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Expedition 🇺🇸 United States

Eastern Cottontail in United States

America's backyard rabbit — a quick-footed grazer whose white tail flashes like a warning light when danger appears.

Eastern Cottontail

The species

The eastern cottontail is the most familiar rabbit across the eastern and central United States, turning lawns, field edges, and suburban gardens into its home range. Active mainly at dawn and dusk, it feeds on grasses, clover, and garden plants, leaving neat clipped stems where it has grazed.

Habitat in United States

Cottontails thrive in patchy landscapes: mowed lawns beside brush piles, hedgerows, overgrown fields, and woodland edges. They need dense cover within a short dash of open feeding ground and often shelter in thickets or burrows abandoned by other animals.

Where to spot one

  • Central Park

    New York City

    Urban ponds for mallards, pigeons on the paths, and sparrows in every shrub — a compact starter loop in Manhattan.

  • Golden Gate Park

    San Francisco

    Lakes, meadows, and tree cover where common birds and park wildlife turn an afternoon stroll into a discovery session.

  • Suburban Park Systems

    Nationwide

    Local green spaces across the US — pond edges, playground perimeters, and dog-walking trails where the everyday species gather.

  • Neighbourhood Streets

    Nationwide

    Front gardens, fence lines, and café patios — where house cats watch from walls and sparrows squabble over crumbs.

Conservation status

LC — Least Concern

Eastern cottontails are Least Concern and abundant across their range. They benefit from suburban edge habitat but face heavy predation from cats, dogs, foxes, and hawks.

Keep exploring

Keep exploring

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