Morning Jackrabbits in Regina

When I drive through my neighbourhood in winter after dark, I watch for rabbits. White-tailed jackrabbits. From sunset to sunrise, they often leap from shadows along streets and alleys, or run beside my van. (If they stayed still, I wouldn't notice them, grizzled white on gray night snow. But their instinct must say to flee, and they can easily outpace me.)

Caught in headlights in the dark,
this morning's jackrabbit pauses under a tree. 

This morning, returning from the airport three hours before dawn, I saw a pair dash out from an alley. One fled down a side street while the other swerved and crouched for few minutes under a tree.

And yesterday, a rabbit ran along our sidewalk and through the snowbanks on the neighbour's yard. (I have a more pictures of this jackrabbit, below, on my Prairie Nature blog.)

New Year's Day jackrabbit at dawn
on the snowbank across the street. 

White-tailed jackrabbits live here in summer, too. But summer nights are short and these prairie hares, nocturnal, so winter is the time I watch for them. 

eta: My Facebook and UBC MFA friend Jennifer Wynne Weber points out that it is still the Year of the Rabbit! How appropriate — thanks! 

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