Fox Foto Friday - This Is A Test

Can you identify this fox?

Island fox or gray fox?

Two clues: 

1. Check out the tail
2. This fox was seen in a backyard in Camarillo, CA

Friends of the Island Fox has you covered.  

Find the skills you need to identify this fox.

Fox Foto Friday - FIF Research Grant Deadline Approaching

 

$5000 in research grant funding is nothing to stick your tongue out at.

The deadline for Friends of the Island Fox's 2021 Research Grant is fast approaching.

Download FIF 2021 Research Grant Application

Applications will be accepted through August 31.

 

Join the innovative researchers discovering new information about island foxes and the Channel Islands.

Fox Foto Friday - Radio Collars Arrive!

Radio-tracking collars have arrived at Channel Islands National Park. These new and refurbished radio collars will be going on island foxes across San Miguel and Santa Rosa Islands over the next two months.

Why is there a pink ribbon? For speed and accuracy in the field

Collar identification numbers and radio frequency are originally noted on the collar band. When the bands are pre-punched with holes to fascilitate an adjustable fit on individual foxes, the numbers can become obscured. 

In the field the goal is to keep an island fox in-hand for as little time as possible. By putting the important numbers on the pink ribbon, the collar can be quickly grabbed from a bag, the ribbon taken off, the collar fitted, and the fox released. Then the collar numbers can be written on the data sheet for that individual island fox. 

 It is a brilliant and simple way to keep data accurate and release island foxes as quickly as possible.

Friends of the Island Fox just provided 15 refurbished and 15 new radio collars for the northern islands. 

But 8 of those new collars still need funding!

If you donate $350 for a new radio collar today, your collar will be going on an island fox in the next few weeks.

FIF also still needs to raise funds for 11 refurbished radio collars that will be finished in early September and ready to go on Catalina Island foxes. 

$220 refurbishes a used radio collar

$350 funds a new radio collar

Radio collars monitor island foxes in the wild, providing an early warning of disease or other threats to an entire island's population. 

When you donate to Friends of the Island Fox you can see where your donation goes

Vaccinations for Catalina Island foxes

Research

Donor Update

Friends of the Island Fox Welcomes Mike Watling as President

Meet Mike Watling. On July 1, 2021 he became FIF's new President. 

Dear Fox Friends,

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the incoming president of Friends of the Island Fox.

I have been a member of the FIF advisory committee for the past five years and a member of the Board for the past year, helping to shape the future of FIF following the delisting of the island fox. My background is in the biomedical field where for the past 23 years I have been working on diagnostic test kits for human cancer. I am also trained as a California naturalist through the University of California, certified as a wildlife tracker through CyberTracker North America, and a volunteer naturalist with Channel Islands National Park and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. (He's also a great wildlife photographer.)

I am very passionate about the wildlife of California and especially the wildlife that inhabits the Channel Islands. I am very fortunate to be able to serve an organization such as Friends of the Island Fox. 

I'm also married with two daughters: one a wildlife biologist in northern California and the other a pre-veterinary student at California State University Channel Islands.

The global pandemic and worsening drought in California, and throughout the west, have strengthened FIF's commitment to provide grant funding for researchers seeking more knowledge about fox diet, microbiome, range size, interactions with the island spotted skunk, as well as our continued support for radio collars and vaccines. 

Your generous contributions have made these things possible. The mission of FIF is to work together to protect the island fox and their island home and that focus will remain as strong going forward as it has in the past. Its Science, for Fox Sake!

Best,

Mike Watling

President, Friends of the Island Fox

Mike@islandfox.org

 

Meet the entire FIF Board of Directors 2021

See Mike's posts on Identifying the Foxes of North America

Apply for the FIF 2021 Research Grant (now through Aug. 31)