Red fox wedding.

Right around this time of year the foxes have their mating season in Kronotsky Nature Reserve in Kamchatka. Several times I was fortunate to be a "wedding' photographer for a fox couple. And during my shift in 2010-2011 I was waiting for my neighbor, Cosmo (Кузя in Russian) to play with his mate, Cosimina. But a new female fox appeared and their relationship was complicated and hidden from an outsider, such as me. Whenever I saw Cosmo, he pretended to be very bored, yawning and chasing fleas. He seemingly avoided his partners. Eventually a new fox, who I called Alisa, and Cosmo did have several cubs, four of which were raised, I have told about them in the summer of 2011 in this blog.

Today I will show you a marriage of another couple from the River Tikhaya (meaning quite in Russian) in Kronotsky Nature Reserve. I was a wedding photographer for them in spring of 2008.

This is a groom, Lizovin.

And this beautiful lady is a bride, Liza.

Walking together.

A female fox often starts a chase, this way she is probably testing the health of the future father of her cubs. The pregnancy lasts for around 50 days, and the little foxes are born in may in deep burrows and stay there for the first month of their life. That year Liza and Lizovin raised 5 cubs.

A love triangle happened in Liza and Lizovin life as well. One day another female fox appeared and has taken Lizovin away for a day. But Liza was very wise, and she greeted Lizovin with happiness when he came back.

Below, you can find one of the photos from this story at high resolution, that you can use for desktop backgournds. I call that photo foxtrot on river banks.

Cosmo from Kronotsky Nature Reserve.

I was looking through my archives in search of photos for my new photo-book and came across these photos of Cosmo (Кузя in Russian) from 2007. At that time he was much younger and playful than when I last saw him, during my wintering in Kronotsky Nature Reserve in 2010-2011. This is one of the stories from that period: http://wildlife-photo-russia.blogspot.com/2011/06/it-may-be-really-bad-for-my-health.html

Mr. Fox and his reflection.

This is one of my fox-neighbors running along the banks of Kronotskaya River in Kronotsky Nature Reserve in Kamchatka. I took this photo during my long wintering in a remote ranger station there in 2010-2011.



The Kronotskaya river very rarely freezes at winter due being spring fed. This a photo taken by my middle son, Petr couple of weeks before the photo above.





Animals remember the summer salmon runs in this river, and keep frequently checking for fish...





But there is no fish here at this time of year!

Originally posted at:

Лис с зеркальным отражением http://shpilenok.livejournal.com/64680.html

Еще одна Кроноцкая тайна: http://shpilenok.livejournal.com/58939.html

Завтра - апрель! http://shpilenok.livejournal.com/58770.html

"Здесь рыбы нет!" http://shpilenok.livejournal.com/64680.html

Snow blizzard.

Kamchatka is a land of winds. There are often snow blizzards even with clear skies above. That happens when strong wind is dragging large masses of snow from one place to another in open tundra. In temperatures way below freezing these blizzards pose a serious challenge for humans. I have been knocked down by the winds several times while walking in this weather. This is the best weather to get yourself frostbites all over the face. Even opening eyes is a challenge…

Snow blizzards are just as difficult for animals… Especially given the fact that they don’t have cabins heated by fireplaces…

Snowy fox.

News about Alisa-fox.

Many of my readers were asking how was Alisa doing - from my friends, who visited the ranger station near where she lives I know that she is doing well. Check out for yourself here: http://most-41rus.livejournal.com/20346.html and here: http://alex-perevozov.livejournal.com/9435.html. On the photo she is with on of her cubs in summer of 2011.

Foxes' seasons.

For couple of months this journal was occupied by bears. Foxes were under heavy "discrimination"... Let's correct that!

Original post is here:
http://shpilenok.livejournal.com/140862.html

Cold Kamchatka wind. by Igor Shpilenok

Not so simple fox...

Three time a day this fox passes one of the human made paths near our station. And for a week my friend Adam is trying to take a picture of him at that moment. He spends a long time waiting, but at the last moment he is caught unprepared by a fox. Adam is a landscape photographer, so he is not used to the models being so fast. For me it is easy, every time I was able to catch this fox on my camera exactly the way I wanted - I have a lot of experience with those red and sneaky animals.

But today I missed the capture that I was dreaming about all my life! The fox started to listen for mice within two yards from me, and, unfortunately, I had a telephoto lens on my camera and I could only take a photo of the fox nose at this moment... I just watch in amazement how the fox jumped and got the mouse. Afterwards I crawled away, but it was too late. The fox finished with it's prey and dissappeared.











Originally posted by at Лис оказался не так уж и прост...

Everything is as usual here...

Another cold and rainy day. But the bears don't care. They swim, eat, sleep and play. Last night one hooligan managed to crawl under electric fence around the station and chew one of our new inflatable boats. After the rain is over we'll fix it.

For a long time I was watching after this couple of bears (photo above and here) and finally understood that it is most likely Masha and Misha, my old acquaintances from several years ago. They both matured, and Misha, finally, mastered the art of fishing.



The winter is coming and less and less leaves are left on the trees.

What would be a good name for this shot?

Originally posted by at Как назвать снимок?

Good morning from the headquarters of Kronotsky Nature Reserve!

It is rainy here in Kamchatka; the mountain and volcano tops are covered with snow. Very slowly, typhoon is exhausting itself. For three weeks I was not able to go one place in the Kamchatka peninsula that I dreamt about.

This is a photo from my archive. Fox's "yoga" stretch.

Originally posted by at Доброе утро из конторы Кроноцкого заповедника!

My little fox-friend, Alisa, in winter and summer outfits.

Originally posted by at Алиса зимой и летом.

Frosty mornings in Kamchatka

The coldest time of the day is just before the daybreak. But it is also the most beautiful, mystic and photogenic. Here are several early morning photos from my last year wintering in Kronotsky Nature Reserve in Kamchatka.

On the top photo there is a larch tree with an ospray (or sea hawk) nest on the foreground and Kronotsky volcano in the background.


Eruption of Kizimen volcano. It is still erupting, but much less intense than last year.


Larch forest on the banks of Kronotsky Lake.

Are there any foxes in Bryansk Forest?

Very frequently I recieve this question in the comments, so I will answer in a separate post.

Of course there are foxes in Bryansk Forest. I see them almost every day. But I do not have any photos of them. They are very cautious, and no wonder, they were hunted for for many centuries in this part of the world. Bryanskiy Les nature reserve's area is too small to establish the population of foxes that would not be afraid of people, as they are in huge Kronotsky Nature reserve in Kamchatka. However I found this photo of local naive fox-cub. I took it in the beginning of May several years ago not far from his borrow that was less than a mile away from my village house.

Originally posted by at Есть ли в Брянском лесу лисы?

Alisa and a meadow mouse. Kamchatka dreams.

Translatior's note: Alisa is a fox that we know from the previous stories, such as this one and many more, that can be found under foxes label.

Originally posted at Камчатские сны. Алиса и полевка.

Alisa and Binoculars....

Good morning from Kronotsky Nature Reserve!

Originally posted by at Доброе утро из Кроноцкого заповедника!

My morning visitor.

This is a picture that I made at daybreak on the backyard of my ranger station. Look how Alisa changed over past two weeks.

Finally, she completely changed her coat and gained some weight. These changes are happening because she stopped feeding her grown-up cubs and now she can take better care of herself and prepare for a long Kamchatka winter.

The temperature dropped 3 degrees Celsius below freezing (26.6F) this morning before sunrise and surrounding tundra colors are turning from green into fall red and orange. The autumn has started...

Originally posted by at Утренняя гостья.

"Little foxes"

These mushrooms are called chanterelle in English, but in Russian their name is "little foxes". Can you see why?




Here my little fox friend, Alisa, is eating delicious bog bilberries.
Originally posted at Лисички.