On a recent walk, I turned down an alley to find what I thought was a woman letting her dog out for its morning constitutional. Then I looked again and realized the animal was a fox! I stopped abruptly as the fox zeroed in on the dog by my side. I snapped a few photos, then headed back out to the street so as not to bother the poor thing, which seemed concerned about the dog, but not sure where to run. (Usually when we come across a fox while walking, the fox will just take off in the other direction. It seemed a little odd that this one stuck around. But I wondered if it was perhaps a mother with babies nearby.)

Little did I realize that this fox was a babe him(or her?)self. In fact, there are 8 kits living in this alley! I came back two days later and saw two playing together. Then several others ran this way and that past them until they were all out playing together in the middle of the alley.

This is one of the things I love about living in Fort Collins. There's an amiable blend of urban and wild that you don't always see in other cities.