Rabbit

I caught this young rabbit in the early morning light, looking over the offerings in our back yard.

Actually, it's most likely a hare — specifically a Black-Tailed Hare or Black-Tailed Jackrabbit (lepus californicus). According to our books on local natural history, that's the most likely candidate for these things.

Since we started putting out cracked corn for the quail a few years ago, we've become the home for an ever-expanding colony of these hares — so many that we're probably going to have to do something to control the population someday soon, as they're eating everything in sight (including the majority of our cracked corn!).

I keep thinking of a nice rabbit stew, but Debbie can't bear the thought of eating the "cute little bunnies". As usual, click on the picture for a larger view...