Friday, March 09, 2007

Spring Census

Terra Nova is conspicuously short on rabbits. Time was, Bob and I would make a game of predicting how many would dart across our path between the main road and our driveway. But lately I've seen just one or two here and there. From this dramatic turn of events, I can deduce only one explanation: all those hawks and kites and owls and eagles soaring over the canyon, all those coyotes skulking from shadow to shadow, the occasional bobcat spiriting its way through the underbrush, must've been dining fairly well all winter.

Fortunately, it's spring. The finches are chirping outside the windows. Lizards are scurrying over the rocks again. The first treefrog has returned to my porch fountain. And though we've yet to see them, neighbors say the snakes are waking up from hibernation, too. This means, no doubt, that any surviving rabbits are busy doing what rabbits do best. I'm expecting to see a resurgence in the population anytime now. I really hope they hurry. Easter is just around the corner.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Rory hopes the rabbits come back soon, too! But not the rattlesnakes...