Adorable Marsh Rabbits

I didn't realize until we moved here, that Florida has 2 kinds of rabbits. We have the very common Eastern cottontail, with which you should all be familiar, and the little marsh rabbit. Considering that a marsh rabbit was the unfortunate prey in my previous post, I thought it might be nice to highlight them here. :) I've included a baby and an adult photo. They are everywhere in the Disney parks. Click on the link above for more info.

A barred owl's snack on the run

Remember how I said this past winter that the birds were behaving strangely? Well, I have a great story for you that illustrates it. I didn't have my camera at the time, so I didn't post until a co-worker sent me a photo to go along with it. Thanks Amanda for the photo! And thanks to Ron for cleaning it up so nicely!

Anyway, our office at work is housed inside the first aid station. We were just settling down to lunch when we heard a knock on the door. When I opened it the nurse rattled off something about, "owl," and "rabbit." I rushed out with her to see what was wrong.

When I got to the front of first aid, I saw guests with cameras trained on a small wooded patch not 10 feet from where they stood. There, on the ground, was a barred owl clutching a rabbit. The rabbit was too heavy for it to fly away with, so it was eating it right there in the middle of the day amongst dozens of people!! I couldn't believe it! Barred owls are generally shy, so this was an amazing opportunity. It sat there eating for at least another half an hour before it finally flew away. I came back to watch it again and again. I don't know if there were just too many youngsters that year that the competition for food was stiff, or what, but there was a lot of odd behavior going on.

Here's the photo. It's a lot closer than it looks. That was taken with a cell phone. I was excited for days. I think my co-workers thought I was nuts. :)

Hot... sooo.. hot...

That about says it all I think. We haven't had our normal daily thunderstorms, and it's been even more hot and humid than usual. Needless to say, I haven't gone outside for more than I have to; especially considering that the a/c in my car is broken and would cost $1300 to fix. Winter is our animal time. But I am working on getting one photo up from a long time ago.
Love to all.