FW: Rabbit tales and other critters

[Carma Sue Henry]

-------- Original message --------

From: Carma Sue Henry <csh...@bywordofmind.com>

Date: 6/29/25 10:26 PM (GMT-08:00)

To: donab...@gmail.com

Subject: Rabbit tales and other critters

Don,

Thanks for the beautiful flower pics.  I haven't been able to get out this year so I love seeing them.

Your post on the Finley NWR rabbits has me wondering once again about my ID of our local rabbits.

When we first moved back in 2017 and settled on Logsdon Ridge, I thought most of our rabbits were Brush rabbits.  We had two long, very overgrown, Juniper hedges that suited them.  After we removed it for fire safety, it seemed the population changed over to Eastern cottontails.  There's still plenty of cover but not at the density of the old Juniper hedges.  The two in the attached vid do look very different.  The one on the right is much smaller, darker and the ears seem more rounded.  It may just be a young ECR, but we see those fairly often (see pic of one of the larger ones who, just this summer, has developed a taste for the Shasta Daisy petals) and they usually look the same as the adults, if a bit less beaten up.

I'd love to think the native rabbit can still exist here.

Any opinion?

In other critter news... It appears Boss Mom's two year old daughter, Found, is also nursing.  That makes 3 of 4 adult does who may have fawns this summer.  The fruit trees (apples are just beginning to show a blush), water and big shady maple are bringing the deer in more frequently.  Boss Mom's 3yo buck, BD, who we haven't seen for a few months, came in today and brought a friend - another buck with almost the exact same rack.  BD's 2yo little brother, Lost, wasn't with these two other boys, so we're hoping he's OK.  The new guy must not be one of the neighborhood deer as it was too shy to come in for a drink with BD.  It paced back and forth in the empty lot above our fence.  Later, it had no fear of joining BD and one of the does down at the apple trees.

The previous owner put in a cane berry that I thought was a big raspberry - the deer tended to eat them at a very green/red stage before they looked ripe.  This year there was so much fruit so early that we managed to get to some huge, black ripe ones before the deer had a chance to hog them all.  Now I think it's a var. of Loganberry.  Unfortunately, despite their size and beauty, they're rather bland compared to ordinary blackberries, so we'll probably just leave them to the deer.  

As you can also see, all the bigger critters bring in other tiny beasties.  This tick was on Steve's leg after a quick walk in some long grass.  It got squished.  Beware!

Carma Henry