I'm a bad boy. I put food out for the wild critters around here -- rabbit pellets for the bunnies and chicken scratch for the quail. There are certain places where I put each of these food items.
Of course, the critters don't always eat just "their" food, and that's especially true of the bunnies. Given the choice, they would rather eat scratch than pellets; however, if that was all I put out, the long-earred varmints wouldn't get much of a snack: they eat one kernal at a time, while the quail rapidly peck and eat the grains, managing to swallow between pecks. The quail would clear the area of scratch while the poor bunnies would get only a little.
But it's fun watching how the bunnies have changed their behavior over time. I put the scratch in an old Cool Whip container and toss the stuff one handful at a time. The bunnies used to run out to get it as soon as I threw it -- and got pelted with grain and corn, which probably doesn't feel very good.
Now, they wait on the side and run out between throws, and they'll run to an area that I've already thrown to. That, in turn, makes it easier for me to avoid hitting them with scratch.
These bunnies ain't dumb!
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