For the second year in a row, we have mouring doves overwintering in our Alberta yard. And because we have doves, I go out of my way to see that they have enough food. OK – more than enough food – it’s cold out there.
As they are ground feeders, I put food out beneath our big poplar tree in the front yard, on the sunny south side so they can catch a few rays while eating. Grass will not grow under that tree, so we’ve placed a large tree ring underneath filled with sand. The doves can fly in from any direction and if they get startled when feeding, they just scoot up into the branches.
It seemed to me that I was putting a lot of food down there for four birds. Granted, we do have lots of eastern grey squirrels, but they have their own feeders (sigh) up in the tree.
The other night, about midnight, I was sitting in the living room with my nose buried in a book. One of the cats was sitting on his perch looking out the window, and all of a sudden he went into point position. Seeing this out of the corner of my eye, I naturally had to get up and take a look.
Ooh, a big bunny!
A white-tailed jackrabbit, to be exact, was chowing down on my dove food. These big prairie hares can weigh up to 7.5 pounds, so that accounts for a lot of food. In summer, their coat is a grizzled brownish grey but in winter, it changes to pure white except for black-tipped ears.
We see a lot of them around the city during the daylight hours, but I didn’t realize they are supposed to be nocturnal, and feed mainly at night.
I have no problem with feeding yet another animal, but know full well that where there are jack rabbits, the coyotes won’t be far behind. Which, now that I think of it, would certainly solve our squirrel over-population problems…
I’ve never taken pictures at night before, but at least you can identify the critter, even if the photos aren’t the best.
And this is what they look like in the summer.
I need to leave now. I have to go buy bigger bags of bird food.
How diabolical! 😉