One of the great things about living here is all the wildlife you get to see. The other night, we sat out around a fire pit near our neighbor’s pond and watched the bats and nighthawks soar around the sky. Meanwhile, a big buck was rustling around in the forest on the other side of the pond.
Here at home, I’m starting to think that the local bunny population is starting to get a little too comfortable. (Okay, technically they are snowshoe hares, but we refer to them as bunnies anyway because they are really cute.)
This morning, for example, James took the dogs on their morning outing as he does every morning. We have to have two of our dogs on a leash and two can be trusted off-leash. Anyway, the gang of four dogs and one human tromped out to an area of our yard that we refer to as the “dumping ground” (for obvious reasons).
A bold snowshoe hare was sitting there. Even with more than 200 pounds of canine flesh heading his way, he didn’t move. The dogs had varying reactions to the presence of a rabbit in “their” yard, ranging from staring and drooling to completely ignoring it.
We’re starting to think that lately the bunnies are actually taunting the dogs. Apparently, they have figured out that if you tease the dogs, the dogs get in trouble. Our house cats figured this out a long time ago, and it appears that the bunnies have clued in too.
Unfortunately, in the past, whenever we have had bold bunnies living in our yard, the next year, we see very few bunnies. Nature seems to have a way of restoring balance. So it seems that there are old bunnies and there are bold bunnies, but there are no old bold bunnies.