-19

neighborhood naturalist CORVALLIS, OREGON — WINTER 2018–19

Gray Fox article and illustrations

by Don Boucher

W

hen Carol Hiler set up a trail cam in her North Albany back yard, she got photos of raccoons, opossums, deer and neighborhood cats. It was pretty much what she had expected, but on one October night, she got a photo that she wasn’t prepared for. It was a fox! She didn’t know there were foxes in her suburban neighborhood and wondered how it got into a fenced yard. She posted the photo to a local nature discussion group, so that other naturalists could comment about it.

The responses were clear; she had a Gray Fox, and yes, they can climb.

window, from inside their darkened house, and watched the antics of the foxes, illuminated by a spotlight.

For naturalists who have seen one in person, or from photos on their own trail cam, these dainty, handsome and shy foxes inspire an ongoing fascination and a desire to learn more. They find out that they’re quite different from other foxes and their larger canine cousins.

Which brings us to how that Gray Fox got into Carol’s back yard. Others in the canid family, like Red Foxes, dogs, wolves, jackals, etc., can’t climb like Gray Foxes. You may She could hardly imagine anything more exciting than a have heard about Gray Foxes’ partially-retractable claws Gray Fox. Even better, it wasn’t a one-off incident. When and that this can help them climb. That’s not the only she switched the camera to the front yard, it got many more adaptation that enables their climbing. They can rotate fox photos. Sometimes as many as three foxes visited. From their wrists enough to grasp and scale small tree trunks, the time stamp on the photos, she was able to predict the even if the trunk has no branches. Their rear legs can spread foxes’ nightly arrival. She and her husband waited by the widely, which can help them to climb wider trunks. They Neighborhood Naturalist, Winter 2018-19 v16#4 • page 1

can run along tree limbs and leap vertically among them.

Gray Foxes aren’t pack animals, like wolves or African Wild Dogs, but a Gray Fox is often in the company of its The Gray Fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) is one of only mate or offspring. It has been observed that a breeding pair two species in its genus. Gray Foxes live in a small portion will return to each other year after year, but this isn’t well of southern Canada, most of the United States, Mexico, studied. They’ll keep each other company throughout the Central America and into parts of Colombia and Venezuela. winter, and during mating season in February and March.

They’re common throughout Oregon and there’s little conservation concern for them, although there’s not much Typically, three or four pups are born in May or June (a specific data about their population. The similar-looking litter may range from two to seven). The female stays with but smaller Island Fox (U. littoralis) is endemic to the the helpless pups in a den and nurses them for a few weeks, Channel Islands of California, and is an endangered species. while the male brings food. When they’re ready for solid food, the male helps to feed them. After leaving the den, For a long time, biologists debated the ancestry of the pups stay with the parents for up to 10 months, which may Gray Fox and how they relate to other species in the family. overlap with the start of the next breeding season. Once Some suggested lumping the Gray Fox into the Red Fox the pups disperse, they often settle near the area where they genus, Vulpes, while others argued that Gray Foxes were were born. They usually live 6-8 years, and they can live unique in the family. Genetic studies in the late twentieth up to 12 in captivity. century revealed that the Gray Fox is not only a distant relative of the Red Fox, but is part of the most ancient They are our most omnivorous canid. In winter and early lineage in the family. The Gray Fox is more closely related spring, rabbits and rodents make up to 50 percent or more to the Raccoon Dog of East Asia and the Bat-eared Fox of of their food. Other prey can be most anything else they Africa. This relationship is not well delineated, but Gray can catch, such as birds, frogs, grasshoppers and beetles.

Foxes are more ancient than any other canid in North Gray Foxes eat a lot of fruit, even more than Coyotes and America.

Red Foxes. In summer and early fall, up to 70 percent of their food is fruit. They’ll eat various wild berries as well as Gray Foxes could be in your neighborhood, or at least cultivated fruit, such as cherries, plums, apples and their not far away. They live in most any wooded area, especially naturalized counterparts. They may eat carrion if they can mixed conifer and broadleaf woods with a mosaic of avoid the larger predators attracted to it. meadows and streams. They can live in suburbs, at the edges of cities, or even deep into some cities where there Their scat is about the size of a house cat’s, but like other are forested parks or stream corridors connected to natural canids, the ends often appear tapered and twisted with areas at the city limits. They haven’t adapted to living among animal hair. The scat often contains the remains of fruit the streets like Red Foxes have in some parts of the world. and their seeds, or even made entirely of fruit when these foods are available. The scat isn’t always easy to distinguish from that of other, medium-sized omnivores like raccoons, skunks, or Red Foxes. They have a habit of conspicuously depositing scat along the trails they frequent. You’ll find little scats on raised, prominent objects like boulders, stumps, park benches or other features.

photo by Don Boucher

This scat seems like a territorial signal to other foxes but it’s not well known how much Gray Foxes will defend their home range from unrelated Gray Foxes. A family will occupy a home range of roughly a square mile, but more or less depending on available food and other resources.

This obelisk-like Gray Fox scat was found at the edge of some young Ponderosa Pines at Willamette Park in Corvallis. The piece deposited with remarkable precision is on an emerging mushroom.

They must watch out for predators like Coyotes, Cougars, Bobcats, Red Foxes and Great Horned Owls.

These predators can hunt at night so Gray Foxes remain cautious and secretive in their movements. They avoid large open areas and remain close to escape routes to nearby brush or trees. During the day, they stay hidden away somewhere sleeping. They dig burrows for sleeping or for dens, often at the base of a tree or stump, but they’ll use

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Species Comparison Males are larger than females Overall Length 33–45” Weight 4.4–15 lb

Gray Fox

Generally slightly smaller than the Red Fox, with different proportions, such as shorter legs, longer tail and shorter muzzle. They are richly colored with steely gray, deep rusty red, white and black. In winter, the silver guard hairs are prominent, giving the coat a grizzled appearance. The tail has a black tip with a black median line on top. Individual color varies slightly but overall color variants are rare.

Males are larger than females Overall Length 35–45” Weight 6.8–15 lb

Red Fox

Cross phase Looks similar to a Gray Fox at a glance. It’s named for the dark cross pattern on top of the shoulders (not shown in this view.)

Most Red Foxes have a white tail tip and black legs. There are variants that lie in between the phases shown on this page. It’s possible for siblings to be different colors.

Typical red phase

Uncommon black phase

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Track Comparison Gray Fox rear tracks often fall onto the front tracks when they trot. Front feet are larger than the rear feet. The tracks usually lie in a single line. Coyotes, Red Foxes and many dogs often trot with their hips offset to one side and this shows in their track patterns by offset rear tracks.

This gait is called a side-trot and it prevents the front feet from tripping up the rear feet. With their shorter legs, Gray Foxes rarely side-trot.

Red Fox front track. Their pads are heavily covered in fur and this can show in the track. A small mark made by the pads may show in the center of each digit, and there’s a small “boomerang” at the back of the heel pad.

Front

Rear

~ 1.8” Gray Fox front track. Their claws leave small marks, or sometimes don’t show at all. As shown here, sometimes just the front two claws register, about a half inch in front. All claws may show more when made in deep mud, going up a steep slope or when quickly accelerating.

Small domestic dog front track. Shape and size vary, but the claws are often splayed outward instead of pointing directly forward.

Some traces of fur may show in the track.

~ 1.5” The “X” pattern shows in most canid tracks because they’re symmetrical. If you draw straight lines between the outer digits and heel pad, an “X” is formed. In the Gray Fox front track, it forms an amalgam of an “H” and an “X.”

Domestic cat front track.

Size variable. Cat tracks are asymmetrical. Unlike canids, the inside digit (right side) is higher than the outside digit (left).

Bobcat tracks are very similar but larger. Both rarely register claws.

photos by Lisa Millbank

Front

Rear

This Gray Fox was walking in mud. Its tracks show a little fur between the pads but not as much as a Red Fox would. Claw marks weren’t evident in these tracks.

Rear

This rear track is a deeper impression due to the soft mud. As a result, the heel print is wider than the other rear tracks shown on this page. There are slight claw marks on the front digits.

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a natural rock cavity or spaces under houses or sheds on occasion. Sometimes they sleep in trees.

Gray Foxes are seldom heard. They lack the volume and large vocal repertoire of their Red Fox cousins. Occasionally they make a short, raspy bark that’s similar to at least one Red Fox sound. Pups make soft whimpering noises and an angry or frightened adult can make a hoarse growling sound.

Watch a video and hear the sounds of Gray Foxes at www.neighborhood-naturalist.com

Like any predator, they may pose a threat to small livestock like chickens and rabbits, as well as small pets.

However, Gray Fox habitat usually includes greater threats from raccoons, owls, stray dogs and other predators. Gray Foxes offer more benefits to farmers and rural residents because they prefer to target prey the size of rats and mice.

Gray Foxes are so shy, nocturnal and secretive that it’s hardly worth considering them as any threat at all.

On a November night several years ago, Lisa and I went to the Oak Lawn Memorial Park in Corvallis. We saw some deer, a skunk, and heard a Great Horned Owl. At some point, we spotted a two small silhouettes walking along the fence. We thought they were neighborhood cats but something seemed different in the way they moved. I aimed the spotlight and Lisa got these grainy photos of one of the Gray Foxes.

Like other mammals, Gray Foxes may contract rabies and the disease may have led their population to crash in the Willamette Valley in the early 1960s. The threat to humans is generally limited to those who handle sick foxes.

It may be worth looking for the signs of Gray Foxes in your neighborhood. If you have a suitable yard, try putting up a trail cam. You can also go looking for their signs at a nearby natural area. If you’re like Carol Hiler, an encounter with a Gray Fox will be one of the most precious moments a naturalist can have. ó

An adult and a young pup. Trail cam photo from Randy Comeleo

Photo from Carol Hiler’s trail cam

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Trillium

Western Trillium

article and photography

by Lisa Millbank

A

s the rainy days of winter gradually lengthen, the fresh leaves of spring wildflowers peep out from the moss, racing to take in as much light as they can while the trees above them are bare. The leaves are distinctive: the heart-shaped violets, lobed and toothed larkspurs and mottled fawn lilies, and it’s a pleasure to see these old friends again after their long dormancy. Scattered among these are the most anticipated of early wildflowers, the upright tubes formed by the neatly-rolled leaves of trilliums.

Western Trillium (Trillium ovatum) and Sessile Trillium (T. albidum) grow throughout most of the Willamette Valley. While Sessile Trilliums thrive in the lowlands, Western Trilliums are happy just about anywhere from near sea level to the forested slopes of the High Cascades. The

two species are always easy to identify when flowering, due to the position of the blossom above the whorl of leaves.

Western Trillium flowers grow on a short stem or pedicel, while Sessile Trillium flowers sit right at the juncture of the leaves. In botany, sessile refers to a structure that is attached directly at the base without a stalk. Some Sessile Trilliums sport a beautiful, mosaic-like variegation on their leaves.

Benton County is also home to a small population of a third species, Giant Purple Wakerobin (T. kurabayashii), a rare species that is otherwise confined to the Klamath Mountains. Several of these exceptionally large, magnificent plants grow at Witham Hill Natural Park in northwest Corvallis. DNA sequencing indicates that T. kurabayashii, T. albidum and several other similar trilliums are so closely related that they may all be forms of one species.

Genetic analyses have also revised traditional plant taxonomy, especially for some of the large “catch-all” families such as Liliaceae. Trilliums were classified as lilies, but are now placed in the family Melanthiaceae, which also includes seemingly unrelated plants like death-camas, false hellebores and beargrasses. Some taxonomists place trilliums in their own small family, Trilliaceae.

Sessile Trillium

When the flowers open in early spring, exuding a sweet, spicy scent, beetles, bees and moths arrive to pollinate them. Most trillium species don’t provide nectar for their pollinators, but they have abundant pollen that’s also a valuable food source. The moths may be accidental visitors, Neighborhood Naturalist, Winter 2018-19 v16#4 • page 6

as they’re attracted to the flowers without knowing that they won’t get any nectar for their trouble. Western Trillium flowers change from white to deep pink over time, possibly telling pollinators that the flower is past its prime and not worth a visit.

Like many forest plants, trilliums rely largely on ants for seed dispersal, a strategy called myrmecochory. When the ripe seed capsules split open in the summer, the plant recruits ants to carry away its seeds with elaiosomes, which are fat- and protein-rich blobs attached to each seed. The ants may haul some of the seeds back to their nest to eat the elaiosome, but the hard seed is inedible. The seed is either disposed of outside the nest, or, in the best possible outcome for the seed, the ants discard it in their trash A Sessile Trillium shoot emerging in late winter chamber, which is filled with ant droppings and dead ants.

Of course, the moist and fertile environment is perfect for several species have undergone chemical analysis to isolate seed germination. potentially useful compounds. However, fresh trillium In some cases, wasps, harvestmen, slugs or beetles may rhizomes are acrid and may cause vomiting, and the wild also eat the elaiosomes, but they may be more likely to plants are no longer abundant enough to justify harvesting drop the seed close to the parent plant. Deer eat the seed them. capsules, and it’s been shown that some of the seeds of an Their delicate appearance is deceptive—when dormant, eastern trillium species, Trillium grandiflorum, can pass through the digestive tract of White-tailed Deer intact. The they’re drought-tolerant, and they’re easy to grow when seeds can travel much farther in a deer’s belly than they provided with some shade, moisture and soil high in could in the jaws of an ant, so it’s possible that deer-aided organic matter. Native plant nurseries usually carry plants dispersal is important for some trillium species. North that are several years old and are nearing maturity. Although American Deer Mice are known to eat the seeds, but they two of our local trillium species are fairly common and have also cache seeds in the ground. Any seed caches that go no special legal status, collecting wild-growing specimens is discouraged. That said, it’s sometimes possible to salvage uneaten may germinate. trilliums when imminent development or clearcutting will Trillium rhizomes were used medicinally by Native harm the plants or drastically alter the habitat.

Americans across the continent for bleeding, eye problems, Growing trillium from seed takes a lot of patience, as it childbirth, and for boils and other skin problems, and can take 4-7 years for the plant to bloom. Fresh seed should be collected and sown in summer, just as the capsules are splitting. If conditions are right, the seed will send out a root in the fall, and then a single leaf (the cotyledon) in early spring. Over the next several years, the plant will grow a single true leaf, then a whorl of three leaves, and finally a flower. Regular applications of weak fertilizer hastens development. If conditions are poor, trilliums sometimes revert back to an earlier stage of growth; for example, a mature flowering plant may come up the next year as just a set of three leaves, but return to flowering in the following season. Reportedly, some individual plants will go dormant for a year or more, and then reappear in subsequent years.

This split seed capsule shows the soft, fleshy, yellowish elaiosomes that attract ants to carry away the seeds. If planted in damp soil rich in organic matter, these fresh, mature trillium seeds may germinate in the fall.

The emergence of trilliums in our local forests signals the approach of spring and all of the delightful wildflowers in the coming months. If you have a shady spot in your yard, consider planting native trilliums and bringing a little bit of forest beauty home. ó

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Trillium Comparison Western Trillium Trillium ovatum (Pacific Trillium) Uniformly green leaves, white flower held above leaves on a pedicel. As the flower ages, it gradually becomes pink to deep rose. The most widespread and common trillium in our area. Between the lower petals on the pink blossom (right), there is a male Flower Crab Spider.

Sessile Trillium Trillium albidum (Giant Trillium, Giant White Wakerobin, Sweet Trillium, Small-flowered Trillium) Leaves nearly solid green to heavily variegated. White to cream-colored, narrow-petaled flower sits directly on the whorl of leaves, lacks pedicel; may take on pinkish tone in age. North of Albany, some plants have smaller flowers and were once considered a separate species (Smallflowered Trillium, T. parviflorum), but are now a subspecies of T. albidum.

Giant Purple Wakerobin Trillium kurabayashii A rare plant of the Klamath Mountains that also has a very small population in Benton County. Large, variegated leaves, dark reddish-purple flower lacks pedicel. No other local trillium has such deeply colored and dark blossoms as these.

Neighborhood Naturalist promotes interest about nature in mid-Willamette Valley backyards, neighborhoods, and countryside.

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