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As I headed to the trail cam last Wednesday, I heard a scurry-type sound in the bushes. Two of them actually.  As I rounded a bush, I saw a fox kit crouching low.

I crouched too.

Then I backed up slowly, slowly, and sat high on a banking looking down.

The little fox kit surprised me. He didn’t run back for the den. He didn’t hide. He continued to root around the tall grasses and piles of dead branches that had been left behind after the landowner did some tree cutting.

Every now and then, the kit would look at me.

Right in the eye.

When I didn’t move, he’d go back to rooting around.

He ate grass and found little caterpillars . . .

And while I don’t have images of it, I suspect he ate them for lunch.

I never did make it to the trail cam. I didn’t want to upset his home . . . or his backyard, so to speak.  I sure hope they stick around for a little bit though.

I like knowing they’re around.

While hiding behind a bush with my 500mm camera lens, I captured video of this fox kit chewing on grass.  I didn’t know they did that!  What great research to show students when I do school visits.

I was staring out my back window, sipping coffee, when an adult fox wandered through our campground maintenance area.  I set my coffee cup down so hard, liquid sloshed over the sides onto the table.

“Quick! I need my camera! Where’d I put it?” I cried, running from the campground desk to my writing closet and back again.

“I didn’t have it last,” my husband teased. He never has it, actually.

Eventually I found the camera, and sighed with relief to find the fox still there. Which in itself was a little surprising, because we don’t see them often and when we do, they’re passing through.

Turns out, this one was doing more than passing through.

It was collecting a cache.  Stored food – hidden days, weeks or even months before.

I slowly, slowly, slowly, opened my window, which was three stories up from the fox’s location.   It looked up, but when I stilled, it went right back to searching.

Eventually, it found its prize and pulled it from the earth.

Then chomped on it for awhile.

I took photo after photo after photo!  It was gorgeous. And a learning experience for me.   I’d written about foxes and their caches in Mystery of the Missing Fox, but had never seen it first-hand.

More importantly, I believe its being so close to the house, is that perhaps the kits have been born.  My trail camera should show me in mid-April, when the first kit emerges from the den into the sunlight.

Once the cache was eaten, this adult didn’t stay long.

It continued on its way, back toward the den.

I’m so glad I saw it, when I did.

Preparation for the Spelling Congress is underway. The more people will send in their proposals, the better. On the other hand (or so it seems to me), the fewer people participate in this event and the less it costs in terms of labor/labour and money, the more successful it will turn out to be. The fate of English spelling has been discussed in passionate terms since at least the 1840s.

The post Etymology gleanings for March 2016 appeared first on OUPblog.

Last week, I discussed the role of taboo in naming animals, a phenomenon that often makes a search for origins difficult or even impossible. Still another factor of the same type is the presence of migratory words. The people of one locality may have feared, hunted, or coexisted in peace with a certain animal for centuries. They, naturally, call it something.

The post ‘Vulpes vulpes,’ or foxes have holes. Part 2 appeared first on OUPblog.

I collected the SD cards from the trail cameras this past weekend.  I had my fingers crossed the whole way down and back, hoping for some fox footage.

And I got lucky.  There was only one video  and this is it . .. .

The "Gravity Falls" creator is leaving Disney for Fox's primetime animation line-up.

The post ‘Gravity Falls’ Creator Alex Hirsch Will Develop An Animated Series for Fox appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

I will be selling my wildlife calendars and notebooks through the Holiday Season for as long as supplies last.

In the past, I’ve used them for hostess and teacher gifts.  I’ve given the notebooks to kids with Storycubes or a writing prompt book.  Here are some pictures of the items I test printed.

Notebooks with line pages $15.00

Desk Calendars 8″ x 3″ $12.00

Wall Calendars 8×5″ x 11″ $17.00

The photos in both style calendars are as follows:

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

I’m also ordering 5.5″ x 4″  notecards, blank inside, with the bear, hummingbird, fox, eagle, and loon with chick, photos.  The price for 10 (2 of each image) will be $15.00.  Envelopes included.

For shipping, add $3.50.

To place an order:

1. Leave the Item(s), and number ordering in the comments below with your name only.
2. Tally your total due, remember to include shipping.  For more than 5 items shipping may be more.
3. I will reply to your comment when I’ve received payment and mailed your items, so you can expect delivery. Let me know if  you have any questions. And thank you for your orders!

It's a cold cold world we live in.

And now I present the cover for Mystery of the Missing Fox!

Carl DiRocco has gone and done it again. This cover is absolutely perfect.

Here’s a blurb by Islandport ~

“The stakes have never been higher for Cooper Wilder. When an accident puts Cooper’s dad in the hospital, Cooper must shoulder some new responsibilities. But he’s distracted. First, he and his friends find a fox caught in an illegal trap on the campground’s land. Then kits start to go missing from the fox den. Who would want to catch foxes? And why? Cooper, Packrat, and Roy must protect the den, find the kits, and rule out Summer, the new girl who lives across the lake, as a suspect. Juggling new campground duties, feeling guilty over his father’s accident, and desperate to help the fox kits, Cooper must make some tough decisions about who–and what–should come first.”

Last Thursday, early afternoon, I perused the lower level halls of New York Comic Con. Autographings and photo ops were running nicely, and the Queue Hall (aka “the stockyards”) was mostly empty, as the morning crush had long subsided, and most of the Main Stage events in Hall 1-D had already occurred.  Out of curiosity, […]

This weekend turned out to be a very busy one for comics news.  As our chief steward, Heidi MacDonald, takes a well deserved rest this morning following the conclusion of Small Press Expo, let’s take a look at some of the big breaking stories from the last few days. Omega Men Lives When we broke […]

Submitted by Beatrice Goh for the Illustration Friday topic WORK.

If Fox had a house motto, it would be: “we do not sow. Now let us spit on your Quicksilver, Marvel.”

Bryan Singer loves a few things.  Director’s Cuts, long walks on the beach, and movies centered around Time Travel, to name a few.  Now we can add crossovers to that list as well.  In an interview with Yahoo, Singer confirmed that he’s working with Fox to bring together comics’ first family with comics’ greatest (but maybe not greatest) racial allegory.  How will they meet up, you ask?

Singer says:

“It deals with time. That’s all I’m going to say.”

Of course it does.

We have just completed the final edits on our new winter story told in verse.  We are now beginning the illustration process.  We are so excited about this next story and can’t wait to hear your feedback.  Here’s a few hints about what our next story will be about.  Aren’t they just beautiful?  What other animal reminds you of winter?

Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) on snow at sunset, Kamchatka, Russia

Fox, which once considered selling "Simpsons"-branded beer "detrimental to children," has changed its tune.

While chatting with press at SDCC this weekend, Executive Producer John Stephens revealed that the second season of Gotham will move away from a story-of-the week method, opting instead for ongoing character arcs and development.

“Bad things will happen and there are villains, but it’s really a saga about the characters who live inside Gotham and their lives,” he said. “So it’s much more fun to write, and I think it’s more fun for the actors to act. I feel like we are taking a big evolutionary step towards the Gotham that we know from the comic books.”

Showrunner Bruno Heller said the change happened as the show found its audience.

“The first season on any show is very much kind of finding its feet, finding out what works, what the audience responds to, and what kind of animal you have,” he said. “The second season is more like, we understand this game now… so this second season is very much allowing us to stretch our legs.”

Stephens added that the popularity of serialized storytelling and binge watching of other shows, such as Game of Thrones, encouraged them to make the switch, though the length of the season presents obstacles.

“It’s tricky to do it over 22 episodes, because you have to build a lot of story,” he said.

David Mazouz, who portrays a young Bruce Wayne on the show, said as a result of the new direction, he expects his character will be less isolated from the ensemble in the upcoming season.

“He’s going to start to go out more and interact with some new characters, and I feel like that’s going to be cool, because you haven’t really seen him do that,” he said.  “I think in the first season I worked with three series regulars, and there’s like 15 of them.”

Gotham also intends to deliver more villains next season, with Victor Freeze, Clayface, and Jerome’s transformation into a proto-Joker.

Meanwhile, fan favorite villain Robin Lord Taylor, who plays the Penguin on the series, says he will continue to delight in the stark differences between this on-screen persona and his own.

“I won’t even send food back at a restaurant,” he said, when asked if he was anything like his character.

Gotham returns on Sept. 21 on Fox.

Though only loosely based on the comics, Lucifer is meant to take place between Lucifer’s exit in The Sandman and the beginning of the comic Lucifer, said Executive Producer Ildy Modrovich in an interview, rather than act as a television interpretation of the comic.

“At the end of Sandman, Lucifer leaves Hell to go to LA and open a piano bar,” Modrovich said. “So we’re sticking right there. Right there in the reality, the grounded world. We’re never going to go to Hell, we’re never going to go to Heaven. So it’s all about his fascination with humanity, trying to figure out if he can actually care about something other than himself.”

Modrovich also said some characters from The Sandman could show up in the show’s future, depending on whether DC would permit it.

Set to air on Fox in 2016, Lucifer stars Tom Ellis as the devil, who has recently vacated Hell to explore life on Earth, where he begins to help the LAPD solve crimes. The show will use a hybrid of episodic and serialized storytelling, according to the producers.

Ellis said he was drawn to the character from the pilot’s script, but had no idea what the source material was.

“I didn’t know it was based on a comic until I read on Deadline that I’d got the job and it was based on a DC comic,” he said. “Which I’m kind of glad about, because it might have altered my approach slightly. But now I’m reading them avidly.”

Modrovich said adapting the series has come with its set of challenges, both from fans of the property and others who had religious objections.

“When it was first announced, there were a lot of haters. Because when you’re talking about comic books, people are serious. They’re not messing around. And I don’t blame them, because Lucifer is a gorgeous comic, it’s beautiful,” she said. “So I think they were upset to hear ‘Oh, they’re going to make a cop show.’ But I feel like if they watch it for what it is, they’ll like what it is.”

The religious objection Modrovich alluded to includes a petition from AFA website One Million Moms to prevent the show from airing, claiming the series will “glorify Satan as a caring, likable person in human flesh.”

Lucifer also stars DB Woodside as Amenadiel, Lesley-Ann Brandt as Maze, and Lauren German as Chloe Dance.

Margaret Wild is a much-loved, award-winning author with over 70 titles to her name, having great success with acclaimed books including Fox, The Very Best of Friends, Harry and Hopper, Lucy Goosey, Davy and the Duckling, and The Treasure Box. Her books extend to a wide range of themes, and are characteristically known for their […]

We’re halfway through both the actual calendar, and the Summer blockbuster season (which started in May).  Even though it feels like a Friday night at the video store circa 1990, there have been some amazing movies released so far. Dinosaurs are battling robots for box office supremacy, and Pixar is once again at the front of Best Animated Feature Oscar speculation with “Inside Out”.

Here’s the latest movie schedule, culled from various sources… Not much to update, except for the Smurfs getting an actual title.  There will probably be more after San Diego and D23.

NOTE:  My colleagues have noted the confusion over Warner Brothers’ superhero schedule.

To be clear: past Suicide Squad, Warners Brothers/DC Entertainment has not matched announced movies with opening dates.

So, you will see a listing like:

Unknown 2018

Flash

and

3/23/2018

Untitled DC

That does not mean that there are two movies scheduled, only that DCE is planning movies, and has claimed dates. Other news sites have linked titles to dates. This has not been officially announced or confirmed by Warner Brothers, and until I see official confirmation, will continue to list the names and dates separately. When do I expect to see that confirmation? Either at a shareholder’s meeting, or sometime in July or August, just like last year. Like last year, I expect Marvel, via D23, to make a bigger splash than DC, although DC could try to win Comic-Con this year, given Marvel Studio’s suspected absence.

Updates are in bold.  I have included links back to Box Office Mojo, which is the source of this data.

The buildup to Fox-Marvel’s Fantastic Four has been incredibly quiet compared to the way that the Disney-Marvel typically advertises their superhero beat-em-ups.  The film releases on August 7th, and so far we’ve gotten two trailers and now this TV Spot, which demonstrates how far CGI has come since 2005.  We still know very little about the plot, although it seems like the film is going to spend a sizable chunk of time building up to the accident that causes Marvel’s first family to gain their powers.

I understand why Fox is choosing to be cautious with this film given how strongly they were lambasted by filmgoers after 2007’s Rise of the Silver Surfer.  That said, the understated ad campaign isn’t doing the film any favors as it displays a lack of confidence in the content.  From the limited amount of content we’ve seen so far, the film looks fine.  It might even have the potential to be great.  It’d be nice if Fox’s attitude reflected their faith in that possibility.