Wildlife Wednesday | Eastern Cottontail

A couple of evenings ago we were walking my brother, niece and sister in law to their car after dinner. I was heading back inside when I noticed something dark in the grass. Thinking it was a mud clump or, well, I really don’t know what else, I went to check it out.

Chilling in the shade, even though it was still 100* after 7pm, was this little rabbit.

And it was little. My hand here for comparison.

A few inches away was a dead bug being feasted on by ants and subsequently some ants were visiting this little rabbit. I got fairly close to the poor thing but it wouldn’t move. Mom ran the hose to flood away the ants and to cool the rabbit down a little, and I eventually kicked the bug away so the bunny wouldn’t be overrun with ants.

We came out a few more times that evening but by the next morning it had hopped away. Good luck little fella!

I love when wildlife shows up in the suburbs. We certainly didn’t have this growing up—finally the neighborhood has aged enough that wildlife has returned. My friend Sara even wrote an ode to a dead coyote.