It's the year of the rabbit. Oy! I've had such a difficult time figuring out whether this is a desert cottontail or a brush rabbit. Along with the black-tailed jack rabbit, all three rabbit species are found in this area. Again, it's my belief that many online sites have their IDs incorrectly labeled, including popular photo sites... and, admittedly, my own Nature ID blog. I'm making this ID as a desert cottontail based on its behavior and the tuft of white showing in the pic above. If I can recall correctly, brush rabbits don't seem to flash any white cottony tail before disappearing at places like Elkhorn Slough and Montaña De Oro State Park, where I've seen them in large numbers and browsing in the middle of trails. This one definitely had the white rear flag as it scampered away. In a funny way, it reminded me of white-tailed deer from Ohio. I'm wondering why animals flash something bright as they're fleeing a potential predator. Does anyone know about rabbits?
ps 09/01/12 - Thanks to another blog for alerting me to Don Roberson's rabbit page. I'm still a little confused as to how to distinguish between cottontail and brush, but I'm fairly sure of this ID.
ps 09/01/12 - Thanks to another blog for alerting me to Don Roberson's rabbit page. I'm still a little confused as to how to distinguish between cottontail and brush, but I'm fairly sure of this ID.
