Cottontails
Backlit bunny early one morning.
Desert cottontails are a constant presence around our place. Although we don’t feed them directly, they are quick to help themselves to the bird seed we scatter in the winter and the llama feed they can steal year round. After so many years of co-existence, they tend to ignore our movements for the most part and probably look at us as helpful in so much as we deter predators from approaching when we are nearby.
A bunny waits patiently, secure in the knowledge that Rusty will prove to be a sloppy eater.
Eating the hay pile, one bite at a time.
Although their ears are built for hearing, the eyesight of cottontails is quite different from ours. They have a very wide field of view, including overhead, but have a blind spot directly in front of their noses. Add that to the fact that they are far-sighted and that they see better in dim light and many of their movements start to make much more sense.
A bunny ignores a nearby rattlesnake
In the image, above, I watched as the bunny sat well within striking distance of the rattlesnake for more than an hour. Maybe he knew he was too big for the reptile or maybe he recognized that the rattler had recently eaten and wasn’t likely to do so again for several days. Or maybe he just couldn’t see the stationary snake as it blended in to the sandstone rock.
Cottontails begin their mating dances around mid-February and we start to see baby bunnies in late March.
Part of the mating ritual involves synchronized jumping.
Once a female bunny becomes pregnant, gestation is a little less than a month. As the day of delivery draws near, mama bunny will begin digging a large hole and lining the nest with grasses and fur. When all is ready, she covers the burrow back up until the day of birth. The one to six kittens are born blind and hairless but mama will only return to care for them once a day, covering the hole back up as she leaves so that it is almost impossible to tell the location of the nest.
Mama bunny digging the burrow that will house her nest.
A cottontail returning to the hole she has dug with grasses to line the nest.
After two weeks the baby bunnies leave the nest and begin foraging on their own. It is rare to see adult bunnies interacting with babies once they have left the nest unless it is in response to a baby bunny’s scream – usually as they are being attacked by a magpie – at which point every rabbit within hearing distance comes running to the rescue.
A rare exhibit of interaction between an adult and baby bunny.
The toughest time of year for the cottontails is winter, particularly if we have any amount of snowfall. Luckily for them, snow is a relatively rare occurrence and when it does come, it doesn’t usually stay long.
A curious bunny stands up to see what I am doing.
We have found that we need to check under the hood of our old Tahoe that sits outside before we think about driving it in the winter months. More often than not, a bunny has chosen to shelter in place.
A cottontail is surprised to find his sheltered spot is not so private after all! Luckily for him, we were able to move him before we started the vehicle.
If you want to hear more about cottontails, be sure to listen to my podcast by clicking the button below, or by downloading the latest episode from Apple Podcasts or Spotify.