When my daughter looked over her deck, she unexpectedly spied a mother rabbit building a nest. The backyard, in her words, now belongs to the bunny family. She will keep me updated. That was all the inspiration I needed to wonder more about the rabbit life cycle.
I didn’t think this nest was well hidden, but according to Braelei Hardt, naturalist with the National Wildlife Federation, “Rabbits nest directly on the ground, often in the middle of lawns, gardens, and landscaped areas. This surprises most people, but it’s intentional. Mother rabbits choose to nest in open, visible locations because approaching predators are easier to spot. The nests are shallow dugouts, layered and covered over with dried leaves, grasses, and the mother rabbit’s hair—easy to stumble across while mowing your lawn or for your dog to uncover accidentally.”
“Rabbits’ nests are often easy to spot, but the mother rabbit is much harder to see. She does not stay at the nest; the babies are left alone,” says Leah Stallings, executive director of Aark Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center. “The mother rabbit returns to the nest in the early morning hours to nurse her young. She then leaves the nest but is usually in the area hidden from view,” says Stallings. “She returns in the evening to care for her babies and again leaves them alone for the night—you should rarely, if ever, see the mother.” Notice how camouflaged she is in the photo below.
I look forward to photos of the kits. “The babies grow quickly, and by about three weeks of age, they are weaned and ready to be on their own,” says Stallings.
I own these two charming non-fiction books about rabbit families. Although the illustrations aren’t photographs, they are realistic.
