Local teens harass baby rabbits

boys harassing baby rabbits . The boys were trying to kick in tunnels and removed large rocks that were helping shelter a nest of baby rabbits. They caught and took away at least one and left the others partially exposed one both side of the nest.


I tried to talk them out of pursuing the rabbits. I was very concerned one would be injured. I refer to their behavior as harassment , but that was not their intent. They just wanted to catch and keep some of the baby rabbits. They did not realize that they were being cruel.


This was the now partially exposed rabbit nest. I used a telephoto lens and had to sharpen the pic some to make it viewable. You can see fruit they used to try to coax the babies out of the nest

My living room window looks out on the park.over the summer I often saw the children of campers chasing the rabbits while they tried to graze. I sometimes walked down there and gave them a bag of broccoli, parsley, and baby carrots to try to feed the rabbits hoping both they and the rabbits would come to some sort of mutually beneficial arrangement lol.I just hated watching the rabbits be chased.

October 15:

About 2 weeks ago I ran into one of the youth with a different friend trying to catch the last baby rabbit. He told me the rabbit his other friend caught had died, but not because of anything the boy did or didn't do, he assured me. *cough* Right. He had done no research about rabbit care and had fed it lettuce. Exclusively. I did not ask questions. Did not want to know Read more!

Roll Call

Wet Molting birds are less than attractive.

This week I have seen Yellow/Silver, Yellow/WhiteSilver , White/WhiteSilver, Silver, BlueRed/or was it RedBlue ... MangledFoot, White/WhiteSilver, --/WhiteSilver, RedWhite/WhiteSilver, WhiteRed/WhiteSilver, BentFoot and either maxi gap or Dom Max. I think it is Maxi gap. Appears to have a bit of a twist at the tip of beak and mandible is a tad longer than maxilla. And he/she looks old.






I know I have seen Blue White and White Blue recently but do not recall seeing them during the past few days

Yellow/WhiteSilver I am afraid it is the one who now has a broken ankle. For the past 2 or 3 days I haven't seen him or her again.


The crows are coming to eat in my yard in shifts. Some will come several times during the day, but I am certain there are several different groups that are taking turns. If there is no food an adult will caw a few times and if I do not respond one or more will sometimes come and nag me at my bedroom window. There are still some young crows with baby voices that always catch my attention when they beg and that usually drags me out of bed also (I've spent a lot of time horizontal lately).

There are baby rabbits that some teen boys have made more vulnerable to preditors by moving the rocks around trying to access the nest so they could catch some of the bunnies. i am certain they caught at least one and put it in a box before I arrived. there were pretty thick tufts of fur at teh nest entrance. Pisses me off that parents do not teach their kids to be gentle and kind to animals. Ive seen teens try to run rabbits down on their bikes and with cars. Angers me.

White and tan rabbit is pretty comfortable around people and surprised me by approaching and eating out of my hand. Has also gently nibbles on my finger tips a couple of times. I have no idea what the message is because it followed when I started to slowly move my hand back thinking it had had enough

The alpha male of the group - the old looking charcoal gray rabbit with the infected eye - chased off the white a tan rabbit yesterday late afternoon. Usually he is trying to mount it so I was surprised. Instead he was following the black one around. There is a smallish tan one that may be a young adult and I have wondered if it is the parent of the new litter of bunnies. they are tan or black. I haven't seen the solid white one.


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Crows increasing in number

Sadly, a crow with a yellow band showed up with an injured right ankle or foot - I thought it was mangled Foot the way its foot was bent and it did not put any weight on that leg. I believe it was Yellow W/S

I thought I saw a crow with a single orange band that also had the white/silver band on left ankle .

Gradually I am seeing more and more of the banded crows that have been away all summer. Sometimes I see a large flock , but usually in my yard there are 10 - 20 at a time. The band colors change so I assume the other crows are different as well and these are different groups of crows coming to my feeders at different times of day.

Humorously, there is a very young one that seems to constantly beg to be fed. It aggressively follows its mother and basically harasses her until she feeds it. It actually makes me laugh sometimes when I hear the gurgling sounds that indicate the mom has given in and is feeding it, again. Sadly I have read that crows born late in the season have a harder time surviving winter. I am pretty sure I have seen the 'baby' pick up dog food and eat it in the yard - but it may have been another young one begging that I saw stop and feed itself.

Their voices are so different from the adults and do not seem as loud yet even back in my bedroom I can hear the young ones begging at the feeders on the living room side. There a couple of young ones that come with an adult and fuss at me if the feeders are empty and no food is on the ground. They park themselves on my open window or in the adjacent tree and squawk, wait, repeat. I think I pretty much always respond. Today I do not know what attracted them but there were about 7 outside my window and I did not want them annoying the neighbors by leaving deposits on the sidewalk so I drug my lazy tush out with a bowl of food and they mostly followed me around to the living room side. When I returned however there were still 3 crows hanging around the sunflower feeder.

I keep trying to get pictures but usually the banded bird I am hoping to get flies off too quickly or the photo is out of focus. I suck as a photographer. But it gives me an excuse to feed the birds - bribing the crows so I can photograph the ones with bands or deformed beaks , not merely because I enjoy the birds. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I had actually been taking some photos of the crows before I ever learned what the bands were, in part i just wanted to show my family how large the flock was that would show up for dinner :) I never could get a photo that really showed the crows en masse on the ground. I would need a wide angle lens. A very wide angle.

The rabbits seem to have abruptly stopped sleeping under the tree since the rains started. I have seen them in the park a few times and once across the street. The medium sized tan one has started foraging on the north side of the bridge. I watched a crow repeatedly sneak up behind it and nip at its tail. When I caught up with the crows I offered it a bit of dog food (I didnt have much - Id come bearing gifts for the bunnies) trying to distract it so the rabbit could eat in peace. The crow was more interested in counting coup. It is kind of fun to watch them do that although I always feel some degree of pity for the animal they are harassing.

At night every time I have seen it there are two older larger rabbits (one is the patriarch I assume - the old looking one with an eye problem) kept trying to hump it and while it was trying to eat. It was gobbling up the broccoli like it was starving. It usually is not so eager. I think the white and tan one is a male but maybe it is just an agressive female. It took over black bunnies day time spot under the tree that she had dug out for herself.



I wonder what will happen to the babies . They are still much smaller than the adults. I hope they do not end up in the clutches of a predator. Or dies mercifully quick if they do.

It is horrifying to think people basically torture them on behalf of cosmetics companies. Pointless suffering. Think about it - we kill for make up

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