Fox pup

@Disoriented: It really was a rather incredible encounter for me. I was the first person through the gates at 7 a.m., and on my way to shoot the sacred lotus in the Japanese Garden. I rounded a bend and there they were up on a little ridge ... all three of them. I walked on past them, maybe 30 yards, and sat my bag and tripod on a bench. When I turned back around and slowly started toward them the mother ran across the trail and into another wooded area (I read online that this may have been a diversionary tactic on her part to lure me away from the pups). The pups stayed right where she had left them. They were definitely a bit uneasy with my presence ... moving about a bit, but staying generally in the area in which she left them. Actually, they could have easily taken cover in the low-lying plants, but I also read that they're not too easily spooked by humans. I shot a few shots and realized that my shutter speed was too slow ... I adjusted my ISO and took some more before slowly moving in until I was maybe 15 yards from the pups. I took 18 shots (some of which were blurred because of their movements ... you can see that I wasn't shooting fast enough 1/20th second, 1/25 second). At the point when I was closest, the mother reappeared and gave the pups a signal of some sort and they disappeared into the area behind them.

As it turned out, it was too windy to get many good pictures of the lotus. After an hour or so I was on my way back out the way I had come in when I stopped to take some shots of an interesting bush. Suddenly I was greeted by some acquaintances I'd met while shooting at the Botanical Garden. I regaled them with my fantastic tale, and as we stood there one (I think the mother) of the foxes reappeared nearby. They were astonished (as was I) and I was able to snap off another 9 pics.

Two years ago while walking around the lake in the Japanese Garden, I looked up a little ridge and there was lying a fox ... pretty as you please under the morning shade of a tree. I didn't approach (wasn't a photog at the time), and it was gone by my next lap around the lake. So ... I was aware that at least some time ago there was a fox on the grounds of the Garden. But this weekend's encounter was really quite a thrill ... made my weekend!