Assuming there's one and none others, our little wild rabbit neighbour appears to have settled himself down for the winter under one of our sprawling, thickly needled and low-growing yews in the garden. The little path he's made for himself reflects his shape, and there's lots of droppings to indicate his presence. We believe he has tunnelled into the snow under the shelter of the thickly-snowed-in tree to fix up a handy den for himself. 

 

Among the multitude of squirrels that come by the porch to treat themselves to peanuts there are some we think we can identify, not from the way they appear, but from their behavioral characteristics. We can't be certain seeing this little rabbit time and again whether it's a single creature, or there's more about. We do on occasion see him in other seasons of the year, but he's become more visible to us this winter. And that's because he's been coming around specifically to the porch, where others make themselves comfortable.

 

 

We've seen him chased away by one particularly aggressive black squirrel who does the same to other squirrels, but we've also seen him on occasion on the porch with birds, none bothering one another. Last night when we went up to bed, glancing out the front door as  usual, we saw him sitting solitary and appearing pensive, in the snow in front of the porch.

 

 

And this morning he was on the porch again, after the carrots put out for him had satisfactorily 'disappeared', and just a few inches from where the rabbit sat was a tiny red squirrel, each busy nibbling peanuts. The rabbit is incredibly sensitive to movement, and if he detects a shadow or anything that might arouse his suspicion, he simply disappears. The squirrels tolerate our presence and aren't likely to make themselves scarce, sometimes even standing aside and waiting while peanut reinforcements are put out on the porch floor. 

 

Some of the raccoons have done the same thing, just moved over a bit to allow some space between themselves patiently waiting, and Irving when he's dispensing goodies, but remaining on the porch. The cardinals are less apt to fly off at the slightest move, but not yet as bold as the chickadees. And the crows' sensitivity to movement equals that of the rabbit's.

 

We had another frigid night last night, of -21C, and windy, but by afternoon the temperature had risen to -8C, a little colder in the ravine, with a notable wind and some snow flurries. Yesterday's -18C kept us at home, though we're loathe to miss a day hiking through the forest trails. Because it was so relatively mild, at least 8 degrees 'warmer' than yesterday, we decided we'd gamble on a long hike.  We weren't the only ones in the community making a similar decision.

From time to time we came across other people out with their dogs, large and small, some of which were beyond lively, running ahead of their humans and delighted to see people and other dogs about, challenging them to a race or a tumble in the snow. Their amusingly enthusiastic antics would being a smile of appreciation, you would think, to any sour human face.