Bunny Bonanza

What would you expect to find in massive numbers when visiting Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge? Well, mosquitos, yes. And there are plenty of them out right now. But there are also lots of bunnies! Sylvilagus floridanus The Eastern cottontail rabbit. They sure make evening or morning drives interesting. I think they enjoy watching us swerve. They always seem to wait until the last minute to decide which way to run off.

But it's good that they are so abundant. They are yummy to lots of predators, including ocelots. Lots of bunnies could mean the ocelots are fat and happy.

In previous posts I've talked about rodent trapping on the private ranch where my major research occurs. We've expanded that research to the Refuge. If we can provide scientific documentation to Mexico that there is a plentiful amount of prey here, then that puts us one step closer to translocation.

We are sampling 4 different sites, all of which are 1st priority translocation release sites. Three are in areas currently occupied by ocelots and one is in an area that is not currently occupied but was in the last 10 years. Our first sampling was last night/this morning as we caught the usual suspects: hispid cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus) and Mexican spiny pocket mice (Liomys irroratus). We also captured one northern pygmy mouse (Baiomys taylori). These probably aren't high on the ocelots' favorite menu items (would you want to run a mile just for one chicken nugget?), but they'll definitely snack on one when the opportunity presents itself.

We've seen lots of other fun critters, too. Here's a short list:
Texas tortoise
Indigo snake
Texas horned lizard
Mexican ground squirrel
Plain chachalaca
White ibis

And one of the best things of all? Wireless internet! We can play outdoors in the mornings and evenings and then actually get some work done indoors between! Not that I wouldn't mind exploring the trails all day, but annual reports loom overhead!

Check out more information about the Refuge and endangered ocelots, turtles and falcons here: Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge

Here are some fun facts. See if you can find them on the refuge website.

When was the first confirmed report of an ocelots on the refuge?
When did extensive research on ocelots begin on the refuge?
Have there ever been jaguarundi on the refuge?

Answers tomorrow!