Alinyà and the fox

In the Pyrenean town of Alinyà, there is the Espai Natura Muntanya d’Alinyà (https://www.fundaciocatalunya-lapedrera.com/en/nature-spaces/alinya-mountain). This center favors species such as fox in their work of recovering wildlife.

The previous blog entry (https://conlosojosdeshu.com/en/alinya-and-the-vulture/) was dedicated to the vulture and its role as the initiator of a food chain from which other animals are favored.

When vultures detect food during their flight, they do not immediately approach. On the ground they are clumsy and slow so they descend only when they are completely sure that there is no risk to them. This is the reason for his circling flight. Make sure that the prey is really dead, and that there are no predators.

But this flight in circles is also a warning for other inhabitants of the area. There is food!!!!.

From the remains that the caretakers left for the vulture, they also took advantage of the raven and fox. But as in all orders of life, you have to respect the hierarchy. Until the vulture colony calmed down, no one dared appear.

The one who first made an appearance was a group of three crows. The vultures, who were in full digestion, did not pay much attention to them.

But before long a fox appeared. At first he stayed in the thicket at a certain distance, but finally he dared to enter the clearing.

Now the colony felt uncomfortable, and took flight slowly.

The solitary fox became the owner of the territory, without being bothered by the crows that kept a certain distance.

The fox is a perfect survivor who uses all the resources within his reach. He is able to hunt, but also to take advantage of the gifts that are made to him in the form of the remains of a vulture feast.

In times of scarcity, the fox stores leftover food in small pantries near its burrow, so that it can use them when necessary. This hiding mechanism is his way of being cautious and not putting all the eggs in the same basket. In the end its scarcity is everyone’s.

He passed all the day appearing, marching with a piece, and reappearing to repeat the operation.

I was struck by his way of looking for food. He didn’t just walk around the terrain behind the visible remains. Rather, he was digging through the stones and under them, trying to take advantage of the lack of attention of others.

I was also interested looking he was in total alert all the time. Despite in our days there are hardly any predators that can threaten him, any slight sound strained him.

At the moment when the sun began to fall, the solitary fox disappeared permanently, and after a reasonable time we left the hide.

A couple of bearded vultures live in the area, and we also expected them to go down, but it did not happen. The bearded vulture is a very fearful animal and little lover of having a fox prowling nearby. Surely he chose to get closer some day later.

After all, he doesn’t have to compete with anyone for his favorite food. In any case, and despite the probable effect it had on the bearded vulture, the appearance of the fox was a pleasant surprise, and the post will end with some final images of him.