Friday, June 4, 2010

Black-tailed Jackrabbit


Across the street from where we live is an undeveloped field four feet high and dense with milkweed, grass, and wild mustard, and underneath it all live droves of these guys in individual nests spread out like a rural-suburban community. When the sun begins to set we know that if we pass by on the bike we are likely to see a few of them grazing on the cultivated lawns that border the wild brush. Little Honey is aware that they are Hares and not Rabbits because of a small bedtime book we read together nightly. "Hi Hare" he says after we stop to get a better look, and "Bye-bye Hare" when they bound away from us and dash into the cover of  grassy tunnels. The size of small dogs, they can run up to 45 miles an hour and leap 19 feet in a single bound. Yup, super bunnies.

Caterpillar Update: We woke up this morning to find both of our summer guests attached to the sides of twigs we'd placed inside their glass rooms. Soon each will shed its skin one last time and reveal itself as a bright green Chrysalis.