Friends of the Island Fox Joins With Channel Islands Restoration

photo courtesy of Todd West

This island fox is eating small native berries. 
Plants sustain island foxes.

2018 begins with some exciting news!

Friends of the Island Fox 

is now a program of Channel Islands Restoration.

Channel Islands Restoration (CIR) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that protects rare and endangered plants and animals by restoring habitat in sensitive and unique natural areas on the California Channel Islands and adjacent mainland.  

In 2016, FIF and CIR worked together taking two groups of volunteers to Santa Cruz Island to remove invasive plants.

Families removing invasive oyster plant on Santa Cruz Island

Island foxes are intricately connected to the other plants and animals in their ecosystem. This new relationship with CIR will enhance FIF's ability to effect long-term positive change for island foxes across the six islands where they live.  We look forward to working with CIR to revitalize habitat for island foxes and other island species. 

The health and welfare of island foxes remains FIF's priority. From radio-tracking collars to vaccinations, from campground food lockers to education presentations, your donations to Friends of the Island Fox support a variety of conservation efforts, public education, and research focused on island fox survival. What We Do

Meet FIF's new Advisory Committee and consider how you can help island foxes. 

Working together we can protect island foxes and their Channel Island home.

Keri Dearborn, FIF Program Director 

Fox Foto Friday - Island Fox Casual

Few wild animals, especially top predators, will go about their daily lives right in front of human observers. Island fox as predator. Researcher Todd West took this photo of a Santa Cruz Island fox on a recent visit to the Channel Islands. 

Island foxes in Channel Islands National Park regard people as equals. These tiny predators are not afraid of people because they have had a positive relationship with humans for thousands of years. Modern visitors play a vital role in maintaining that relationship; Visiting The Island Fox.

Thank you, Todd, for sharing your image with Friends of the Island Fox.

Fox Foto Friday - Island Fox School Project

An island fox, its habitat, diet, behavior and life story.

This wonderful school project was created by a 3rd grade student at Opal Robinson Elementary School in Manhattan Beach.

FIF school presentations will be available on a limited basis beginning in March 2018. 

Teachers - island foxes are a real world entry into math, history, science and ecology. Check out island fox school activities K-12. 

Friends of the Island Fox's "12 Days of Winter"

Happy New Year 2018!
On the 12th Day of Winter the Islands gave to me...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Find out more about island foxes and their

 Channel Island habitat. 

A huge Thank You to Douglas E. Welch for providing graphic design and to the photographers that contributed to this project: Michael E. Lawshe, Keri Dearborn, Douglas E. Welch, Peter Pendergest, Catherine Schwemm, and Mike Watling. A special Thank You to Cathy Van Slyke, who's photo of an island fox in a fig tree provided the inspiration.

Fox Foto Friday - Island Foxes Staying Warm

On a December trip to Santa Cruz Island, Nancy Beach from North Carolina captured this image of an island fox snuggling in for a nap.

"I was surprised the foxes were so easy to spot - our eastern red foxes are nocturnal, so I've only seen maybe a half dozen in my entire life," said Nancy. She saw numerous island foxes and remarked, "Beautiful animals!"

Island foxes stay warm against the winter chill by curling up in a ball. They tuck their legs under their body and use their fluffy tail to cover their face. While island fox fur is not as thick as foxes that live in snowy climates, it still insulates these tiny hunters from the cold.

Don't forget to follow the Channel Island 12 Days of Winter.

An Island Fox in a Fig Tree

Discover what's to come over the 12 Days of Winter. 

Follow Friends of the Island Fox on:

Twitter @ifoxtweet

Facebook islandfoxtweet

or Instagram islandfoxnews

Join in the fun each day through January 1! 

What will be your favorite day?

Island Foxes and the Thomas Fire

Santa Cruz Island shrouded in Thomas Fire smoke, 12/12/17

Yes, there is smoke on the water. While the Thomas Fire is burning on the mainland in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, smoke has blown off-shore engulfing the islands. On satellite images, Santa Cruz Island has frequently disappeared in the smoke.

NASA satellite photo 12/8/17

While embers from the fire did reach Santa Cruz in the early days of the Thomas Fire, no fires ignited on the island. In fact, on Tuesday, Dec. 12, FIF observers reported numerous island foxes behaving normally.

This young fox in the toyon tree was foraging for toyon berries. Can you find the fox in this picture? Other island foxes were hunting on the ground beneath the toyons and redberries. Despite the smoke, island foxes were well.

We know some of the people impacted by the massive Thomas Fire are island fox friends, biologists, National Park employees, and island fox supporters. Friends of the Island Fox extends its thoughts to everyone in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties who have lost homes and been displaced by this tragic event.

Fox Foto Friday - Island Fox Pairs

Marty Chin - I took this on my first trip to Santa Cruz Island back in 2011 with the Sierra Club 20's and 30's Group. I spent about an hour watching these rascally young foxes looking for food, playing, and marking territory. Love Friends of the Island Fox and the great work you do.  I met some of your volunteers twice on Earth Days at the LA Zoo.

Thank you Marty for sending in your photo for our Fox Foto Friday. This pair of island foxes is the perfect December image. Right now island fox pairs are taking a break from family life, but around the end of the year they will find a mate or re-establish their pair bond.

Submit your island fox photo to islandfoxnews@gmail.com and be part of Fox Foto Friday.

Fox Foto Friday - Counting Island Foxes

Capture cages and ID microchips are key in counting island foxes across the Channel Islands. Camera trap images, like this one, may help provide additional information on island fox behavior. This fox is alone, appears healthy, and shows no sign of injury from interactions with other island foxes. It's also wearing something important around its neck.

What Do Brown Boobies Have To Do With Island Foxes?

Have you heard that a seabird called the brown booby (Sula leucogaster) has recently been found nesting on Santa Barbara Island for the first time? 

brown booby beneath western gull; Santa Barbara Island, CA

If you did, you might not have connected this news to island foxes. Brown boobies have historically been residents of Baja and Mexican coastlines. They typically feed on fish species found in warmer waters and are considered a tropical and subtropical species. Channel Islands National Park reports that brown boobies have been gradually moving north since the 1990s. Their occurrence on the Channel Islands coincides with documentation of warmer ocean temperatures along California's coast. The fact that these southern birds are attempting to nest here for the first time is evidence of a healthy marine ecosystem, but also changing local climate. Similarly, our brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis), which were previously only known to nest in California, have been ranging further north. They have attempted to nest along Washington's Columbia River and in the past few years have become summer regulars in southern British Columbia, Canada.

Strong-flying birds have the ability to relocate as temperatures change. Island foxes and the other terrestrial plants and animals of the Channel Islands do not have that option. They will have to adapt to changes in their environment to survive. There are some reports of island foxes breeding and having pups earlier on the southern Channel Islands then documented in the past. Lightening storms brought fire to Santa Cruz this summer and extended drought has challenged some island fox populations.

While the brown boobies are a native coastal species, they have only been occasional visitors to the Channel Islands in the past. Brown boobies are diving seabirds larger than our commonly seen western gull (Larus occidentalis). They are exciting to see, but will their northern movement have an impact on other native species? (video of brown boobies on Santa Barbara Island in 2015 via TheEarthMinute.com)

Are there other, small and less observable species, that are also relocating to the Channel Islands? Will climate roamers bring beneficial diversity or new parasites and disease? 

In this time of global change, monitoring island foxes and their island ecosystem is vital to the species' long-term survival.