Bunny Zone 3 - Los Sympaticos

The 2015 who's-who of coincident species at the Mono County pygmy rabbit warren included most of the same characters as 2014. Even the same cute coyote. But 2 new faces did show.

Here's a round-up.


Kangaroo rat, likely Ord's


Juvenile black-tailed jackrabbit






Least chipmunk


Adult black-tailed jackrabbit

One of the new faces for 2015 was a bird. Pretty sure it's a female horned lark.


Female horned lark at pygmy rabbit burrow

The other new face was a predator - an American badger!


American badger checking out the rabbit burrow on June 15th





I don't know why the badger didn't dig out the burrow. The rabbits were down there, and those badger claws could go through that sand like butter.

In fact, the same badger returned 5 weeks later (after the camera had shifted left, btw), and once again didn't dig out the burrow. And this time the juvie pygmy rabbit was down there as well.


Same badger returning to burrow on July 22nd





Sage sparrows and sage thrashers came by multiple times, but the rock wren of 2014 wasn't seen by the camera trap in 2015.


Sage sparrow


Sage thrasher

And, as mentioned, the same cute coyote prowled around several times.


Coyote checking out burrow complex



The 2 new additions brings the total coincident species documented at the site since the beginning of the study to 12: coyote, American badger, black-tailed jackrabbit, Paiute ground squirrel, least chipmunk, ord's k-rat, deer mouse, sage thrasher, sage sparrow, rock wren, horned lark and Great Basin spade foot toad.

Wonder who'll show up in 2016?


Jack one-eyeing the camera at sunrise

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References:

• Nature of a Man (this blog) - Back in the Bunny Zone Part 1
• Nature of a Man (this blog) - Back in the Bunny Zone Part 2
• Nature of a Man (this blog) - Pygmy Rabbitat Round-up
• Nature of a Man (this blog) - Dust-Bathing Beauties
• Nature of a Man (this blog) - Jealous Jacks
• Nature of a Man (this blog) - I Brake for Brachys
• Nature of a Man (this blog) - Splitting Hares
• Nature of a Man (this blog) - Pygmies of the Great Basin
• Eveline Séquin Larrucea, University of Nevada Reno - Distribution, Behavior, and Habitat Preferences of the Pygmy Rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis) in Nevada and California
• Joye Harold Severaid, Journal of Mammalogy, vol 31, February 1950 - The Pigmy Rabbit (Sylvilagus idahoensis) in Mono County, California
• E. W. Jameson, Jr., and Hans J. Peeters, UCPress - Mammals of California 
• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service - Species Profile for Pygmy Rabbit
• Douglas A. Keinath and Matthew McGee - Species Assessment for Pygmy Rabbit in Wyoming prepared for the Bureau of Land Management
• Wikipedia - Pygmy rabbit

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