After sitting in the cold for two hours, I eventually concluded that it would be better to pack up my things. So, I stood up, began rolling up my small hide, and leaned the camera and tripod against a tree.
At -8 degrees, I could barely move my fingers even with gloves on. But since it had become too cold even for my heated vest and it gave up the ghost, I simply had to get up. Suddenly, I could hardly believe my eyes, I saw something red waddling through the snow in front of me. It was my first encounter with a red fox. Our eyes met; he stopped by a tree at a safe distance of about 10 meters.
I stood there at least as rooted as he was, but I thought to myself, if you don't take a picture now, you'll miss out. And actually, that was exactly why I was in the woods in the first place—to take a picture. The fox gave me the opportunity. He remained standing, looked a bit to the left, then to the right, and I was able to take a few shots. And he probably would have stayed even longer if the sound of passers-by hadn't been heard eventually.
So, he moved on and I packed my backpack, feeling satisfied. What a special moment. In any case, the effort had been worth it, even if the journey home became quite exhausting. In these sub-zero temperatures, my e-bike's control electronics fail on me regularly. But that gave me plenty of time to look forward to my photo while pedaling.