Friday 30 June 2017

The Village White Rabbits

A property that I drive past each morning as I leave our little village has some cute residents. These are the young members of the family.






I'm not actually sure how many babies there are. I have seen more than one grey one at a time and I'm still uncertain of how many white ones there are. Mom and Dad are white and grey. They are what I would describe as semi wild. I couldn't get very close to them to take these pictures, but they are out in the open most of the day.

For quite a few years, this village has had several white rabbits. This is how it all started:

A family that lived above an old store on the main street, moved away rather quickly. It was rumoured that they had a number of pets, rabbits included. Instead of finding homes for their pets, they simply let them loose. There were rabbits in a few different locations in the village. Some spots were lots where people kept cars, people's yards, in the undergrowth close to our home, under sheds...
There were always white rabbits. Some of them had black spots. One had a black spot over one eye. We called that one Patch. One lady around the corner bought big bags of carrots and enticed them out from under her back shed every evening. We would go for walks and see these rabbits. One rabbit had a habit of running across the road from our property to our neighbours a few times a day.

What we couldn't understand was how they didn't become prey for all sorts of predators. Every spring, more rabbits would show up, whether they were some of the original ones, or their offspring. I hadn't spotted any this spring and thought for sure this was the end, until I noticed the "parents" on the property I mentioned earlier. It's the lot for a local plumbing and heating company. It wasn't too long until I started to see the young ones.

I certainly see lots of the regular wild cottontail rabbits and unfortunately some of them fall victim to our tabby cat. But it is the white ones that make this such an interesting phenomenon. Our cat has never brought any of those home. Now I just enjoy the "rabbit spotting" game that I play when I drive past.

On a whole different note, I believe we are at the forty days and forty nights stage of rain here. I'm pretty sure we have had rain every single day for what feels like three weeks. We've been fortunate, but some areas have experienced flooding and short term evacuation. The ground is so wet, I can't even step into the garden to weed. Plants are growing like crazy and if we start to get some heat, it will be a jungle out there.

Here are some raindrops on delphinium buds. I'm hoping that when they open, they won't get beaten down too much with more rain. I do love delphiniums.


It is our Canada Day weekend coming up. I'm not sure where we will go to see fireworks, but I'm looking forward to it. I will try to take pictures.

I am adding this about 10 minutes after I hit publish: it is raining. again.

24 comments:

  1. I saw a brown bunny near my house, he quickly ran away

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  2. We sometimes see a very large, ginger coloured rabbit when we are out riding. It's been raining in this part of France all week, wish it would stop now.

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  3. In England on the first day of the month, there is a custom to go down backwards on the stair saying white rabbit, white rabbit. Don't do it;)
    We have the wild rabbit round here, and the gardeners get cross with them but they are sweet.

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    1. I have never heard of that custom. A weird one here, is if you are sitting round a campfire and the smoke shifts and goes in your direction, you say "white rabbit" three times. I have no idea why.

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  4. Jenn, I am hoping you do not get too much rain. It rained here heavily yesterday. Today is to be much nicer. The coyotes have taken many cats around our area...I wish they would get the rabbits. My daughter says her outside cats get rid of chipmunks for her. Rabbit are cute but still like big rodent to me. LOL. Hope you are enjoying your holiday weekend, xoxo, Susie

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  5. How sad to think of pets abandoned, but what a happy ending that they seem to be miraculously surviving.

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  6. Amazing that those white and grey bunnies aren't being eaten. Around here they wouldn't last long with all the hawks and coyotes.

    We had a long period of rain that has just let up this past week - it is now that jungle you refer to -

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  7. Hope it stops raining for the fireworks! Incredible summers all over the world. Heatwaves and rain for us, but hardly your amount of soggy days.

    Rabbits are so cute.....as long as they are not doing any damage!

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  8. White rabbit to you, too. My side yard is flooded, in spite of the new drains.

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    1. Oh dear. I'm guessing you've also had a lot of rain. We have some water in our old basement now. I'm surprised it hasn't happened already.

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  9. FANTASTIC photo of the raindrops on the delphiniums. Like your bunny spotting game, fun way to start your work day. We have a baby from this year's lot of wild bunnies, he was the one that dug the huge hole in our garden & has taken up residence - I see him every morning in the clover having breakfast. Happy Canada Day - Riverside in Guelph says fireworks rain or shine!

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  10. I think delphiniums are one of my favorites. I tried to plant larkspur seeds, but it has to be cold to germinate and they don't transplant. I think the rats ate the seeds.

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  11. That's sad when people just turn their pets loose. Glad some have survived. We're in a rainy patch too. Rained every day this week except one and we got 2 inches yesterday. I can hear the weeds giggling.

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  12. This. Endless. Rain. HOLYMOLY. I'm so tired of it. It's quite depressing. Happy Canada Day!

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    1. Yes, it is depressing. I sure hope things pick up for the rest of summer. I have so many outdoor projects that are not started, let alone done. We are going to see fireworks tonight over Lake Huron.

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  13. Happy Canada Day! Wish we had a leader like Mr. Trudeau!

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  14. I am such a sucker for bunnies. So far this year I've see 13. I count them every year. But never white ones. All ours are brown or gray. These are just adorable. I hope they survive.

    Happy Canada Day to you. I just love your country!

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  15. Happy Canada Day! I hope you find some fireworks. It's pouring here too. I wonder if summer is hiding out this year. Those little rabbits are very cute! :)

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  16. dry here today and intermittently sunny but there is an unpleasant gale blowing.

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  17. love the name of your blog and how cute those rabbits are!!!

    Happy Canada Day from BC. It is a beautiful day here. :-)

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    1. Hi Geraldine! Thanks for stopping by my blog. I was originally just going to call my blog "Coffee on the Porch", but there were so many things out there on the internet with that same name, I had to add the other bit, too.

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  18. About 25 years ago, my kids black rabbit got out of the hutch. She was around but we never were able to catch her again. To this day, there is the odd wild black rabbit hopping out of the brush. We live about 30 km into the bush with lots of coyote and wolf around so i think it's quite miraculous that the black gene is still hanging around!

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  19. What a story. People do treat animals badly, but then they treat their kids badly. Heck, First Nations, people of colour. sigh.
    You would think the white rabbits would be more vulnerable! What fun.
    We used to have more wild rabbits, but between our cats, the hawk, owl, etc....

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