Not the Easter Bunny, But the Eastern Cottontail

My evening walks are always an adventure. This time of year that adventure includes rabbit-spotting. Rabbits are everywhere it seems. Sometimes we see two on one lawn. These little critters are busy. According to one rescue center, the rabbit's peak breeding season in my area is between early spring and September.

The lovely, long-eared character in my shot is an Eastern cottontail. There are only two species of rabbit in New York (my state in the USA): the New England cottontail and the Eastern cottontail. They are almost impossible to tell apart, but they are distinct species and do not interbreed. One, the New England, is listed as "a species of greatest conservation need, threatened, or endangered within every state in its current range." The other species, the Eastern is not threatened.

We were amazed when we passed the rabbit that it was well on its way to digging a noticeable hole in a neighbor's grass. The animal was watchful, but it didn't stop digging.

In this really short YouTube video you can see the rabbit from the back, working away. Look at this on YouTube. You get a better view.

I didn't know rabbits were such fans of lawn grass. After watching this rabbit chomp away, I saw others also eating lawns. According to Homes and Gardens website, rabbits are "notorious for not only chewing on the blades but destroying your grass root-deep, which can be difficult for your lawn to come back from". That is apparently very true.

We went back the next day to see if the rabbit had actually made a burrow. It hadn't but it left this naked patch, actually a hole, in the turf.

We went back last night to see if the damage caused by the rabbit had been repaired. It had not. Here's a shot I took in the dark. This clearly shows the rabbit hole was still there. No rabbit, but clear evidence of his visit.

So far this year I have seen rabbits on my lawn, but no signs of damage. Although, it seems we have a vole or some small animal digging tiny holes in my backyard.

Here's a really short video of the neighbor's rabbit taking note of my presence and then continuing to eat. He doesn't seem frightened, which is surprising considering how vulnerable rabbits are to predators.

While we don't have coyotes or bobcats in my neighborhood, we do have owls. Every morning we hear an owl hoot at about 5 am. The owl is sort of the neighborhood rooster. According to the website birdfact.com, owls prey on rabbits of all sizes.

Here's what the site says about owls eating rabbits:

Owls will mainly hunt and catch rabbits when they're out in the open eating grass. They'll generally perch on a branch and wait patiently.

Oh dear. That's not good at all for our grass-chomping rabbit. Apparently the owl swoops down and kills the rabbit with its talons straightaway. Some owls can carry rabbits that are four times their weight.

I'm amazed that our sweet, lawn-destroying rabbit was not more alarmed. Here's another short video of the rabbit taking note of my presence and continuing to eat.

It's not as though the rabbit could defend itself if attacked. A rabbit's defense mechanism is basically freeze, or run for your life. A rabbit does have claws, teeth and powerful back legs they can use to fight back. They use these often against each other.

Rabbits are highly territorial. If a strange rabbit enters the territory a fierce fight will ensue. In the following amazing video (from *YouTube), two rabbits are standing on their hind legs and 'boxing'. I don't know who won this match.

Why do rabbits fight? I just looked that up. Predictably, male rabbits fight over females. Females fight over nesting areas. In reading about fights between rabbits, I came across this passage:

The female rabbit creates a nest for her babies by making a shallow indentation in the ground called a scrape. She lines this scrape with dry grass and fur plucked from her chest. This creates a warm, dry, water-repellent, comfortable resting place for the babies. These nests are frequently constructed in the middle of a lawn, in the open, to the amazement of homeowners.

Oh heavens! Was my lawn-chomping rabbit making a nest? That's what it looks like. However, the nest isn't likely to last long in that neighbor's yard.

Here is another short digging video.

Do the survival strategies of the Eastern cottontail work? For the species, apparently it works fine. The IUCN lists it as a species of 'least concern'. For individual rabbits, the rabbit lifestyle does not give the rabbit a high chance of survival.

One rabbit can have as many as 70 offspring--kits--a year. They need that many because only about 44% of a litter make it past their first month. Care of the kits is entirely up to the mother. Only about 25% live for a full year. Actually, the average life span for a rabbit that survives the nest is 11 months. These statistics are for wild rabbits. Domestic rabbits can live up to ten years.(Information from a-z animals.com)

Here is another short animal video I shot:

You can see I was fascinated, and delighted by this rabbit. The people who own the house do own a dog, but that dog is contained behind a fence on the porch. The evening I shot these videos the dog was not in evidence.

I hope you enjoyed my little Eastern cottontail excursion. I certainly did.

Peace and health to all.

Hive on!

All videos and photos were shot by me, except the video of the boxing rabbits (credited in the post)