Poor, Poor Jack..... Rabbit

I'll post the picture of the day lower down so that nobody should inadvertently see it.

I should mention that we have hundreds of rabbits on our property both cottontails and the behemoth jackrabbits. We also have hundreds (if not thousands) of prairie dogs and gophers (and mice and rats and voles and such). Having so many small mammals mean the coyotes have a good food supply and we should have a healthy balance on the property. The small mammals are also food for hawks and eagles and other birds of prey.

This morning I reversed my daily walk. Instead of going counter-clockwise, I went clockwise. Early in my walk I saw this jackrabbit carcass on the north fence. It was about four feet up from the ground. I'm not thinking the jackrabbit jumped on the fence and I don't think a coyote did it. My guess is that this was some bird's dinner and hanging it on the barbed wire was a convenience. (I often see birds of prey roosting on our fence posts.)