A new species at the bird bath

European Rabbit in our garden

Our bird baths give us a great deal of pleasure, especially during the warmer months of the year. I am sure that the birds appreciate it too.

I have written often about the birds visiting the bird baths, and many photos featured here on this blog are taken while they are enjoying a drink or a splash.

One of the bird baths sits on the ground. We don’t have much of a problem with cats here so the birds are generally happy to use it. Some of the local lizards also enjoy drinking the water provided, as did a fox one evening.

The new species to avail itself of this water source was the  introduced European Rabbit. For more than twenty years we have rarely seen a rabbit on our property. The rabbit calicivirus almost wiped them out in the district, but not quite. Over the last two years numbers have increased to the point where we have about 5 or 6 resident rabbits, including very young animals, and we see them on a daily basis. Not good news. I’ll have to rabbit proof the vegetable garden this coming winter.

Further reading:

• Time for a bath – contains a complete list of birds and animals recorded coming to our bird baths.  The post also includes a selection of the best photos.