Monday, July 12, 2010

So…Who Ate The Rabbit?

DSC_0161 Desert cottontail carcass 7-9-10 (Read the beginning of this story here)

All day long the rabbit lay in the wash. On Saturday morning I went outside and it was still there. Saturday afternoon a kettle of turkey vultures circled overhead, but none came down to earth, and there the rabbit lay. Saturday night is was still there as I sat on the terrace and kept vigil while talking to my daughter. Sunday morning and there the carcass lay under a thick gray blanket of storm clouds. Gus and I went out for breakfast. We returned home under the same gray skies but no rain. The air hung thick and humid with no sweet relief from rain. Sunday night a red watermelon sun slipped from behind the shelf of gray clouds and slid below the western horizon. I walked out to the front yard once again and peered into the wash. The rabbit’s body lay where it fell and looked as if it were melting into the earth. Darkness fell with cloud banks warring and distant lightening illuminating the edges of the clouds, but still no rain.

DSC_0019 In the shade of the mesquite tree 7-12-10

Now it is Monday morning. Sometime during the night the gray wool clouds slipped away leaving a hazy blue sky that looks like faded denim. It is 81 degrees as I step outside at 8:30 a.m. to eat my breakfast on the terrace in the dappled shade of the mesquite tree. A light wind is tossing the branches and teasing my hair. I sit here with my bins and scan the wash trying to see if the rabbit’s body is still there. I know exactly where to look. It is by two clumps of brittle bush with a stick that flipped up and fell across its body when it dropped, but from this angle I discover that a creosote bush is in my way and I cannot see.

DSC_0035 Finches 7-12-10

I finish my breakfast with Costa’s hummingbirds zipping by my head, lesser goldfinches picking thistle seed from the feeder behind me and purple martins twittering and chirping as they fly overhead. Down in the wash I see at least four live desert cottontails running around and nibbling on the grasses. Gambel’s’ quail scurry about in various family groups, the parents calling and cooing to the young ones in constant communication. I see a lizard flip its tail up over its back and race up the riprap towards the top of the wash. I realize how lucky I am to live in such a place where wildlife is so prevalent. I do not need a zoo; I live in the midst of a wildlife park!

DSC_0017Down in the Wash 7-12-10

With breakfast over I start my chores in the backyard first filling feeders and birds baths and watering the plants. With that task done I finally head to the front yard to clean my bird fountain, fill those feeders, and water those plants. Now it is time to find out. Will the rabbit still be there?

DSC_0014 Where the rabbit lay 7-12-10

I set the hose on the purslane and walk the few steps down the sidewalk to the best vantage point for seeing the rabbit. I locate the two brittle bushes and gaze at the fold of the earth. I look for the stick that lay across the rabbit’s body, but the rabbit is gone and the stick is about 4 to 5 feet away farther down the wash. Okay…so who ate the rabbit?

DSC_0015 The stick 7-12-10

I take my bins and scan the nearby bushes and trees. I see no sign of hair or bones anywhere. This particular wash is really a manmade retention basin for storm runoff and as such it is fenced all around to keep people and pets out of it. Three years ago it was little more than dirt and stone with a few trees the developer put in as landscaping.

DSC_0020The corner of the wash where I threw the dead rabbit 7-12-10 

Since then creosote bush has moved in, along with brittle bush, desert grasses, a few weeds and some wildflowers, but as yet there are no cacti growing. Still, it has filled in quite a bit.

DSC_0022 The Closed Gate 7-12-10

I see the fence everywhere with the gate that is halfway across the wash closed and I conclude that it probably wasn’t a coyote who got the rabbit, so it must have been something with wings. If it was, it either came during the night or early this morning, and whatever it was must have carried it off, for there is no body or evidence of a body anywhere around. Nature has taken care of its own. Perhaps that dead rabbit is feeding a parent or some chicks. One creature dies so another can live. This is the reality of life in the desert.

DSC_0040 My Backyard Flowerbed 7-12-10

I pull my hose back into the backyard and water my final flowerbed. The hose is running at almost full and I am flood irrigating this one bed which I have yet to run drip lines to. Suddenly I see a tiny wet mouse climbing the block wall desperately. It makes it to the top, its gray-brown coat soaked and dripping, its long tail dragging a wet stream behind it. I think that it is going to sit there in the sun and dry. It is so upset that it doesn’t seem to mind me being so close to it. I have my bins but not my camera with me. I step down off the low wall I am standing on and take the few steps inside to exchange bins for the camera but when I return in less than ten seconds the mouse if gone! I search for it everywhere but I cannot find it. This is also the way of the desert. Where creatures appear and disappear before you know it. Life is happening all around me all the time it seems. I get to see these little glimpses of nature and almost every day there is a new drama happening outside my window. I only have to open my eyes and observe it.

DSC_0024 Curve-billed thrasher (Western) 7-12-10

For now, the curve-billed thrasher feed next to white-winged doves and cactus wrens.

DSC_0030 White-winged dove 7-12-10

Mourning doves coo and chase and purple martins sail above. Pyrrhuloxias feed next to northern cardinals and house finches and above it all the turkey vultures glide on desert thermals waiting to do their job.

DSC_0039

Juvenile Gambel’s Quail trying to get at seed 7-12-10

So, who is in and around the yard today?

  1. Gambel’s QuailDSC_0033
  2. Turkey vulture
  3. Red-tailed hawk
  4. Mourning dove
  5. White-winged dove
  6. Costa’s Hummingbirds
  7. Gila woodpecker
  8. Gilded flicker
  9. Common raven
  10. Chihuahuan raven
  11. Purple martin
  12. Verdin
  13. Cactus Wren
  14. Curve-billed thrasher
  15. Canyon towhee
  16. Northern Cardinal
  17. Pyrrhuloxia
  18. House finch
  19. Lesser goldfinch
  20. House sparrow
  21. 4 cottontails in the wash
  22. 1 lizard
  23. 1 drenched mouse

Oh, and Poetry is happening once again on Kathie’s Poet Tree

12 comments:

Candice Suter.....Sweetstuff said...

How wonderful! You write and I imagine I am you! How fun! And yes you do live in your own wild life park! Watch out for the reptiles!

Kathie Brown said...

Candy, I do, especially in the summer and fall! I have encountered a rattlesnake once out in the canyon about 2 years ago, but that is it so far.

Arija said...

Kathie that was so entrancing that I gbbled up every word and forgot to breathe. The excitement and your way of describing it is completely riveting. You really must publish a book of your observations. It would make wonderful reading for people who dwell in other places. The interest is so beautifully sustained by the interweaving of your daily life.

Blessings, Arija

Carolyn Ford said...

This is such a bitter-sweet story. I wonder what killed the rabbit but its death allows other life to continue...and, that's just the view from your home. There's so much more happening on this vast expanse of land, called the "desert."

Kathie Brown said...

Arija, you are such an encouragment to me. Thank you for those kinds words. Believe me, I do take them to heart.

Carolyn Ford, the rabbit was hit by a car. This is the continuation of a story in the post below. I quess I should have posted that somewhere. And Yes, there is always somethng happening in this vast land! Thanks for stopping by!

Quiet Paths said...

This was absolutely great, from start to finish.

Gaelyn said...

What Arija says is So true. You are a superb writer and I always feel like I'm beside you. This is a wonderful mystery and yet also the true story of life in the world around us. I'm just surprised it took so long for something to find the rabbit meal.
BTW, your yard looks great,especially when dealing with such temps.

Anonymous said...

Your stories with words and pictures are inspirational. I would like to go where you go but that's not likely nowadays. LOL

Thanks for the visit.

Now all I need is a favorite dish recipe from you...

Fat Lady Recipes

Kathie Brown said...

Quiet paths, glad you enjoyed it!

Gaelyn, thank you! (blush! blush!) You are too kind!

Abe, always nice to drop by and see how you are doing. I'll send you a recipe real soon. How does Cornish Game Hens with raisin Orange Sauce sound?

Crafty Green Poet said...

I love rabbits and hate to see them die but then so many other animals eat them and as you say that's the way of the desert, or any ecosystem...

Anonymous said...

Not I, said the little brown wren ... though I take some comfort that loss of life in turn feeds life.

Kathie Brown said...

Crafty green poet, you speak the truth well...

Wren, I agree with you. It all balances out, doesn't it.