Here comes Peter Cottontail~
Apr. 10th, 2009 08:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rosdriseA few years ago my parents built a new house. It is in one of the newer subdivisions that kept popping up around the outskirts of the city when everyone was building houses they couldn't actually afford. This being Illinois, the majority of the land was former corn/soybean fields. So, flat with no trees.
Now there are trees, but they are still wee little baby trees. Not enough to attract many birds beyond finches, sparrows, red-winged blackbirds, and mourning doves (who are just too stupid to realize there isn't any food for them). There aren't any squirrels, but what there are plenty of are rabbits. Rabbits that like to eat everyone's freshly purchased shrubs and flowers.
The rabbits are my parents' nemesis. As one of the first houses to do major landscaping the first year the rabbits hit them pretty hard. They even ate the holly bushes and those thick prickly leaves can't be tasty. It's better now that other people have gardens. The destruction is more spread out.
In an effort to keep the bunnies at bay, my father sprays the garden with something that smells like fox urine. They've filled in initial attempts at bunny nests beneath the boxwoods. And yet, there still must be some kind of draw to our yard. When I came home yesterday evening for the Easter weekend, my mom immediately led me over to the kidney bean shaped garden bed. And there, snuggled in a little hole beneath the roots of the dormant cottoneaster, were two little baby rabbits.
My apologies for the quality of the photograph. It was dusk, so I used my flash and it totally blew out the picture. I went out this morning to get another one, but they were gone. Either Momma Rabbit wised up and moved them to a more secluded nest (they were completely exposed in their current location) or they were out looking for food. I'm going to check again tonight.
Now there are trees, but they are still wee little baby trees. Not enough to attract many birds beyond finches, sparrows, red-winged blackbirds, and mourning doves (who are just too stupid to realize there isn't any food for them). There aren't any squirrels, but what there are plenty of are rabbits. Rabbits that like to eat everyone's freshly purchased shrubs and flowers.
The rabbits are my parents' nemesis. As one of the first houses to do major landscaping the first year the rabbits hit them pretty hard. They even ate the holly bushes and those thick prickly leaves can't be tasty. It's better now that other people have gardens. The destruction is more spread out.
In an effort to keep the bunnies at bay, my father sprays the garden with something that smells like fox urine. They've filled in initial attempts at bunny nests beneath the boxwoods. And yet, there still must be some kind of draw to our yard. When I came home yesterday evening for the Easter weekend, my mom immediately led me over to the kidney bean shaped garden bed. And there, snuggled in a little hole beneath the roots of the dormant cottoneaster, were two little baby rabbits.
My apologies for the quality of the photograph. It was dusk, so I used my flash and it totally blew out the picture. I went out this morning to get another one, but they were gone. Either Momma Rabbit wised up and moved them to a more secluded nest (they were completely exposed in their current location) or they were out looking for food. I'm going to check again tonight.
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no subject
Date: 2009-04-10 03:27 pm (UTC)Actually, though, that's seriously adorable! When I think of pesky rabbits I always think of my Grandma Dedman and her B.B. gun. She kept a really serious garden and whenever pests like rabbits or deer came about to take a nibble, she'd shriek, run for the gun by the porch, and crack off a round. It's sounds so hillbilly--which she never was--but it was a humane answer to a pesky problem! XD
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Date: 2009-04-14 01:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-10 04:06 pm (UTC)I, on the other hand, have lots of squirrels and relatively few rabbits. And the bane of my parents existence; Raccoons. One time about 5 years ago, we had baby raccoons (which have to be the cutest things ever). I get occasional flocks of turkeys... that's about the most interesting wildlife I see.
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Date: 2009-04-14 01:24 pm (UTC)Wild turkeys are big! A few years ago there was a random flock of turkeys walking around a neighborhood my sister's tutor lived in. She almost walked straight into one as she was leaving the house. That gave her quite a scare.
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Date: 2009-04-16 02:47 am (UTC)They are! Wow, they came that close? Our turkeys don't let you get that close. Occasionally we see mom and dad turkeys leading their babies around. Totally adorable.