Now, back to Fox News. Did you know that foxes are the only canine that climbs trees? One night, I saw the silhouettes of several babies moving cautiously along the branches of my plum. This morning, after an hour of tussle, one spotted an old ladder leaning against the house. Soon, I could hear three babies tromping around on the roof, while the others looked on in surprise.

Now the owlets are 6 weeks old. Ronnie moved them into a 20-foot square flight cage decorated with branches and a nest box for shelter. She installed a plastic wading pool and stocked it with leaves, twigs and live brown mice. Sure enough, the rustling and motion in the pool attracted the owlets and soon they were catching their own meals. Owls are insatiably curious: in the wild they explore every nook and cranny, and investigate every sound or movement in their neighborhood. If you’d like to support the work Ronnie does, she’s a licensed, independent wildlife rescuer, and help her with her volunteer efforts to save these wonderful lives, you can buy her book, go to www.TouchingWings.org, or send donations to P. O. Box 1336, Mendocino, CA, 95460. She and the critters thank you!

The screech owls are now 3-4 weeks old. They are being raised with the least amount of human contact possible, once their eyes open, because they will imprint on the first critter they see (hopefully another owl) and identify with that image forever. These owls are now about 4 inches tall and are able to eat whole mice purchased already dead and frozen in neat little packages from a commercial rodent farm. My friend Ronnie James has federal and state licenses to raise rescued birds and other small animals. Her non-profit organization is called Woodlands Wildlife and she is always in need of donations to help feed wild baby animals. You can donate to this worthy cause by sending a check to Woodlands Wildlife, P.O. Box 1336, Mendocino, CA 95460. Ronnie and the owls thank you!

Baby Screech Owl orphans 7-10 days old

We interrupt Fox News to bring you...baby screech owls! My friend Ronnie James, founder and director of Woodlands Wildlife, holds numerous state and federal licenses to rescue and care for orphaned or injured birds. These baby screech owls were brought to her one spring. They are 7-10 days old and, as young birds, their eyes are closed and they are blind. Their nest tree was cut during illegal forest clearing done for an equally illegal “agricultural” project.  The babies could have been returned to their parents by putting up a nest box high on a tree, and their parents would have happily continued to raise them, but the entire site was an ecological disaster with heavy equipment rolling around removing all the trees and shelter. Woodlands Wildlife kept them in an incubator for a few days and every hour they dined on mealworms and fillet of mouse sprinkled with vitamins. To order a wonderful book from Woodlands Wildlife, full of stories of the animals Ronnie helped over 25 years, go to www.TouchingWings.org

More Fox News: This is week five of the little foxes out of their den, it's the third week of April and all photos are taken through my kitchen window. I am meticulous about making sure I am not seen. This time, one little guy did spot me, so I began to darken all windows before photographing through the one, so my silhouette wouldn't show.

Young Foxes at Play

Two of the litter of five gray foxes, Northern California

I am so curious about the foxes' activities. There are long periods during the day when I hear nothing. The young are way too small to hunt with her, but they are so quiet that I think she has carried them off to a new den. Only when she is around are they noisy, like right now. Still, no male to be seen. How does she hunt and make sure her pups are safe? What a responsibility!