Cottontails~

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The Holler bunnies are practically tame,
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probably because we feed them carrots,
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with the express understanding they eat the carrots and not my flowers!
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What we have here is a failure to communicate,
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not all that uncommon among neighbors.

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Cheers to you from The Holler’s funny-bunnies~

309 thoughts on “Cottontails~

    1. Oh course I won’t ever, but they are so darn endearing it is impossible to do anything but laugh. They love it inside our fence, carrots, a smorgasbord of pretty flowers, and no COYOTES! 😉 😉

      1. Yes they do. It is impressive to see! I had a great horned owl wing me one night when I was hooting back and forth with his or her mate. The actual mate was the one that gave me a warning swoop. I love these impressive raptors!

    1. I talk to them in a falsetto voice and they just sit there looking at me. They probably have never seen such a dumb creature as me before, and are stunned by the experience!

  1. Cindy, our family has always held an affection for bunnies! While my children were between 7 and 11, we had a series of five bunnies. They “showed” bunnies while in 4H. Once my youngest daughter held her Snowball up to her lips to kiss, it inspired my children’s book, “Kissing a Bunny is like Saying a Prayer.” It had other ways children could show their gratitude for nature. This was made into a brochure I gave to all the kids in their club. <3

    1. How perfectfly wonderful! That of course about sums you up Robin. Love the idea behind your book and encouraging children’s love of nature. It is mutually healing! <3

  2. Buggs Bunny ain’t got nothing on these bunnies!! LOL!! 🙂 When I look at these photos I can still hear a song from my childhood, “Here Comes Peter Cottontail. Hopping down the Bunny Trail.” Thanks for the walk down memory lane.

  3. There must be a big surge of bunnies around the world. They are so prevalent here and we just caught two bunnies in our vegetable garden behind the fenced in area.
    Leslie

  4. “Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were–Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter. ” (Beatrix Potter) I always considered that I was “Mopsy” – not certain why, I just thought that it was a wonderful name.

    1. Of course, you and I read all the Potter tales over and over as kids. We have that in common too, Mopsy. I related more to Jemima Puddle Duck. But like you loved them all, still do. Thank you Ms. Potter~ 😉

  5. I think I can see where the their name ‘cottontail’ come from. 🙂 Why would they go for flowers, instead of other parts of the plant I wonder, may be it is sweeter…or something like that. Cute troubles. 😉

  6. I know some gardeners hate them, but I always remember “Happy” our pet rabbit whom I loved as I was growing up. My Dad used him in his stage performance as a magician, and “Happy” could behave beautifully as he was pulled, mysteriously, out of a top hat! (Otherwise he roamed free as a cat, and it was my job to keep the garage clean of his rabbit pellets…) Bunny rabbits , even beyond Beatrix Potter, are special to me.

    1. Your bunny was Happy not Hoppy? Maybe he was both. Your dad was a stage magician? Of course he was, silly me. I am not sure, do you actually have a gondola for your river that you decided you wanted after living in Portugal, or do you just want to get one? I can’t wait to get more of these tidbit gem installments of your life.
      We both loved bunnies as kids. I raised Dutch bunnies and used to get in loads of trouble when they nibbled bunches off my mom’s green naugyhyde sofa. I asked her if she thought it was the rabbits fault that her sofa looked like a big spinach patch?
      She didn’t appreciate my humor…..

      1. It’s all true, except for the gondola part. It’s nice that you had bunnies, too; we both know the naugahyde sofa cried out to be nibbled. (I once saw a bumper sticker that said: “I brake for naugas”)….and I do appreciate your humor1

  7. >>> “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”

    Love that famous line by actor Strother Martin from the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke. Has a smart-ass cottontail ever replied with:

    >>> “Ah… what’s up, Doc?”

    1. We are still negotiating our agreement. The posing for the photos was a significant concession on their part so I think I am getting the upper hand here……… 😉

  8. Oh so adorable! When I lived in an undeveloped area in the Sacramento region (Davis in particular), I’d get so excited just to see a brief flash of one zipping across a field. I would so love opportunities to see them up close (in a non-blurry fashion) as you’re doing at the Holler Cindy. Thanks for sharing this privilege with all of us! 😀

    1. When they first come out of the burrow, I talk to them in this ridiculous falsetto voice, hence they think I am strange and harmless to them. They are right on both counts. Plus I give them carrots. If you find young bunnies, sing to them and give them carrots, they will pose for you at length! :3 :3

  9. Plant clover wherever you can! I found that once the rabbits found the clover in the lawn, they ignored my flowers. They love clover!
    Those are great pix of your pretty adversary, though.

    1. Ohhhh, thank you for the tip. I love these sorts of tips! I will try it. Someone told me to put vegetable oil on the nectar feeders to repel the bees and it works like a charm!

  10. I’ll sleep smiling tonight. My son had rabbits that ate the morning glories down to the roots. They left nothing but I loved watching them. Those are some amazing photos!!!!

  11. Cindy, the rabbit photos are truly adorable! But, as a retired wildlife rehabilitator, may I suggest that you please not feed them carrots or any other fruits or vegetables. Native rabbits in the U.S., cottontails, have extremely delicate digestive systems. Feeding them carrots will usually cause enteritis, which can be fatal – especially for baby bunnies and even for adult bunnies. Their digestive systems need to have only wild native grasses and plants. Native U.S. rabbits are a different, and more delicate, species than pet rabbits, who are descended from European hares – but even pet rabbits need to not be fed carrots. You may check this information by asking any licensed wildlife rehabilitator who cares for rabbits. Here is an article on the subjecthttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/pets-health/9353529/Carrots-are-bad-for-rabbits-RSPCA-says.html
    The only solution I know is to put screening around your flowers and not feed the rabbits. Thanks!

  12. Such wonderful shots, Cindy – such joy in them, and cheer, really, although the cheekiness in eating the blooms is particularly appealing 😀

    1. Laughing, yes I will forward it to you. Hopefully you will find enforcement more effective than I have. They tend to just eat the carrots and move on to the flowers!

  13. Thanks for the laugh. Whenever I am watching my critter neighbors they are always well behaved eating my “weeds”. But when I awake in the morning, my hostas are eaten done to the stems, the tiger lily flowers have all been nibbled away and one flower I don’t know what it looks like because it is always eaten before I get to see the bloom…. Good luck.

  14. I feed mine apples, but it IS such a joy to see them hopping close to the house each evening in search of their daily treat. Lovely Images my friend! They Feel Like Peter and his sisters <3

  15. Oh, Cindy, I just LOVE bunnies, and you’ve got some dandy photos here!! Don’t you want to pick one up and cuddle it?? Look how delicate their ears are, with the veins showing through. Yes, even though they eat everything in sight!!

    1. I got on after school restriction for a week in seventh grade for taking the biology teacher’s bunnies out of the class aquarium and cuddling them during lunch. A nasty class mate told on me or the teacher would never have known. I would do the same thing now in a heart beat. <3

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    1. Erckles! Now that would be a major non-non! Thank goodness my roses have so many thorns and there is so much easier stuff for them to reach to eat. They don’t like mint or herbs. I have lots of both! 😉

  17. Cindy, they are adorable and so much tamer than here. Of course you know what happens to them here… Have you ever priced lapin in the shops? 🙂 xx

    1. Laughing, no, but I hope it is VERY expensive! I was talking to my son who is a vegetarian (I am almost one now too) and telling him about how plants scream when vegetarians come near them (cuz I’ve heard them), and he introduced me to Tool’s song, ‘Disgustipated’ which was pretty damn hilarious. God forbid we take ourselves too seriously, too much of the time~
      😉 😉

      1. Oh Cindy you are so right! we do take ourselves too seriously. I’ve never been fond of eating meat and don’t even bring it into my home. However, when invited into share a meal with my French friends, I do try to eat what I am served. Yes, Lapin is quite expensive and forgive me I did not know what I was eating at the home of a friend but it was delicious. I’ve not had it again and that is okay. I must confess that I do adore good seafood and being so close to the sea here, it is plentiful… Please have a wonderful rest of the summer. Alas it always runs away too fast for me. 🙂 🙂 xx

      2. I would never presume to advise someone what they should do or eat, so you have no worries about me Lea. I have a hard enough time telling myself what to do, and not do! Life to me without humor everyday would not be worth much and there is so much to laugh about in myself, in people who take themselves too seriously, animals, celebrity culture, everything! It helps to counteract the now daily onslaught of human violence and insanity. Be well my dear friend~

  18. it proves the fact, that big ears dont always lead to good understanding. Beautiful Pictures. I counted the hairs on the last pic and found 3 675 890. Did you also Count that?

    1. Right! He listens and listens, just like the hummingbirds when I tell them to stop fighting. They just don’t get. So frustrating. Like trying to reason with Donald Trump~

    1. It does help to cool in this heat and of course they have super-sonic hearing. One of the bunnies is here right now, eating my garden and watching me. I think he knows we’re talking about him~

  19. They look like Bugs Bunnies (jackrabbits). Cute but they can probably do a lot of damage to flowers. It’s a failure to communicate indeed. Good pictures, Cindy. 🙂 — Suzanne

    1. Basically, whatever they do is okay. They live here and they are so loveable. I’m actually learning a lot in completely different directions than my previous life, since I retired, and have been living at The Holler.
      Coming to Canada in about 5 weeks now, to hang out with the grizzlies in the Knight Inlet. It’s not like I’ve been waiting for this for over a year or anything……. 😉

    1. The deal is, there is nothing you can do about it except pray they have burrows so you can watch the baby bunnies when they first venture out. If you sing to them and feed them, they are like these watchful little wild non-pettable pets, that look at you as you type on your computer, as if to say, when will you come out and take my picture and sing to me? The wild birds do this in different ways too, so do the coyotes. It is pretty amazing….It has been a huge learning curve for me.

    1. Without even meeting Peggy, I am certain we are equally effective. I bet we had a lot of practice being effective lecturing humans in order for you to come to this accurate conclusion.
      You both rock my socks off~

  20. Hey Cindy– does that work?? feeding them carrots? We have friends with bunnies in the yard often and they put in sprinkles in they flower beds that are motion sensitive to ward off flower eating bunnies! In any case, they are adorable!!

  21. Gotta love bunnies!! Adorable!! Your photos are exquisite, of course, you had cute models! I once had a bunny, his name was Benjamin (how original, eh?). 🙂

    <3 carmen

    1. No I will not laugh because I am honored you told me. Everyone is afraid of some things and it is not funny. I’m afraid of things too, but not you. You I love. <3

  22. Hi Cuz,
    Yes…, they’re cute, and cuddly looking, and oh, so innocent acting…, but them dam’ cottontails ate my green beans, plants and all, and then started on the snow peas. “I’ll get that wabbit !!!” Great pics, but, I’m still mad at that darn bunny. Oh, well, guess we won’t be having snow peas or green beans from the garden this year. Hugs !

    1. But just be pleased to think how much the bunnies loved you beans and peas! Laughing….I am being callous.
      I hear your pain.
      “Don’t eat my ganzanias you bugs-bunny, they are only now just starting to take off after 8 hard Holler years!”
      Oh well, they are so damn sweet, whatca gonna do?
      Hope you are well cuz~ <3

      1. Yes, I think you are right about the rabbits being at risk. As kids, we had the opportunity to see lots of bunnies when Dad was mowing alpha for the cattle in winter. Often the rabbit nest would be mowed over and mother rabbit and her babbies would be exposed to the elements. Dad made it our mission to cover the nest with fresh alpha he had just cut and add pellets of grains they were used to eating in the wild in hopes they would survive. We were not allowed to touch. I’m afraid of rattlesnakes, we had a lot of them in Kansas. A few weeks ago I barely missed a coppermouth while I was gardening. Needless to say I moved real fast!!!! I’m feeling blessed my precious Bailey wasn’t with me as he’s such a curious guy.
        700 new homes are going up behind us and anytime dynamite is used – the snakes that live deep in the earth have a tendency to relocate and we’ve identified several that have made their way towards our property. I’m not a happy camper about that.

      2. 700 homes, oh yuck! You have my complete empathy. And of course this displaces the rattlesnakes. The rattlesnake that is now in our fences is basically my fault. I feed the birds seeds and nuts which attracts the squirrels and bunnies. For this big rattler this is a paradise too good to give up. The only downside for the snake is us people. She moved away from us, but VERY slowly! She is huge and fat and hopefully not pregnant!

      1. Loved the photos you took of the cottontails. I sent you a heart because my prior comment didn’t get through. Now I can tell you that they are the cutest shots. 🙂

      2. Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness and persistance. WP certainly glitches which is frustrating, but I am glad you told me about it, or I would never have known!

  23. Saw the title of this post, and I was thinking a plant but my mind was singing “Here Comes Peter Cottontail…” and low & behold the post opens with such a priceless picture of Peter 🙂 Wonderful series Cindy.

      1. I only had a little pang of guilt. When I grew up in Scotland we regularly ate rabbit and hare. They used to be hung up, skinned, in the butcher’s shop…🐾

  24. Heavens Cindy, your first photo is just precious. Have you ever considered creating a calendar with all your wonderful photo’s? Perhaps a one-a-day calendar? They’re so worthy of it. I have to share your post with my California friend Bunny. xK

    1. They look at you with total concentration and seeming understanding. I don’t know where our communication is going awry. But is the same dilemma I face with cats when discussing the impropriety of eating songbirds.

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  26. Such cute ears! We have two bunnies and they are forever providing us with comedic episodes! I have just started a poetry blog here on WordPress in case you have time to have a look? Have a good evening, Sam and 🐰

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