The pond has been
under a comforter of white snow. The snow layer insulates and protects the
critters tucked in among the rocks, mud, and dormant plants below water and
ice.
On a sunny day, we saw a large rabbit sitting in the snow near the pond. It created a depression in the snow among reeds and wildflower stems, and snuggled down there all day. At dusk, it was gone from that spot. The next day the sunshine was bright on the white snow. The rabbit was in the same spot again, and napped all day. I suspect it was a White-tailed Jackrabbit Lepus townsendii, actually a hare. Jackrabbits are nocturnal hunters and are known to take daylight naps in a shallow hole.
