D.U. Bird Lovers vs. Fox Lovers!

[warrprayer]

A neighbor of a friend put up a wonderful bird feeder last year. Going to my friends house I have been treated to seeing many beautiful, colorful birds as the person seems to know what type of feed attracts special birds.
Yesterday as I was walking past, no more than 6 feet from my leg, I caught a flash of big bushy red white tipped tail - jumped backwards, not wanting to get bit! Never saw Mr. Fox's body - just the tail. Then I scanned the surroundings - the fox had just vanished into thin air!
Upon further checking, I found fox tracks about 8 feet apart - (leaping?) and a bird carcass below the feeder, decapitated and eviscerated. I felt kind of bad, but marveled at the skill of the fox.
Mr. Fox was probably like, (British accent) "I say old boy! You interrupted my meal! Yellow bellied sapsucker thrush - exquisite dining"!
Foxes are one of the most fabled creatures in human history. Appears in many fables and the subject of countless proverbs. Crazy like a fox... sour grapes.... the fox smells his own hole first.
Should I set out some grapes?




p.s. - Irish writer Oscar Wilde once witnessed a foxhunt. He called it "the uncatchable pursued by the unspeakable".

foxy fact - a fox can hear the ticking of a watch at 40 yards! (how they made this determination I'll never know... )

[In_The_Wind]

1. Survival of the fittest is the way of life.

The Fox is a natural predator. They will hunt cats.

[warrprayer]

2. from what I read

very small cats or kittens... full grown cats not so much. The fox is aware that the cat is capable of doing a job on it...

[In_The_Wind]

3. I really do need this beauty in my mind today.

Can I ask a favor of you warrprayer ? Your post are so powerful.
Will you please think about adding them to your DU journal so I can find them again easier.

[warrprayer]

5. Anything for you ITW!

Please, though, don't make my head swell up...

[In_The_Wind]

7. ahem

I am good at that too.
Or so I've been told several times by DUers.

[warrprayer]

13. a - HA!

a - HA HA HA!!!

Aesop
The Fox and The Crow
"A Fox once saw a Crow fly off with a piece of cheese in its beak and settle on a branch of a tree.

"That's for me, as I am a Fox," said Master Reynard, and he walked up to the foot of the tree.

"Good day, Mistress Crow," he cried. "How well you are looking today: how glossy your feathers; how bright your eye. I feel sure your voice must surpass that of other birds, just as your figure does; let me hear but one song from you that I may greet you as the Queen of Birds."

The Crow lifted up her head and began to caw her best, but the moment she opened her mouth the piece of cheese fell to the ground, only to be snapped up by Master Fox. "



I am being FLATTERED by a FOXY FLATTERER!!!

Well, I will not be like the foolish crow! I will keep my beak shut and KEEP MY D.U. Cheese!

HA HA HA!!!

[In_The_Wind]

14. Oh My!

[img][/img] [img][/img]

[warrprayer]

18. actually that is "pizza"

... in the crows beak!

CAW! CAW! oops...

[In_The_Wind]

19. My parrots love eating pizza bones.

I was just a bit off center cause an uninformed DUer just accused me of:

28. With all due respect,

Did you think about it before you broke the law?

And, regarding people with addiction problems and mental health issues, there's often not much rationalization going on in the first place.

I'm thinking about taking the weekend off away from DU.
Cause more than one mean DUer's suck! Oh and ... nothing in post # 28 is true!

[warrprayer]

20. So sorry

... to hear some idiot ruined the day.

I look forward to your posts and you are one of my favorite D.Uers. Sometimes we all need to step back for a while. Looking forward to your continued contributions!

[warrprayer]

21. a parrot story

I havwe a tattoo of the Morrigan on my arm. The lady who did the work was a lovely Wiccan. She had a military Maccaw (sp?) and as I was being tattooed the parrot was saying "ouch! ouch!"

[In_The_Wind]

22. I love that story about a macaw. Very cool.

DUers like you are the reason that I stay. One or two close friends have suggested a break but I really have very little else to do until the thaw hits. So I don't know what to do.

[warrprayer]

23. Ah, hang in there.

Don't let the few get you down!

[In_The_Wind]

24. see

I need you!

[warrprayer]

25. Still here!

hope you are too!

[In_The_Wind]

28. I am thank you!

It's getting better thanks to DU and you.

[warrprayer]

31. D.U. not ready

for Sam Kinison, methinks.

[In_The_Wind]

33. methinks you should share by PM with moi.

I only had two hours of sleep last night.

[warrprayer]

34. unfortunately

my 90 minutes on the pooor people public computer is up. Catch you next time!

[In_The_Wind]

36. Stay well! Thank you.

[warrprayer]

32. And please remember

... that some times people who deliberately set out to hurt you with their posts might be right wing infiltrators just trying to make D.U. suck.

[In_The_Wind]

35. I have been thru my own wars. I am impervious to dreck from stupid DUers who are charlatans.

It is the older DUers who continue to amaze me with very deliberately timed cruelties.
imo: they are psychopaths.

[warrprayer]

4. Great Fox Story

Native American fable

http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/lore26.html

[In_The_Wind]

6. Perfect!

The Hungry Fox and the Boastful Suitor

Native American Lore

One day Fox was out walking along. He'd been hunting but had no luck. It was a long time since he'd eaten. His stomach was growling so loudly he could hardly hear anything else. Suddenly he realized someone was coming singing a song. Quicker than the flick of a wren's tail Fox leaped off the path and crouched down on his belly in the bushes. Louder and louder grew the song. Then Fox saw something begin to appear over the crest of the hill. It was a single heron feather. Fox moved his front paws, getting ready to leap out at the bird he thought the feather was attached to. But as the feather lifted higher and higher, he realized it was no bird at all. It was the feather attached to the top of a gustoweh, the head-dress of an Iroquois man whose face now bobbed into sight as he came over the hill on horseback.
If he sees me, Fox thought, I can forget about my hunger forever! It was well known that fox skins were prized by the Iroquois. Fox tried to make himself smaller than a mouse, hoping he wouldn't be seen.
Closer and closer the man came. He was wearing fine clothes and Fox could hear the words of man's song very clearly now. It was a boasting song.
"No one is braver than Heron Feather," sang the young man.
"And I should know that for I am he. No one wears finer clothing. No one is a better fisherman. If you doubt this, look and see."
He was on his way to the lodge of a young woman he had been watching for some time. He was going to try to impress her and her mother so that the girl would ask him to marry her. His song and his fine clothing were part of the plan.
But Fox was no longer listening to Heron Feather's song. He was not seeing those fine clothes. All of Fox's attention was on what he was smelling. Fish. That large bag hanging from the young man's blanketroll was full of fish! Fox's mouth watered and his tongue hung out. It had been such a long time since he had eaten fish. His fears left him. The young man on the horse passed him by, but Fox's thoughts were far ahead.
Yes, Fox said to himself. I think there is a way. As quickly as he could, he ran along through the woods keeping out of sight of the road. Soon he was ahead of the Iroquois man. Just around a bend, Fox laid himself down by the edge of the path. He closed his eyes and opened his mouth so that his tongue hung out in the dirt. Not moving a muscle, he waited. Soon he began to near Heron Feather's boasting song.
Heron Feather was so intent on his singing, trying to find a few more words to describe just how fine he looked in his new white buckskin breechclout that he almost rode right past Fox. When he saw Fox out of the corner of his eye, he stopped. "Enh," he said, "what is this?" He climbed down from his horse.
"Kweh, a dead fox?" Picking up a long stick he carefully prodded the side of the animal. It did not move. "Nyoh," he said, "it is surely dead." He bent down and looked at it closely. It was skinny, but the pelt was in fine condition. He picked it up by the tail. "Hmm, it has not been dead for long. It only stinks a little bit." When he said that, Fox's mouth opened a little and his lips curled back from his teeth, but Heron Feather did not notice.
"Hmm," Heron Feather said, "maybe I should skin it out now." When he said that one of Fox's eyes twitched a little, but Heron Feather did not notice. "Neh," he went on, "I should not skin him out now. If I do I may dirty my fine new clothes. I will just take him with me." He walked back to his horse and began to unlace the bag. "Weh-yoh," he smiled, "when Swaying Reed's mother sees this fox I caught she will know I am a great hunter. Then she will surely allow her daughter to bring me marriage bread." He dropped the fox in with his fish, laced the bag shut and climbed back on his horse. Soon he was singing again. This time it was a song about how great a hunter Heron Feather was.
Inside the bag Fox lay still for a few minutes. Then he began to gnaw at the side. When he had made a hole large enough, he began to drop the fish out, one by one. Finally, when all the fish were gone, he made the hole larger and jumped out to freedom and his best meal in many days.
Too busy with his singing, Heron Feather did not even notice. He rode all the way to the village where Swaying Reed lived. He stopped in front of her mother's lodge and sat there on his horse, singing til many people had gathered around. He sang of his beautiful clothes, of the many fish he caught (he actually had traded his mother's beaded moccasins for them), of all the animals he hunted and trapped. Swaying Reed and her mother came out of the lodge and watched as he reached back for his bag. Now he would show them what a good provider he was!
When he held up the bag and saw that it was empty with a hole in the bottom he stopped singing. Turning around, he rode silently away. He learned that day that boasting songs do not make a person great. It is one thing to find a fox and another to skin it.

[mercymechap]

8. Oh darn, for a minute I thought

you were talking about Faux News lovers! LOL!

[warrprayer]

10. nope

Faux news is an insult to the intelligence of foxes!

[Paladin]

9. Funny You Should Post This.

I've got a couple of gray foxes coming to my back yard bird feeder in central Texas. I posted about this in the DU "Birders" group a few weeks ago. These foxes don't seem to be troubling the birds; they seem to have a taste for the unshelled sunflower seeds in the (rather pricey) bird feed we're using. It's fun to watch them in the evenings, chomping away. They are absolutely gorgeous animals, and I hope to have them around for as long as possible. I have to bring the feeder in every evening, or the local mob of raccoons tear it out of the tree and batter the hell out of it. Life in the country......

[warrprayer]

11. I read in England

... people encourage foxes to use their porches (beneath) for dens...
It must be lovely where you are!

[Paladin]

12. The Foxes Are A Definite Bonus.

My wife and I are hoping that they turn up with some young ones (I believe they're referred to as "kits&quot in the future.

[Bertha Venation]

15. Good thing you didn't post cats (feral or domesticated) vs wild birds

[warrprayer]

16. Shhhhh!!!!

[fizzgig]

17. now you've done it

[olddots]

26. I used to watch hawks fly and saw a fox .

That was the only fox I've seen in So Cal ,lots of animals here but few foxes .

[warrprayer]

27. We seem to have a few of them here in Pa.!

This is the second i have seen in my lifetime. The other was a silver fox sitting beside the road as I drove by, under a full moon!

[olddots]

30. is this thread about Larry Bird verses Fox News ?