Brown Hare

[Colin Key]

The Brown Hare ("Lebre" in Portuguese) is very common here and, unfortunately, a popular target with the gypsies who hunt them with lurchers.

I was in the Alentejo all day today (Roller, Lesser Kestrel, Black Vulture, Great Bustard, Rufous Bush Robin, to name just a few) with the shade temperature at 40°C (in the town of Castro Verde the Council workmen were spreading lime and fine gravel on the roads because the tarmac was melting), and while looking for the bustards I realised that almost every telephone post had a Brown Hare resting in the shade (virtually no trees in the Alentejo).

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o100/Passarinhos/0C0J6262.jpg

Colin

P.S. Now back at home, 8.50 pm, and it is still 31°C - I notice on the "telly" that there has been rain at Wimbledon today!! :ohdear:

[Jacqueline Burrell]

Great shot!

He looks like I feel - it's 40˚C + in Cairo too!

[chris butterworth]

Great shot!

He looks like I feel - it's 40˚C + in Cairo too!

Thanks for rubbing it in. We reached 28 C here a couple of days ago and you'd have thought the world was coming to an end!

[NicoleB]

What a gorgeous shot and a smart animal :)!

[Simon Wates]

Hi Colin,

I only just noticed this - lovely hare picture but one thing!

In the southern two-thirds of Spain and all of Portugal, due to fairly old splits, our hare is not Brown Hare Lepus europeaus its the Iberian Hare Lepus granatensis.

Its quite different really - white up the front of the forearms and a contrastingly ginger, brown, black and white fur (I almost wrote plumage!) and smaller size on average are the most obvious differences. Its habitat includes woodland and dense scrubland too, which is quite different from Brown Hare.

Importantly, this species is endemic to the region and is therefore, a species to watch! (Although they are certainly abundant in many areas).

Best wishes

Simon

[MichaelF]

(I almost wrote plumage!)
Pelage is the word you're looking for ;-)

[AndyB]

Very nice composition. Reminds me of a Robert Bateman oil painting