We got out of bed early today, all excited to go photograph the Swift Foxes nearby. I made instant coffee to go and J started a mug of tea steeping. There was a solid overcast and the wind was very light — good conditions for Swift Fox photography.

We entered the blind around 6:35 and I had Clif Bars for breakfast. Two kits came out of the den around 7:13 and got spooked back down when I closed the lid to my coffee mug. The pop latch made an unfamiliar noise to them, and I didn't even think about it. :( Fortunately, the foxes came back out by 7:30, and we had a wonderful hour and a half photographing them. I was pleasantly surprised to see four kits, but the vixen spent most of her time on the far side of the den area and was partially blocked from view. The diffuse light was nice for photography, and I was able to get some nice portraits of the vixen (below left) and individual kits. I was really excited to capture one of the kits "kissing" its mother (below right).


We returned to the RV around 9:35. I downloaded the images I took this morning then did a quick downselect in iView. I worked up a blog entry while J made us brunch of cheese-and-bell-pepper omelets, potatoes, whole-wheat toast, and OJ. It was nice to relax over the good food after such a great morning of photography.

We went out around 11:55 to move the blind for better light in the afternoon and also a better view of the den. As we were approaching the blind, J spotted a Pygmy Short-Horned Lizard. She kept an eye on it while I got my camera gear ready, then she got her camera gear as I started to photograph it (left). It was the first time either one of us had seen one of the fascinating little lizards that are also known as horned toads. "Toad" is definitely a misnomer because it's a reptile and not an amphibian, but it sure does look like a toad, especially when it puffs itself up. After we finished photographing the lizard, we moved the blind.

We returned to the RV around 1:25, and we were really hot from being out in the mid-day sun so long. I downselected the images I took this morning in Capture One (C1), then took a half-hour nap around 3:40.

We had dinner around 5:45 of a grilled chicken salad which was a perfect meal for the hot day. I think it reached 90°F (32°C).
We headed out to the blind again around 6:25. We could see a Swift Fox resting near the den as we started approaching the blind, so we made sure to keep the blind between us and the fox as we finished approaching. We quietly entered the blind, set up our gear, then opened up the windows of the blind and saw the fox still resting right by the den — fantastic! We had a blast photographing the vixen and the four kits in the nice late light! One of the kits posed perfectly for a portrait (below left), and another came up to nuzzle its mother (below right). As you can see, the blind was in a much better location to catch the action than it was this morning. My right hand didn't bother me while shooting, but I was careful with it while rotating the camera from landscape orientation to portrait orientation and back so I wouldn't stress it. (You may read about my sprained right thumb on the blog entry for May 22, 2010.)


We returned to the RV around 8:20. I downloaded then downselected the images from this evening, first in iView then in Capture One (C1). It was an awesome day of photography!