Mountain Cottontail resting on the snow
There is a blanket of snow on Antelope Island right now from storms earlier this week and last and that can make it tough for some animals to find food. I found this Mountain Cottontail yesterday near a pile a brush placed by the staff near the park headquarters, I often see the cottontails there and just last week there were visible patches of grass for the rabbits to eat but the covering of snow changed that.
Mountain Cottontail in front of a pile of branches
Mountain Cottontail Cottontails are found in the western U.S. and look similar to Desert Cottontails. They are most active during the early hours of the day and early hours of the evening and they do feed at night. They very rarely need to drink and get most of their water from the plants they eat, from dew and I suppose even snow.
Mountain Cottontail eating the bark of a branch
It did take me by surprise to see this cottontail nibbling on the bark of the branches of the brush pile but the snow was covering all of the grasses the cottontails normally eat.
A hungry Mountain Cottontail
I had to share at least one image of this Mountain Cottontail on Antelope Island State Park that showed its little, fluffy white tail, after all that is where they get part of their name.
Life is good.
Mia
Love it.
I suspect that there is ALWAYS open season on rabbits here. We brought them into the country and now complain (and kill) because they adapted so well.
Nice images of a cute critter. Our small town paper had an article saying it’s the highest population they’ve been in 10-years, and offered tips for hunting until Feb 28. It implied there are too many for the natural predators. Besides Utah still has that $50 bounty on the coyotes. The wildlife managers fuzzy thinking is a downer.
That is one cute little bunny!!! Reminds me of a tiny bunny we had, “Bunnita”, that I was given by the pet shop that had her. They gave her to me because she supposedly kicked food and bedding all over the place. They were sick of her. She was a great, feisty little thing. If I was kept in a small cage, I’d kick stuff all over the place, too! I hope this little bunny FINDS food, and doesn’t BECOME food!
Beautiful images Mia. Takes me back to my childhood.