Rabbit Nest!

One of the books we've been "reading" (really just describing the pictures) with Teresa is a Little Golden Book called Little Cottontail. On the second page, Little Cottontail's nest is described as "soft and warm, with a bed made of grass and tufts of fur."

Today, while I was clearing the wax bean bushes out of the garden, I discovered this:


A bundle of dried grass? That didn't get there by itself. What put it there? I moved the top bundle aside and found this:


Can you see the tufts of fur beside the wood? Here's a closer look:


Thanks to Little Cottontail, I recognize this as a rabbit's nest! Right IN my garden!


I used my hand cultivator (little rake) to see how deep the nest went (not too deep) and brought up a lot more of the fluff. It looks like this made a very cozy nest under the protection of my thriving bean bushes. We had seen a rabbit in our yard regularly 2 or 3 months ago, and something was definitely chomping on my chard (but, amazingly, no other produce!). But I had no idea his residence was my garden. Gives new meaning to the term "garden bed"!