I've seen three rabbits so far on the part of my commute that is new and car-free. They are quite tall and have giant ears that stick up over the tall grass. They ignore me entirely until I stop my bicycle and stare at them at which point they look over at me, stop chewing, and say "wtf are you staring at?" Then they either freeze "if I don't move, no one can see me" or they run off "I am the wind!!"
Here is a picture with a rabbit in the middle. Really.
It's still pretty new and exciting for me to see animals that run around as opposed to the flat kind I generally see on my regular commute.
Here's a close-up of the bunny ears.
His friend had already taken off when I got the Contraption Captain to take this picture. Hopefully they don't put a picture of me pointing and staring with flecks of drool at the corner's of my mouth up onto their Facebook.
And here is a copyrighted picture in which you can actually see what a California jack rabbit looks like. Big. Long ears. Sensitive whiskers.
I think you have found a little peace of cycling heaven. And I totally understand about what you said a couple of days ago. I had been off with the dreaded lurgy (influenza) and this morning whilst crossing a busy road near a motorway (freeway / highway?) I noticed that the urge to shout and use my air horn had come back with a vengeance after four days being off the bike. When we cyclists find a route like your new one we certainly don't recognize ourselves when we get back to 'civilization'. I mean we want to be the person amongst the bunnies and almost silent scenery. And we also have that other split personality that is too quick to flip someone off and then hate ourselves for it. But we also feel that cheeky child-like thrill for doing it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the close-up -- I went back to the original, enlarged it 300% and THEN I saw the ears. Not that I doubted you, but I wanted to see it!
ReplyDeleteI rode 40 today along the Mount Vernon trail in DC. I saw two Ospreys air battling for supremacy. It was awesome. They were noisy and totally absorbed in their fight. Meanwhile, planes overhead going in and out of National Airport screamed at their own frequency. I know which air to air battle I preferred!
Bunnies are very cute, and I always enjoy seeing them on my commute, too. Also, they make the raptors happy and well-fed, which is also a wonderful thing.
ReplyDeleteNice. They are long-legged! Here in Ohio we have only smaller cottontails. They're everywhere. There's a family that lives under my neighbors shed and I've watched the little bunny families grow for a couple years now.
ReplyDeleteNow that I think about it I hardly ever see them flattened on the road. They must be smarter/and/or quicker than the average bear.