Mountain Cottontail Cottontail resting on the snowMountain Cottontail resting on the snow

There is a blanket of snow on Antelope Island right now from storms earlier this week and last and that can make it tough for some animals to find food. I found this Mountain Cottontail yesterday near a pile a brush placed by the staff near the park headquarters, I often see the cottontails there and just last week there were visible patches of grass for the rabbits to eat but the covering of snow changed that.

Mountain Cottontail in front of a pile of branchesMountain Cottontail in front of a pile of branches

Mountain Cottontail Cottontails are found in the western U.S. and look similar to Desert Cottontails. They are most active during the early hours of the day and early hours of the evening and they do feed at night. They very rarely need to drink and get most of their water from the plants they eat, from dew and I suppose even snow.

Mountain Cottontail eating the bark of a branchMountain Cottontail eating the bark of a branch

It did take me by surprise to see this cottontail nibbling on the bark of the branches of the brush pile but the snow was covering all of the grasses the cottontails normally eat.

A hungry Mountain CottontailA hungry Mountain Cottontail

I had to share at least one image of this Mountain Cottontail on Antelope Island State Park that showed its little, fluffy white tail, after all that is where they get part of their name.

Life is good.

Mia