Snowshoe Hare

While searching for Wildflowers on Alta Mine Road, we encountered these guys. I could tell by their eyes they were Hares and not rabbits so I looked them up and found they are Showshoe Hares. Wow….did that bring back memories. The last time I saw Snowshoe Hares was when I lived in Canada. It brought up a memory of getting in trouble in class when the teacher was telling us about them. She explained how their huge wide hind legs made it easy for them to run in snow and thus escape their predators. Always wanting to share my knowledge (yes it started early 🙂 ), I raised my hand and announced that the Hares also turned white in the winter and I knew it because I had seen it. The teacher (a city girl new to farmland) accused me of making it up! I was given some kind of punishment…probably writing “I must not lie” a hundred times on the blackboard. The next day, she apologized to me in front of the whole class and we discussed the phenomenon of this hare turning white in the winter 🙂