The cottontails we have here were providing entertainment yesterday for both a cat and me. I saw a cat watching intently out the front door sidelight, and when I moved to the window to see what he was looking at, I saw a rabbit hop up onto the porch with a mouthful of grass, go over to a planter hanging off the front rail, and lift up the vegetation in the planter to tuck the grass beneath. It kept going back and forth between this porch planter and the yard, where it looked like it was harvesting grass and using it to build a nest.
I have a Cam v4 looking out the sidelight already and moved a Cam OG out there to see what thatāll capture. So far, I havenāt seen it generate any āPetā events.
Just recently there has been a major uptick rabbit population here, would rarely see or capture them on cams until last year. Now they are around off and on all the time.
Weāve been thinking there were two kits in this planter on the porch where this doe built a nest and has been showing up to nurse. She proved us wrong this evening.
Not sure if itās a myth but Iāve heard if you touch the babies the mother will abandon them due to the human scent on them.
Couple years ago I had a four rabbits in a raised garden planter. The wife was going to plant something when she noticed them. Left them alone until they all hopped out the planter.
Itās some type of succulent ground cover that a next door neighbor gave my parents when I was a kid, and itās survived (and thrived) in the move to this current house. Just over a week and a half ago, I saw the doe making trips between the planter and the front yard. Sheād go out to the lawn, harvest some grass, and then hop up onto the porch and go to the planter to tuck it into the nest she was building.
Iāve gotten close enough to photograph them when they were peeking out of the nestāand that video is from a Cam OGābut I was careful not to touch. The bug guy who was here a couple of days ago was poking around in the planter with his fingers, but I donāt know if he actually touched any of the kits. Even last night the doe was nursing, though that was the first time Iād seen her stay on the porch and have the kits hop out of the planter to be fed. Typically Iāve seen her hop up there, remove some of the vegetation sheās been using for cover, and then get into position for the children to feed.
I put a Cam OG Telephoto out there yesterday to get a different angle, and thereās a Cam v4 looking at the planter, as well. This is a little later last night, I guess after the kids were fed. I scaled it down to get a file size that would fit the Forumās upload limit. Itās from a Cam OG looking out a sidelight at an angle, so thereās quite a bit of reflection, but at least one of these little buggers looked like it was trying to get in through the window: