Snowshoe Hare - Harrison Mills

[Gord]

On Nov 20 at Eagle Point Park I saw a Snowshoe Hare on the trail. This is certainly the lowest elevation I have seen one. I meant to ask Kathy or Brent if they have noticed them at all.

I wonder what it was up to. Maybe it is due to an increase in the population cycle where it peaks about every 10 years? I cannot say I have seen any more than usual in areas where I see them more regularly.

[Chris]

I have only seen them in Manning but it seems pretty low to see one around there. I don't know if they come lower during colder weather but until the last few days we haven't had much colder weather.

[b1schmor]

Hi Gord,

that is quite surprising to see Snowshoe Hares this low. I haven't seen any type of hare/rabbit in the Harrison Mills area. I will keep an eye out. Maybe a Lynx will be following them!!

Brent

[Gord]

Brent, a Lynx would be amazing! I would love to see one.

I should have said that it was seen at the far west end of the trail at the dead end.

[murraybrown]

Gord and others, I agree that a Snowshoe Hare at river level is very unusual. However, you can imagine how surprised I was to see two of them one September morning in Aldergrove Regional Park a few years ago.
When I spoke to the mammal expert with the Ministry Of Environment in Victoria, he told me that at one time they were scattered all through the Fraser Valley in the bottom-land. It seems that the introduction of the Eastern Cottontail in the early 1950's from Washington State, may have had a detrimental effect on this particular sub-species of hare.

Murray

[Gord]

Hi Murray

It would be worth looking for this hare again to see if it is this very rare sub-species (washingtonii) also known as the Pygmy Snowshoe Hare. They are red listed in the Fraser Valley. At the view I had of this guy, it appeared to be like any other I have seen but I am by no means familiar with what to look for.

[murraybrown]

Like you Gord, I haven't seen enough of these animals to distinguish them in the field. The ones I have seen have been in the Fraser Valley, Hick's Lake, Sumallo Grove, and the southern Cariboo.
To me, they all looked very similar in size and colour.
As you say it's something to keep our eyes open for.

Murray

[kastern]

Gord...I was just searching the site to see if anyone had seen the Blue Jay recently...we are thinking of going for a drive so Ernie can play with his new GPS....and I came across this....I can't say I've ever seen a Snowshoe Hare here, but I have seen what I thought were wild rabbits, both here in Tapadera and once over by the viewing platform. I have a couple of pictures of one that was here a few years ago....when I look at it I think it could possibly be that Pygmy Snowshoe Hare ......I've seen quite a few real Snowshoe Hare from our trips up north so am a bit familiar with them. I'm going to send the photos I have to you personally, perhaps you can post them...I'd do it but I haven't tried posting to the site for a while and since I'm running out the door, this way will be easier....Kathy

[Gord]

Kathy, good photos. Look promising to me for a hare of some description! I hope myself or someone here can find someone who knows a little more about these guys. Here are Kathy's photos. Thanks Kathy.

A snowshoe hare from the NWT.



Ones from Harrsion.





Kathy, have not heard any reports of the Blue Jay. It was reported with a flock of Steller's Jays flying over the highway at Peter's Road. Perhaps if there is a feeder in the area they might be seen there.

[Deleted]

Hi, folks.

This is a very interesting thread. Sorry this got so long and complicated.

The animal in the first of the two Harrison photos does not appear to have the prominent orangish patch on the nape that is characteristic of Eastern Cottontail. Both Harrison photos show a white chin, which Eastern Cottontail does not have, and some sources (2 of the 4 sources I checked) say the white chin is characteristic of Snowshoe Hare. So it seems clear it's a Snowshoe Hare. The interesting question is, which subspecies.

There is a local subspecies listed with a range description of "Fraser River delta" in Banfield, Mammals of Canada, U of Toronto Press, 1987, page 84. This is the washingtonii subpsecies that is red listed provincially, as Gord mentioned, and used to be more common throughout the Fraser Valley, as Murray says. However, it is difficult to find clear documentation of the range for this subspecies vs other adjacent subspecies that are more common and occur at higher elevation. Banfield and other sources indicate that individuals of this species have a fairly small home range and don't move very far. So location should be a helpful factor.

David Nagorsen's recent book Rodents and Lagomorphs of British Columbia, RBCM, 2005 has some interesting comments. He notes that the original Provincial Museum book on Mammals of BC (1960) stated that the range of washingtonii is limited to the south side of the Fraser (and the map in that book, p.103, does show that) but Nagorsen has evidence that this subspecies occurs on the north side of the Fraser as well, based on records and specimens in brown winter pelage. On this basis, he says "These new findings suggest that Snowshoe Hares in the foothills of the Coast Mountains on the north side of the Fraser River are L. a. washingtonii."

The one unambiguous distinguishing factor is the fact that the washingtonii subspecies alone retains its dark pelage year round. In all other subspecies of Lepus americanus the autumn molt into white pelage begins in late September and continues until the first of January, according to Banfield. (Spring molt back to brown begins in early March.) So Gord, your record from November 20 must be this subspecies (unless it had considerable white on it!).

Noting that only two confirmed records exist for the Lower Mainland area in the last 30 years, Nagorsen concludes, "A thorough field survey throughout the Lower Mainland and a taxonomic study of Snowshoe Hares from the north side of the Fraser River and foothills of the Cascade Mountains is needed to resolve the conservation status of L. a. washingtonii in British Columbia."

So it seems that the observations mentioned by several of you could be significant. Murray, was it David Nagorsen you spoke with?

Thanks,

Stan Olson
Abbotsford

[Deleted]

Further to this topic, I have been doing some investigation of listed species in the Little Campbell River watershed from around 248th St and 24 Ave west to White Rock. I would be very interested in any sightings any of you have of Snowshoe Hare in this area, including Campbell Valley Regional Park. This explains why I got carried away in my previous post!

Thanks,

Stan

[kastern]

I just checked and the date that I took the pictures of that 'Hare', here at Tapadera, was April 27, 2005. I know we saw it, or them, very frequently for several months around that particular time. I know I have also seen one by the viewing platform since 2005 but not for a couple of years, but I have seen 'rabbit tracks' in the snow, as recently as the snowfall we had a few weeks ago, so probably the same one that Gord saw. Kathy

[Gord]

Stan, excellent information. Thanks for sharing. I look forward to learning more as we go along.

The one I saw in November only had white on the hind feet and was good sized. I know the cottontail very well but wonder if someone's escaped pet rabbit of some species/hybrid could be an odd looking creature. Kathy sure seems to have captured photos of snowshoe hare as far as I can tell. The one I saw in November looked like one to me as well even though I did not get a long look at it.

Keep an eye for them, Kathy and see if you can get a picture of this one. Thanks for the dates on your sightings.

[murraybrown]

Stan, the fellow I spoke with, was I believe, Robert Cannings.
He was with the Provincial Museum at that time.
After my initial sighting of those two animals in Aldergrove Park, I had a couple more single sightings along the trails in the interior of the park, whereas It seemed the cottontails were usually confined to the areas along the periphery, closer to the fields.

I took a hike along the north side of the Fraser up near Popkum a few days ago, and in a snow patch area, were the tracks of what I believe was a Varying Hare. The stride was much longer and the foot print too large for a cottontail.
I have a feeling that if we got any amount of snow and went out deliberately looking, we might find lots more evidence of these interesting creatures.

Murray

[Deleted]

Hi again.

Could have been Rob Cannings, but he is the entomologist (insect specialist) at the prov museum, and I understand Nagorsen is the mammal specialist.

Nagorsen's book indicates that the Snowshoe Hare as a species is around the same size (mean weight 1.34 kg, n=12; mean length 443 mm, n=139) as the introduced Eastern cottontail (mean weight 1.33 kg, n=32; mean length 423 mm, n=21 - a length difference of 20 mm, or less than 1 inch) but the hare's hind feet are much larger (mean 135 mm, n=133) than those of the cottontail (mean 99 mm, n=31) so I suppose we would expect the tracks to be obviously larger.

But there isn't any hard data on the size difference between the local "pygmy" subspecies, washingtonii, and the other subspecies, cascadensis, of the hares that would be in the adjacent mountains. Nagorsen says only that washingtonii is "a small coastal form..."

So not much is known, apparently, relating to the underlying question -- which subspecies are the snowshoe hares being seen around here, although it sounds like the local snowshoe hare could be even smaller in overall size than the cottontails we see.

The two recent "confirmed" records were roadkill specimens (one at Burnaby in 1970 and one at Mission in 1997), but he doesn't mean there are no other records.

Seems like it would be worth giving our attention to any sightings. Not that there aren't a million other things crying out for our attention, if we're naturalists.

Stan