Spotting the bobcat's spots

Seems that our local bunny bounty has attracted some hungry new inhabitants: in addition to hawks and coyotes, we now have bobcats prowling our 'burb. Welcome, neighbor, I say!

 

Tale of the cottontail's tail

While I was catching up on some garden chores this afternoon--trimming back spent foliage, pulling out dead annuals, winter sowing foxglove seeds, and cutting down and banking up dahlia tubers--I discovered this fluffy rabbit tail laying in a garden bed.

At first, I thought that maybe this was fur that a rabbit had groomed out of its coat to line a nest--but on closer inspection, I noticed that the tail bone was intact in this fuzzy little package . . . and over on the lawn saw some discarded body parts.  The local coyotes have been helping us with our vermin problem, it seems. Much appreciated, but I do wish that they'd clean up after themselves.