I hope the hawks are coming back to live in my yard again. I've been noticing a lot of new bird activity here in the last week. I'm seeing goldfinches for the first time. They like to hang out in the beams above the window where I usually sit. And they seem to be building a nest. I welcome them too.
The main birds that love my yard year after year: cardinals. I love them too.
Meanwhile, that rabbit has a hole right in my front yard. I don't mind if a rabbit makes its home in my yard, but he's put the hole in a bad place. Any suggestions as to what I should do? Roll up a newspaper, set it on fire, and stick it in the hole? Is that wrong? Is that illegal? Would it work?
IN THE COMMENTS: Tibore explains the ways of the hawk... as learned watching cartoons:
The mention of cartoons inspires TioMoco:
What to do with the rabbit hole? Put a mailbox with the name "B. Bunny" next to it. That wascally wabbit always makes me chuckle...
And Icepick think I need this:
Tiggeril has a solution that reminds me of something Artie Bucco did in this past season of "The Sopranos," but you'll have to picture me with a gun in my front yard here in Madison, Wisconsin. Or... oh... I guess Elmer Fudd is the better pop culture reference, since we're doing cartoons. Or not, since I don't want to be the loser.
Ernst Blofeld tells a story with a great punchline. It's got rabbits, hawks, and Marines.
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35 comments:
Wait a minute. . . .I thought you were moving to a downtown condo? Did I miss something?
I lived in Wisconsin for 22 years and never saw a cardinal. My mom started getting hummingbirds though. We have them out here in Seattle, too. They'll find a feeder within a day if you put one up.
"...that seemed awfully strange, especially since the bunny was larger than the hawk. What's going on?"
Everything I need to know in life I've learned from cartoons. One of those things is that hawks always go for the meal bigger than them.
Another is that if you don't look down, you don't fall into the canyon.
Supreme Chutzpah for hire.
Has claws, will travel.
Ann, clearly you need one of these to deal with your lagomorph problem.
I like TioMoco's idea.
This is my other suggestion.
Get a bottle of tobasco sauce, mix it with a pint of water and a cup of cooking oil and dump it down the rabbit's burrow. You can also dump a small can of pepper into the burrow to finish the job. Burn a bunny, pay a fine and be known as the rabbit killing professor of Madison.
Can't you just fill the hole in with dirt?
Then, maybe you could set up the B. Bunny mail box where you'd like the new hole to be.
Where's the attack kitty? This should be right up its alley.
Warning. The making of a gratuitously cruel rabbit joke will have a consequence.
If you don't wish to kill the wabbit, you might consider this.
I'm not trying to kill the rabbit. Rabbits live in the neighborhood. I just don't want the hole in a place where I can see it in my front yard. My "smoking him out" idea isn't about burning the rabbit, just convincing him this isn't a good spot. I guess pepper is the better burn.
Adopt a cat? Grrr... I just got bitten by the cat that my neighbors allow to prowl all over my yard. That thing is like a panther. Maybe they've restrained it since it bit me. I should go over and tell them to let their bastard cat out again.
Verification word: hxbxpoxd. I'm going to buy some hxbxpoxd and dump it in the rabbit hole.
I didn't realize you meant to put the burning paper in the hole while the rabbit was in there. Yes, that seems wrong.
For clarification, I meant to fill the hole in with dirt while the rabbit was away. You know, doing his thing with Elmer Fudd.
Cheviii: Rodex. That's really something...
Jennifer: Do rabbits live alone?
It depends on the bunny. Bugs does.
How many names are on the mailbox? And have there been any contracters over lately?
You can also dump a small can of pepper into the burrow to finish the job. Burn a bunny, pay a fine and be known as the rabbit killing professor of Madison.
Ah, good point. Don't want to get the animal rights people riled up. But pepper might be too inhumane (too inrabbit?). If you can't use it on terrorists who saw heads off, you certainly can't use it on lettuce-nibbling bunnies.
I think -- I'm serious although I recognize there's an issue here -- you can put a little dogsh*t in the hole and that works. I mean, I _know_ it works for _some_ common rodent around the yard, I just don't know if it's _rabbits_. I also know at least one kind of rodent will happily remove the dogsh*t and put it back on your lawn. But anyway I think it has a good shot of working.
You're going to have a hard time gettin' a dog to sit on that hole at just the right moment...
Carnivores such as dogs have inefficient digestive tracts, and some rodents will happily eat dog excrement. Better to have rabbits than rats.
Your neighbors' cat will take care of the problem, but you'll have to fill in the hole.
Bissage: That photo was great! I know someone who will be tickled pink by it. Thanks.
Ann: Rabbits are not solitary creatures.? That's why they reproduce so quickly ;-) Why not call the humane society and ask for their suggestions?
Bearbee: I once saw that happen to a wonderful cat. (Afraid that was not a reminder I enjoyed.)
Sanjay, rabbits are not rodents. Rabbits are lagomorphs.
ronin, the cat is leaping after the much bigger bird (that's how I see it, at least). The eagle does not appear to have its talons in the cat's head. Note the cat paws behind the eagle's tail, and the one talon is visible
Fill in the rabbit's form, and piss on it.
Internet Ronin said... Bearbee: I once saw that happen to a wonderful cat. (Afraid that was not a reminder I enjoyed.)
MadisonMan is correct. The photo shows the cat having jumped is attempting to attach itself to the hawks tail feathers. Its paws are on top of the tail feathers. I had blown up the photo to more clearly see the position of the cat in relation to the hawk. BTW I doubt the cat succeeded in bringing down the hawk.
Ann Althouse said...
Jennifer: Do rabbits live alone?
They live in warrens. Haven't you read the wonderful Watership Down ?
I know rabbits don't live alone. My question was meant as a critique of Jennifer's plan.
Ann,
Here are some mean cats that might solve your bunny problem -- perhaps too efficiently.
You may not want to kill it, but how many bunnies do you want in your yard? Our cats never intimidated the bunnies around here, so don't hold hope for that. A pellet gun might be fun and lead to using tiggeril's recipe. Around here, the Illinois-Wisconsin border, the coyotes control the bunnies much better than the foxes did. We do have to take care of ground hogs and their burrows. We use buckshot or gas grenades you can buy at Ace hardware, but if you use the gas, be sure to hunt for and block up all of the exit holes. I would give that pepper-tabasco a try for the bunnies.
Rabbits is such idjits.
"Ya fur-bearin' varmint!"
An exchange I'd like to witness:
AA: Hi, Neighbor.
Neighbor: Hi, Ann. How's your wound healing?
AA: Fine. I notice the cat's been absent.
Neighbor: Yeah. We didn't think you wanted him around.
AA: Well, I have a wabbit and the commenters told me to get a cat to take care of it. Can you turn that prowling bastard loose again?
"How many names are on the mailbox? And have there been any contracters over lately?"
Contractors, no. But this Genius Coyote keeps showing up, trying to get the better of him...
Okay, seriously, I know that my mom and her gardener friend uses dried blood meal (it's the first item on the linked page; mom buys hers at Wal Mart) to keep the rabbits out of her gardens. I'm not sure how to apply it to a whole lawn, but I know it works to keep rabbits away from specific areas. Mom can now grow her garden without it turning into an all-you-can-eat rabbit salad bar, like years past.
Well, sure, but Watership Down would have you believe you might conceivably have a rabbit willing to brave dog feces, too.
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