The Baby Bunny

Our neighbourhood is home to several rabbits -- at least 3, by my reckoning. We see them frequently when we take Scotty out for walks, and often we can even spot them from our front window. Scott loves his perch by the window where he directs traffic with a pointed finger and his trademark hooting. For him, it's the next best thing to actually going outside.


I don't know how our little boy is going to survive the winter, when he can't spend all of his waking hours out with his rock friends, who will be hidden beneath a layer of snow. On Sunday, we were driving home and we saw a flurry of animal activity out the window -- a swooping crow dancing with two rabbits. When we looked closer, we could see that the crow was after a baby bunny in the grass, and the two adult rabbits were chasing the bird away. It was quite the scene.

After a moment, the bunny ran away from its spot in the grass and came right at us, passing a few feet in front of us before settling on our driveway. The crow landed on a nearby lightpost and the adult rabbits watched warily from a distance.


That baby bunny was nearly invisible on the asphalt of our driveway, but he found a more comfortable spot in our grass, where he stayed for the next several hours.


Sitting still in the grass, his camouflage was so effective, we couldn't get Scott to see him -- let alone point or hoot. Instead, Scott found a splendid round rock and carried it around the yard, happy as a clam.


Just before midnight, we heard a terrible crack of thunder and then the sweeping roar of a hailstorm. The hailstones were between the size of a pea and a marble, so I worried about the baby bunny in the yard. The porchlight was enough to see that he was still in his spot, so I rushed outside to help him out. By the time I got there, he had made his way to the neighbour's car, and was sitting near enough to get some shelter. With my shoe I nudged him further underneath and then came inside soaking wet.

The next morning, the baby bunny was gone. We hope he's okay.