rabbits

New Rabbit Nest

Rae Spencer13 Comments

This morning, one of the rabbits built a new nest in the irises. It looked like a lot of work. She pulled grass in huge mouthfuls, carried it into the iris bed, arranged it carefully, then returned for more grass. She also spent a great deal of time digging, uprooting several irises in the process. (The irises will survive. They always do.)

I can hardly contain my curiosity, though I know better than to disturb the nest today. Maybe sometime mid-week, I’ll take a closer look.

I’m looking forward to a new litter of bunnies, and I’ll be very disappointed if the nest fails. Or if the hawk returns…

Gray Day

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Last night, a solitary question mark butterfly stopped in the yard. It didn’t stay long. The yard might have felt lonely and empty after it left, if not for these two rabbits.

I wondered about the second rabbit’s ear damage. Frostbite? Maybe some kind of infection? While the yard’s rabbits seem healthy in general, I do see a lot of ticks on them, especially on their ears. It’s a bit odd, because I rarely find ticks on myself or the dog.

Speaking of the dog, she’s too old and arthritic for rabbit chasing. Or any other kind of exertion. So I was curious, a few days ago, when she treed something in the wax myrtle.

The squirrel waited, shifting its grip now and then, until Indigo and I went inside. Then I watched from the kitchen window as it scrambled down, grabbed one last mouthful of birdseed, and scurried across the fence into our neighbor’s yard. Where the neighbor’s dog promptly treed it again.

None of these photos were taken today, because today has been rainy and gray. It’s a dreary deluge that pours and eases and then pours again. As I worked on this post, the butterfly’s bright orange and the yard’s exuberant green tempted me to fret over our much-needed rain. So I changed the photos to grayscale…

More Nests

Rae Spencer5 Comments

The blue jays have retired to their nest next door, abandoning the yard to robins and rabbits. Both seem satisfied to stay a while. The robins are building a nest in the pear tree, and the rabbits have excavated a series of test-nests. I’m ridiculously excited, almost giddy with anticipation…

Little Mysteries

Rae Spencer6 Comments

(First, I apologize for the green fence. I blame the weather.)

Second, there’s a rabbit in the rose bed. It’s been there most of the morning, and I have no idea why. It isn’t grazing, just sitting in the rain as if waiting for something.

Third, there’s a squirrel on the fence above the rabbit. A full-alert squirrel, complete with full-alert scolds, waving its tail in agitation.

Fourth, there are yellow-rumped warblers. Flitting and chirping in nearby branches, the warblers add credibility to the squirrel’s alarm. (Because birds are more credible than squirrels…)

But there’s nothing to explain the rabbit’s vigil, or the squirrel and warbler alarm. It’s just a scene, a few moments cut from the yard’s mysterious context.

I feel like a child, plaintive in my need to know. I ask, again and again, “Why?” And the yard, like a distracted mother, answers with silence.

Point of View

Rae Spencer6 Comments

It finally occurred to me, while taking these pictures, that I approach photography and writing from the same impulse. Every time I pick up my camera, pen, or laptop, I’m trying to tell a story. Or, at the very least, share an impression. And it always starts with noticing something. Today, I noticed a visitor “hiding” in the irises.

But how will I frame this story? Should I reveal its secret from the outset? Because the rabbit was not so well-hidden as it might seem, though I could gloss over that fact by photographing it at just the right angle, by restricting my point of view. A few steps to either side, and this particular story shifts from drama to comedy.

It’s an appealing metaphor, as I find words to be as quick and slippery as rabbits. I often end up holding a tuft of fluff, frustrated by the knowledge that something warm and alive has escaped my grasp.