Reappearing rabbits

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Reappearing rabbits

March 13, 2018 by Mike Powell

I know that rabbits don’t go south for the winter, but they seemed to disappear in late autumn and I did not see a single one during the winter months. Suddenly this past week, they started reappearing on the trails at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

Yesterday I spotted this cute little Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) as it gathered up stalks of grass. Initially the rabbit grazed a bit before it started to accumulate a mouthful of the long, dry stalks of grass—perhaps there are little ones that need to be fed.

Posted in animals, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife | Tagged Canon 50D, Eastern Cottontail rabbit, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, rabbit, Sylvilagus floridanus, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA | 11 Comments

11 Responses

on March 13, 2018 at 6:35 am | Reply Dan Antion

Great capture, Mike. We have recently begun seeing the one that apparently lives under my workshop. I hope they know that spring is coming, and I hope they’re right. Although you couldn’t prove it by today’s weather.
on March 13, 2018 at 7:44 am | Reply joyroses13

Aww! Love this picture. It’s Thumper from Bambi 🙂
on March 13, 2018 at 12:33 pm | Reply Arkenaten

I know that rabbits don’t go south for the winter, but they seemed to disappear in late autumn and I did not see a single one …

A case of hare today gone tomorrow?
- on March 13, 2018 at 1:45 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  🙂 Love your comment–my kind of humor.
on March 13, 2018 at 2:20 pm | Reply Laura (PA Pict)

That is such a funny portrait with the mouth crammed full of twigs. I just mentioned in a blog post this morning that I saw a rabbit recently and saw it as an optimistic sign that Spring is nigh. Fingers crossed.
on March 13, 2018 at 2:36 pm | Reply Jodi

awesome capture!
- on March 14, 2018 at 6:23 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Jodi.
on March 13, 2018 at 5:32 pm | Reply New Hampshire Garden Solutions

That’s a nice shot. Maybe it was building a nest. Do they do that, I wonder?
- on March 14, 2018 at 6:23 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. I think I need to do a little research on rabbits. Somehow I thought they lived in burrows, but maybe they line them with grass and twigs.
on March 14, 2018 at 7:03 am | Reply The Floating Thoughts

Great Capture..

Regards
Ami
- on March 14, 2018 at 7:12 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. I was fortunate to be able to watch the rabbit for a while without spooking him (thanks in part to my long telephoto zoom lens).