Whose hobbit hole is this?

Today while mowing the grass, I found the home of a new neighbor. The burrow is only about 20 feet from the side door of the abbey, in a steep bank above a newly planted deciduous magnolia tree. It looks just like a rabbit hole. But my understanding is that the eastern cottontail rabbit, which is the common rabbit here, does not burrow. Rather, they commonly live in brush piles or other homes that they find rather than build themselves.

I’ve seen many groundhog holes, but this hole is too small for groundhogs. So now I am puzzled. I don’t know if there are burrowing rabbits in these parts. There are rabbits here, that’s for sure, because I see them in the yard every day. But I’ve always assumed that they’re cottontail rabbits that live in the brush pile down in the thicket.

Whoever made the hole is very tidy. The landing is very neat, and they’ve spread dry glass on the floor into the burrow.

One thought on “Whose hobbit hole is this?”

  1. You’re right about our rabbits. They don’t burrow.

    I know it seems too small, but I’m pretty sure it’s a groundhog hole. The reason it’s small and just showed up is because it’s a young’un prob’ly born this year. Hey, it’s a starter home!

    Check out this image from the Internet that looks a lot like yours:

    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aHmb-64Opis/Tyly_W-WJLI/AAAAAAAAHGk/UYCAVWx3Jzw/s1600/IMG_7208.jpg

    We’ve had young groundhogs come and go at the house in Winston. They usually show up out of the blue this time of year, summer over while they mature, then head off unannounced to go start a real life. So my best guess is it’s an immature groundhog.

    DCS

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