ENTRY DESCRIPTION
These two Red Foxes are fighting, but not really. On San Juan Island, the dense population of Red foxes have a complex social life, sometimes competing, sometimes cooperating, but always interacting with familiar individuals. When competing over hunting grounds, like these two are doing, they aim to reinforce existing boundaries, not mortally wound the other. To coordinate this delicate stand-off, the foxes must in fact synchronize their stance and movements back-and-forth, very much like two dancers. The open mouth display clearly shows its 'partner' that it is prepared to fight - but only if needed. I came across this pair at the edge of busy road and was able to capture them as they sparred for over five minutes. During the interaction, they had eyes only for each other, ignoring everything (like cars) and everyone (like me) nearby. The shallow depth of focus of the image comes from using a long telephoto lens (840mm) at a large aperture (f5.6).

AUTHOR
I have been curious about nature for as long as I can remember (my parents said at
least from the age of 4). My first camera was a small cheap plastic Kodak, but I
delighted in taking pictures of life in our garden. Over time, my equipment has
become fancier and my destinations more distant, but I still revel in the joy of
interacting with the natural world through my camera. I chose a career of studying
the behavior and ecology of animals, mostly primates, as a way of spending as
much time in nature as possible while still getting paid to do so! I used photographs
to document my study animals and their natural history, but had too little time to
develop my photography to the next level. Upon retiring from academia in 2018, I
devoted myself fully to improving my wildlife photography, taking advantage of my
knowledge of animal behavior. The most difficult challenge was to transition from
technical mastery of the camera to being a creative graphic artist. I could not have
succeeded without the mentorship of several outstanding photographers, most
recently Tin Man Lee, for whose inspiration and insights I am deeply grateful.

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