Vacation Part Deaux

Pat and I have been walking almost every evening. We are the unofficial census takers of the hill.

We do not count the rug rats; that would require higher math. We count, instead, the footed fauna that is so abundant here.

It's not any species that we search for. It is one; the Eastern Cottontail Rabbit.

One would assume that the inclusion of "Eastern" in their name would imply that they are native to this area. In fact, they are not. They are Eastern only in relation to the Western Cottontail and Connecticut is not their native habitat.

Despite this geographic naming anomaly, their population has exploded. The other day, on our two mile walk, we spotted nineteen of the little critters. Some we spotted in pairs and assume that more little bunnies are in the offing.

The spotting of these creatures has become a bit of a sport. Two must see or one must plead and provide significant details for a spotting to count. Pat hates when I point into a neighbor's bush to identify a hiding spot. I dislike the lame "he hopped away" explanation.

Despite our constant census, we long for more. On Wednesday we left our homestead and had hardly begun our walk when I pointed out that we should be seeing other species. There are plenty of deer, ground hog and turkey about and I speculated aloud as to the reasons they don't appear on our walk.

No sooner had we gotten to the bottom of the hill but two deer were seen standing in the farm field. The next night the deer were replaced by two turkeys nibbling at the undergrowth.

Why is it that only after we questioned the lack of sightings did these beasts appear? Could it be that the Cottontails were tired of our cross species voyeurism and requested help from their larger cohabitants?

We can only assume that the ground hogs were a bit recalcitrant and have yet agreed to appear.