Welcome to Fox Friday, the collection of the best of the previous seven days of urban fox photographs at an undisclosed feeding station in central Midland, Texas.
The biggest problem the foxes have, at least at this particular station, is competition from feral cats. The cats have advantages over the foxes. Firstly, although they are both roughly the same size, the cats' claws and flexible arms give them an advantage in a one-on-one fight for food. Secondly, the cats have a better sense of timing as it sometimes seems as though they must be waiting out of sight for the food drop. Thirdly, the cats seem to have a better olfactory system. The nightly food ration consists of two frozen raw chicken drumsticks. The cats recognize it as food right away, however, the foxes sometimes step right over it, seemingly without realizing it's an edible meal, at least until it thaws a bit or a cat has already gnawed on it.
Let's start off with some shots from Monday night:
Hissss! Cat tries to scare the fox away but can't guard both drumsticks. Old Crooked Tail makes off with a meal. Tough luck, greedy cat.
Just few minutes later Old Crooked Tail sneaks back onto the scene, spies on the cat, and slips right by unnoticed. Pretty slick. Too bad the cat controlled the only drumstick left.
The next set came from the morning of 9/11. Last week some of the photos showed only the tops of some heads. So this week the camera was lowered by a couple of inches. Did anyone notice?
Old Crooked Tail sure did notice. She can't get over it. Here she is looking right at the camera as it snapped her photo. It has happened in the early days when they were getting used to the setup, but not since, until now.
Finally, this next one was cropped, and the thumbnail is larger to show off our subject.
Old Crooked Tail strikes a majestic pose as she surveys her territory. What a beautiful creature she is.
See ya next Fox Friday!
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