Spring Garden Surprise ~ A Bunny Tale

Spring Garden Surprise

Gardening is full of surprises. Many years ago while spring cleaning, I moved some debris within the chives and suddenly my eyes were focusing on some little pink things. My first thought was rats, but then I realized that I was looking at newborn cottontail rabbits.

Carefully, I covered them back up, trying to leave the hidden nest as I had found it. Every day when I was out in the garden I would gently uncover it to see how they were doing, and watched as they grew their hair and began to look more like rabbits.

I couldn’t believe the audacity of mama cottontail who made her nest right smack dab in the middle of my fenced garden! It reminded me of Beatrix Potter’s stories of Peter Rabbit and Mr. McGregor’s garden.

I never saw the mama rabbit. From reading on the internet, I learned that they visit their young for only a few minutes during dawn and dusk to quickly feed them. Baby rabbits are often thought to have been abandoned because the mother is nowhere in sight, but that usually is not the case. You can watch a YouTube video of a mama cottontail feeding her young here.

One day, as suddenly as I had found them, they were gone. Now every spring when I’m preparing for a new season, I’m reminded of that fun little surprise. Nature is so entertaining!

 
Spring Garden Surprise

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  1. simplelifedreamer

    I remember being 5 or 6 years old and my older brother came across baby bunnies in the ground while he was mowing the lawn! (No bunnies were hurt) It’s one of my fondest memories. I remember watching for (and sometimes actually seeing!) the mama bunny returning as the sun was setting. They are so adorable.

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  2. Home's Cool!

    I found some bunnies when hoeing in a flower bed. Felt bad about disturbing their nest, but it was burried partly in the ground and partly in a tunnel through a tangle between lavender branches and iris blades. It was invisible! They were very still and being good bunnies and I put their nest back as best I could…

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