Thursday, 3 February 2022

Bunny poo everywhere!

It's been a week. I get triggered by the images of traffic on the highway, and the honking on the news. It makes everything much more difficult to deal with. I'm still arguing with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) about back taxes we purportedly owe. It just wears me down.  I shall turn to my challenge with the cottontail rabbits. 

 It's been my challenge to capture the eastern cottontails on the trailcam. They are very nocturnal here, from what I can see (or not see)! You can spot them by their distinct tracks and their round, beige scat. 


I went outside for my walkabout in my snowshoes. We'll have lots of fertilizer in the spring...

I went into the backyard, following their tracks. There were lots of clues. The bunnies nibble on the spring buds, full of nutrients, as the flora prepares for the melt. They left a lot of scat behind!


These were all clues... and I found one rabbit hole! We've two bunnies, who don't appear to get along, perhaps there is another? Anyway, this is the hole Groundhog 📹Fred used to use. Very convenient for bunnies.

 

They have been travelling outside the back door. I set up a camera there. All I captured was a few birds, and Oregano, our feral feline friend.


This camera  didn't catch any bunnies, although they are clearly running here, with many tracks in the snow. It captured me, putting out the garbage at 6:30 a.m. Monday, and you can see the delay. I'd already walked across the path and it didn't trigger until I was nearly gone. 


There are lots of deer in the dark:  



Front yard's wascally wabbits! 



The camera caught me, again. Still no cottontail bunnies...

I set the camera up on the back deck. Hustling outdoors in the morning, I watched a cottontail running across the path, but the trailcam isn't sensitive enough to grab a video. You'll have to imagine it hustling along my snowshoe track, to its den.


You can see the  eastern cottontail jumping down the snowbank, and then another clip of it hopping along my snowshoe tracks. I make tracks in order for them to more easily deliver our propane.

Well, we had 2.5 mm rain yesterday, and 5 cm snow overnight. The old white pine branches lay heavily burdened with snow. The temperature has fallen. I hope the trees don't lose branches. I'll hustle out later to use the roof rake on them to alleviate the burden. 


9 comments:

Tom said...

...they are everywhere here!

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
Rabbits are way more entertaining than taxes, that's fur certain! YAM xx

William Kendall said...

Wabbits can be elusive.

Nancy J said...

I want to be there to see you : Hustle Out", What??? In snowshoes, extra layers, thick coat, winter boots, mitts or extra gloves, maybe a slow amble will be the norm, it would be for me. Love all those tracks, maybe the trailcams just do not get the fast and smaller animals, I think of KB in Colorado, with her tralcvams, she has several different models, and the foxes race by so fast, the bob cats are slower, and the birds flit in the air.Is there a way to do single frames? Hope you are both OK, looking towards longer daylight and warmer days I guess. We still have a heatwave, probably 30C today, then GLORIOUS rain all day Saturday.Hooray.

RedPat said...

I'm still amazed that bunnies are out there in the night. Are your raccoons around at all.

David M. Gascoigne, said...

The protest in Ottawa is a real travesty. They have foisted their grievances on the people and business of the area, all innocent victims with no ability to do anything about it. It seems a little crazy that all the legal and law enforcement arms of the country seem unable to stop it.

Christine said...

Good luck on the taxes we always lose

Red said...

I keep seeing brown bunnies? are they the eastern cottontail and they don't change color?

Olga said...

I sweep bunny poop off my drive and sidewalk just about every day both in VT and FL. I hope it's good compost.