The bunny is getting older, but she doesn't seem be getting any less bold. This afternoon I was sitting on the patio. Twenty-five feet from me, Butters was lying down in the grass with his ball...and 25 feet from each of us was the bunny, in the middle of the lawn placidly munching on clover. We formed a triangle. Me here, Butters over there, and the bunny equidistant from the two of us. Just us three, chilling together in the backyard.
A little while later Butters had some reason to go over by the garage door, so the bunny finally took evasive action, but then I came around the corner opposite him. So Butters and I were ten feet apart and the bunny was in the middle. And she's right there, right by the shed—but does she duck for cover? She does not. I swear she took a look back at Butters, took a look at me, thought, okay, all right, too close—and hopped under the shed, finally. None too hurriedly. Sort of reluctantly. So I go back over and sat down on my chair on the patio, looked up, and she was already back out, standing up and looking at me as you can see. As if to say, what was that about? Wasn't everybody happy minding their own business?
So I gave her a little lecture. I told her a bold bunny is a bad thing to be; bunnies are prey animals, and not every human and dog are going to be as copacetic as me and the B.
So that's the weirdest thing about my Thursday. Out loud, I lectured a young bunny on the facts of life. Seemed foolish to me too, as I doubt she speaks English. But she needs to show a healthier amount of fear, I think. She's starting to make me worry for her.
I think I'll leave a carrot under the shed. Do bunnies really like carrots? Maybe that was that just Bugs.
Mike
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Grit and Grace: Women at Work in the Emerging World. Unfortunately, this will be the posthumous swan song of the indefatigable documentarian Alison Wright, whose untimely death at 60 in the Azores this year meant she never got to see it published. Wright's photography was inextricably entwined with her life's dedication to social justice, a sense of acceptance of humanity, and a roving search for beauty and color.
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Featured Comments from:
robert e: "Don't go by that suspicious Bugs character, who is probably a hare passing as a bunny, burrow and all (which he probably got from a bunny in a shadowy scheme). Rabbits prefer softer veggies like lettuce."
Rob de Loe: "They can be quite insulting about it. My neighbourhood is infested with bunnies and they do not show the proper respect due a terrier. Mind you, if they are aware of this particular terrier's record in catching rodents, which is rather pathetic to be honest (sorry Sophie!), they probably know they're in no danger."
Geoff Wittig: "Don't worry about bunnies. They'll make more. That's their superpower. We have waves of Eastern cottontail rabbits at our home every summer. Dozens of adorably cute little baby bunnies hopping all over the lawn. They're dumb as a sack of hammers, we have to look down to avoid stepping on them. The numbers dwindle rapidly as they suffer attrition from the foxes, hawks, 'n' coyotes, even as the survivors get bigger and (slightly) smarter. Then the whole progression repeats."
MikeR: "Funny, I've been doing the same thing as you. We seem to have an abundance of rabbits this spring, and one young one has decided that our patio is part of his/her/its domain. I've walked right up to it and asked, What are you doing? You need to run away when I get this close. So far, no change in behavior. Kids!"
Keith: "We live back off the main road a bit in the middle of farmland and forests. Rosey, our beagle (known as rabbit dogs around here), will lie on the porch while several bunnies munch in our yard. Soon as we open the front door she launches full speed to run them just out of the yard and howls at them a bit. Then returns to the porch when we go back in. Thirty minutes later the bunnies have returned. We think she has an agreement with the bunnies that they are permitted to eat our grass, but she has to put on the show that she is standing guard against invasive rabbits when we come outside. They can all return to normal once we go back inside and she resumes her position on the porch."
JeffT: "There are old bunnies and there are bold bunnies, but there are no old, bold bunnies."
That rabbit was a hare away from confrontation. That was a bunny story, Mike.
Posted by: Albert Smith | Thursday, 21 July 2022 at 08:15 PM
The rabbit has obviously psychoanalyzed both of you and concluded that all is safe for as long as it stays in your territory. He's the advanced party for about 1000 rabbits waiting and ready to cross the border.
Posted by: Dan Khong | Thursday, 21 July 2022 at 09:41 PM
Not too many carrots, Mike. Too high in sugar. If you must feed, leave some Timothy hay. (But as an Aussie, my instinct is to hunt and kill rabbits as a serious, feral, invasive pest, not feed.)
Posted by: Bear. | Thursday, 21 July 2022 at 09:43 PM
I see some pretty weird behaviour by wild rabbits around my place too. I always figured they're just not very bright.
Posted by: Robert Roaldi | Thursday, 21 July 2022 at 10:12 PM
❤️
Posted by: Simon Griffee | Thursday, 21 July 2022 at 10:12 PM
Beware! I immediately thought of this:
https://youtu.be/tgj3nZWtOfA
But since you live in the USA, you can probably buy one of these off the shelf in your nearest convenience store:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_of_Caerbannog#Holy_Hand_Grenade_of_Antioch
Posted by: Niels | Friday, 22 July 2022 at 03:32 AM
Have you read "Watership down"? Lot of bold bunnies there (and one of my preferred books, especially in the gorgeous Italian translation).
Posted by: Romano Giannetti | Friday, 22 July 2022 at 03:54 AM
What a sweet animal, don't scare it away... :)
Posted by: Wolfgang Lonien | Friday, 22 July 2022 at 04:06 AM
myxomatosis ?
Posted by: Thomas Mc Cann | Friday, 22 July 2022 at 04:17 AM
“One sheltered hare
Has never heard the sanguinary yell
Of cruel man, exulting in her woes.
Innocent partner of my peaceful home,
Whom ten long years’ experience of my care
Has made at last familiar, she has lost
Much of her vigilant instinctive dread,
Not needful here, beneath a roof like mine.”
The Task by William Cowper
Posted by: Sean | Friday, 22 July 2022 at 04:26 AM
Did you tell her that there are old bunnies and bold bunnies, but very few old, bold bunnies?
Oh, and I seem to remember from somewhere that too many carrots are not good for bunnies - they are not normally root vegetable eaters..
Posted by: Steve Aitch | Friday, 22 July 2022 at 05:09 AM
Perhaps the bunny feels comfortable around you because deep down inside, it knows that you and Butters are not going to hurt it.
Posted by: Mark Morris | Friday, 22 July 2022 at 09:11 AM
Some of the best conversations are with beings other than the human.
I bet her life will never be effed over by concerns about making a living and photography. Make her your friend, and treat her with absolute confidence, safe in the knowledge that should she ever betray you, a pot awaits in the kitchen. This, if you are subtle enough in imparting the information, will keep her little mind remarkably well focussed in the right direction, and a beautiful friendship will follow.
Posted by: Rob Campbell | Friday, 22 July 2022 at 10:03 AM
I live in an older housing development, 1/4 acre lots, (all newer ones are minimum set backs with smallest lots possible).
Anyway there are green belts and every other year the place is overrun with rabbits. Don’t know why there is a two year cycle but there are plenty of hunters also, mainly owls, and on a typical dog walk it’s not unusual to find grey and brown bunny fur spread over several square feet. We have coyotes also but they seem to prefer cats.
Posted by: John Robison | Friday, 22 July 2022 at 12:05 PM
just like with kids a lecture is just noise until an event reinforces the words
we've always had dogs (plural) as few as two as many as six
only two intimidated rabbits and squirrels on their own...a greyhound and an irish wolfhound
but every critter that has visited our yard learned that the pack was not to be trifled with
how a bunch of independent beasts can coalesce into a single-minded killing machine is beyond me but it is a thing
one thing about rabbits...they usually have a considered exit
Posted by: craig | Friday, 22 July 2022 at 12:11 PM
As we were out weeding in the "cool" of the day yesterday, I pointed out a coyote meandering down the street to my wife. We live in the middle of Albuquerque, so a long way from any open space. My wife remarked "Coyotes must be pretty smart, you rarely see a dead one on the side of the road."
Anyway, we do have some wild bunnies in the neighborhood, so if it would have behaved like yours, it probably would be dinner. The old saw about pilots might be appropriate here: "There are bold bunnies, and there are old bunnies, but there are no old, bold bunnies."
Posted by: KeithB | Friday, 22 July 2022 at 02:15 PM
do NOT feed bunnies iceberg lettuce! Please - not good. Romaine is OK.
Posted by: Malcolm E. Leader | Friday, 22 July 2022 at 11:53 PM
The bunny is hiding. Lots of predators have visual systems tuned to find things that move. Also if something acts like prey it probably is prey, so kill it. If something acts like it isn't prey, don't mess with it if you even see it.
One of my first jobs after college was working as a party and events photographer for an Italian fashion brand with a flagship store in NYC. They would have all sorts of parties for Japanese rock bands, Truman Capote, whoever was on the cover of Interview, etc.
The people I worked for were always amazed that I got photos of obscure Italian soap opera stars, Fiat heiresses, and the like. It was simple, anyone who looked like they were expecting to be photographed I would photograph.
Simple. Act like prey you get eaten. I'm sure if the bunny tried to run Butters would have caught it.
Posted by: hugh crawford | Saturday, 23 July 2022 at 02:28 AM