Nocturnal bunnies!

We had a deep freeze, -26 C. on Wednesday morning. It is a tad chilly. I've been having fun watching our bunnies. Via trailcams, mostly. The tracks in the snow let me know they are out and about. They are primarily nocturnal, for safety I think. They have a fine brownish collar.

Thursday night they were busy. I threw on the spotlight after dark, and saw one sitting on the snowbank. In the morning, you can see all the eastern cottontail tracks! 

According to the Canadian Wildlife Federation, they eat greens in the summer. For example, goldenrod, wild strawberries, dandelions and clover. (We have lots of those things!) This is why I leave my lawn a bit longer. It's better for the planet, as well. In winter, they eat bark, twigs, buds of shrubs and saplings. And bird seed!

I've seen them the odd time in the daylight in summer. My favourite shot is the second image, where you can see the white tail as s/he ran away from me. 

We've hares about. The first image we captured on a summer's walk in town. The second on the trailcam in the wetland. Snowshoe Hares are much heftier and their hind legs are enormous. They are white in winter.

There is a difference between rabbits and hares. From the Fletcher Wildlife Garden: The eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) is the most common species around here. This species weighs 1.1 to 1.2 kg, and may be about 450 mm long (Banfield 1974, Forsyth 1985), with the female the larger animal. They are smaller than hares. 

I was running out of new places for the trailcams. One night, I just plonked #2 onto the step along the sidewalk. I knew the bunnies were visiting. I've seen snowshoe hares on the wetland walking. Just briefly, mind you. They are very fast. I am old and slow!

This is what I managed to get...

I threw some uneaten popcorn on the sidewalk. I meant to throw it under the feeder. (Bad aim!) At 1:03 bunny clearly came from around the garage, setting off the motion light.

I decided to try a different setup, with camera #2 on the step, and #3 (the new one) at the bottom of the steps, and facing the bird feeder. Sadly, I'd forgotten to turn the camera on the night before. Ya win, ya lose, sometimes.

 

Jan. 26th I added the camera. You can see JB coming up the sidewalk, but the camera is focused on the feeder.

   

 I had some fun video of the cottontails chasing one another. They were way too fast for the trailcamera. Cameras are designed for big game hunters to track game, and not for the lowly rabbit, or naturalist. In my iMovie app I slowed the motion by 25%. I set it for 30 second videos, and curate, trim, and splice them all together. 

   

 Thursday, after working on this a few days, I managed to not set the camera up properly, and all I had were 200 images! I put them all together in an iMovie, and it's not too bad. It shows their behaviour. They set off the motion sensor light by the garage.

 

I'd set up another camera in the backyard to capture them coming and going. Nada! They are too fast. The cameras often have a time delay to capture a larger animal. Our bunnies are so quick! Another one scoots home across the frozen goldfish pond, and into the forest. They truly are amusing.

For more critter fun: Saturday's Critters # 424, hosted by Eileen!