The wildlife garden

This rabbit joined our bunny relocation program.

It may be winter but there's still plenty happening in the garden. Yesterday started and ended with wildlife. Those pesky rabbits were at it again, gnoshing on whatever isn't protected. That means they're chewing on some of the roses in the herb garden that aren't protected by wire cages. So out comes the live trap and sunflower seed bait. Yesterday morning, sometime between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m., one of the critters made a wrong move and wham! its breakfast was over. (How do I know there is more than one rabbit? Because one moonlit night I saw three at once bopping around the yard. And, well, they're rabbits -- there's always more than one.) Fortunately, it wasn't that cold and he wasn't in the trap for long. I loaded the trap into the car and released him down the road -- far enough away, I hope, to make a return unlikely.

The deer also have become regular visitors -- we see them almost every night and often during the day as well. They're still having some trouble moving in the deep snow but not so much that they're unable to browse around the bird feeders and scotch pines.

This is just one reason why many of our shrubs and small trees are caged in winter.