A Rough Start

Tuesday May 14, 2013,

20130510075328-5x7wHere’s a shot of a young Eastern Cottontail I saw at Avalon Preserve last week. He’s only half-grown but he’s not so new to the world. Most rabbits are only fist-sized when they’re turned out to fend for themselves. While this guy isn’t even an adult yet, he does show signs of what it means to be a rabbit in the wild. Click on the pic and have a look at those ears. Something, possibly a fox or a hawk, has been at this little one. Maybe even a raccoon or a possum. If you look closely enough, you’ll see that at least one tick is still chowing down on our unfortunate hero. There are many, many critters that have rabbit on the menu. This could go a long way to explaining why rabbits procreate like, well,  rabbits. They absolutely need to. They’re feeding an entire ecosystem.  JK

Bunny Rabbit

Friday, July 11, 2008

Time for an isn’t-that-just-too-cute post. This little guy is an Eastern Cottontail. I found him on Tuesday morning along one of the paths at the David Weld Sanctuary. He had almost no fear of me. In fact he let me pass him on the path without disappearing into the brush.

I’ve wanted to post another rabbit picture for some time now but nearly all of the rabbits I’ve seen this year have been infested with tics. Lots of tics. This guy and another I saw the same day seemed to be tic-free, but don’t let that fool you. The tics are still out there. I found one on crawling up my leg yesterday as I was getting ready to launch my kayak. There. That should balance out the cuteness of this post. I feel better now. JK