Our Backyard Bunny: A Desert Cottontail

Desert Cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii)

Location:  Westminster, Colorado, USA

This is a Desert Cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii), a rabbit species found in the southwestern and Rocky Mountain states of the U.S., as well as northern and central Mexico.  One of this rabbit's noticeable features is the rust-colored patch of fur on the nape of its neck.  And like all cottontails, the underside of its tail is pure white.

Several times each day, we see this bunny hopping about in the yard at our house in Colorado, munching on grass and clover.  If someone approaches, the rabbit scampers away to hide beneath the lowest branches of a Colorado Spruce tree near the edge of the yard.  Most of these visits are in the early morning or very late in the afternoon.