I sit outside on a beautiful Spring day writing this post about The Return of the Fox.

Our resident fox has visited three times this morning raising havoc with the chickens and ducks. So here I sit on the porch giving the ducks some supervised play time.

The commotion started around 7 a.m. All the critters were still secure in their pens when all hell broke loose with the Banties. I could tell something was wrong. I flew out of bed and Paul, who was already up yelled, “There’s a fox!”?

Paul threw open the window to yell at the fox while I grabbed my camera. His yelling startled the fox who then ran a few yards away only to return for another circuit around the Banty coop. I snapped this picture through my dirty streaky windows.

Only when I threw open the door and charged after the fox did he make haste for the woods.

Although the chicken pens are fairly safe with chicken wire on the top, the duck yard isn’t quite so secure. We decided to leave the ducks in their pen until we could supervise their outdoor activity.

A little while later, the sound of panicked clucking started up again. I found the fox cruising along the drive. He (or she) stood his ground until I got within about 20 yards and then he took off as I chased him down the drive. In my jammies. In the cold.

A half-hour or so later he was back.

He’s a very brazen fox. The Girls were in a tizzy.

Since chasing him off this last time, I’ve been on alert waiting for another ruckus, but it’s been blissfully quiet. I guess this is a reminder that we need to be constantly vigilant in caring for the critters.