Hemorrhagic disease in rabbits

[fishinwrench]

Couple years ago a squirrel was doing cartwheels at the edge of my yard.   I headed over there to see what the heck was going on......and a black snake had ahold of him.   

I backed off and allowed him to enjoy his meal.   🙂

[tjm]

So many loose dogs around here that that rabbits have a hard time getting big enough to attract a hawk. I've had several cats drag in fresh killed squirrels and cottontails over the years and there are millions of feral cats out there. With roads dogs, cats and raptors that disease may have to bring it's own bunnies.  But you know we saved the raptors from DDT cleansing.

[skeeter]

Raptors usually perch on high ambush or lookout points to save the energy expended in soaring especially if winds are not favorable.  We see this behavior with Hawks of all sizes on phone poles along roadsides and our resident and Winter-visitor Bald Eagles along the Lakeshore. What has become very common is seeing the numbers of dead raptor-birds on roadsides where they are so intent on diving on their prey they take no notice of oncoming cars/trucks.

Have to agree with the ridiculous numbers of loose dogs and there is a pack of about a dozen that runs around the Joe Bald area on TR that has residents very concerned since Fido running in a pack is not the same animal exhibiting typical domestic Dog behavior !   

Cats ?  Where to start....whether they are feral or house cats turned loose they are natural born killers and are very good at it.  Bunnies, songbirds...you name it and they will get it.  People are posting a lot of Bobcat pictures on Facebook groups and it used to be you only rarely saw a Bobcat since they were nocturnal.....not any more !  Predator populations have exploded and the wild turkey population around the Tri-Lakes area has become few and far between.  When we would fish Wolf Den in the Spring those bowl-shaped hills and ridges around the cove would be ringing with Gobblers sounding off.  Haven't heard one there or anywhere else in years ! 

[skeeter]

On 1/24/2022 at 7:34 PM, fishinwrench said:

Couple years ago a squirrel was doing cartwheels at the edge of my yard.   I headed over there to see what the heck was going on......and a black snake had ahold of him.   

I backed off and allowed him to enjoy his meal.   🙂

Several years back we watched a Red Fox creep up from below our retaining wall and pounce on a big Grey Squirrel.  There was a battle-royal between the two that went on for at least 30 seconds that looked like one of these special-effects movies where they speed the film up.   It ended with the Fox shaking his head as the Squirrel ran off and up the nearest tree. 

Now if I could just import a few more Black Snakes to thin out these danged five-lined Ground Squirrels ( chipmunks ) that dig, dig, dig under and into everything !   

[tjm]

I once watched a black snake swallow a grown cottontail, rear legs first and it took along time, now I know where predator calls got their inspiration. Rabbits have high volume screamers built in.

[snagged in outlet 3]

2 hours ago, tjm said:

 Rabbits have high volume screamers built in.

My daughter found that out when she shot one with a pellet gun...😁

[tjm]

1/4" at a swallow, rest, another 1/4" repeat- as a kid I was fascinated but I can easily see why large predators would respond to calling over a 10-20minute time frame. get the snake too as it would be helpless.

[MOPanfisher]

Its a tough life when you are one on the tastiest critters in the briar patch, every thing wants to eat you if they can catch you.