I'm sure there's a story here somewhere, but I have no idea what it might be. I was reaching down to pick this breba and changed my mind. I don't think the dead mouse has anything to do with the hole in the fig, but...? Normally I'd cut around a pecked spot and eat the fig anyway, but I think I'm gonna pass on this one.

 

Disgusting!

Story goes just like the squirrel in the movie "ice age" he finally got to the fig and just as he was ready to bite, BAAAM, envy heart attack but at least he died happy ,among his most favorite figs!!! If only we knew what variety they are! I'd guess Conadria?
By the way, very sorry about your fig Ken. Waiting all this time to come to that.

Your to funny Chris....sorry about your fig

strange case of a dead mouse.. it doesn't look like it has been to cat's tummy.. nor a bird. but what will kill the mouse and doesn't live any.. evidence? stroke or heart attack.. maybe aneurysm in brain or heart? need to freeze the body and have it send to local chapter of Illuminati and have it checked out. 

Maybe he was allergic to the latex ? 

"This fig's to die for!"

Great scenarios! I'm still smiling. No worries about losing one fig--there are plenty.

I suspect the mouse was injured or ill and chose that as a safe place to lie down . . . until he felt better. They will do that, especially after eating D-Con.

Only CSI knows for sure.

mouse poison kicked in as he was biting the fig.

I can't quite tell from the pic -- but is his head actually still there? If not, then some predator dropped him. If the head's there, then I'm going with latex. It isn't technically toxic, but I can sure see it gumming up a mouse GI tract.

He does appear to have lost his head.

My guess would be that a bird picked up the left over mouse fur and was starting a nest but got rudely interrupted. 
Looks like he managed to get a nice bite of your fig.  He will be back n doubt.

Maybe it'll act as a deterrent to other creatures?

Maybe--it's a deterrent to me!

Ken,

Several years ago, I found this grasshopper hanging from the tip of one of the asian pear trees I'm growing in TX. 

 
I left him on there in the hopes that if the other grasshoppers would think the trees were fighting back, and the grasshoppers should go someplace else.  No such luck.

Great shot! A bit weird, of course, but very nicely done. If it had been impaled on a thorn I would say it had gotten on the wrong side of a shrike, but I don't know what to think when it's feet-up on a pear tree.

Hey as long as we are taking about dead mice and birds... Look what I found this winter!

 

He was seen fighting a bald eagle alongside the road the night before I found him. He recovered and was released :)

Wow--that's a pretty intense stare!

His eyes startled me when I went back to where I saw him with friends and catching equipment. Followed his tracks in the snow, I was standing there looking up in the woods and he was only 10 feet away staring at me. 

The owl is really cool.  When I was much younger I rescued 3 baby barn owls and raised them up to adults.  They came back for food for a short time but then went off on there own I guess.  I've heard that the eat the head off when they are not that hungry.  Not sure if it is true but that is what one of my hunter friends told me.

I bet a hawk snared the mouse and then perched on the branch to enjoy his meal.  Then after he had enjoyed the head, he noticed a pleasant aroma (hint: it wasn't the mouse).  Looking down, he noticed a nice ripe fig.  He dropped the mouse and took a bite of the fig.  Having tasted the fig, he couldn't contain himself so flew off in joy. 

Better watch out for him, he'll be back.  Once you go fig, you never go back.

It's an appealing theory--but the tree is inside a bird netting enclosure with 3/8 inch mesh--so no hawk can squeeze inside, nor drop a mouse through the netting from outside. I'm guessing the mouse, seeing the fig, settled down to wait for it to ripen, and knowing how good it would taste, wasn't willing to leave--even to go get a drink of water. In short, he lost his head over a fig (something many of us can relate to), and it cost him dearly. When the fig finally ripened, it was already too late for our fuzzy friend, and something else came along and chewed the hole in it.

Good Thread