Invisible (?)

"A hare may sit still as a survival tactic, relying on camouflage and stillness to avoid detection by predators. This behavior, known as "freezing," is an instinctual response to perceived danger, where the animal remains motionless to blend into the environment and hope to remain unnoticed." (Google AI)

I have noted this often enough with the hares I sometimes encounter in the cemetery, when they become aware of human presence. Usually they stop on a gravel path or grave, imagining theymselves invisible against a stony beige-brown background... They usually don't remain frozen for all that long, though, but take the first chance they get to disappear.  

Last evening when looking out of my kitchen window, I saw the hare from my previous post again (I think it's the same one). This time he was sitting still as a stone statue right on the paved walkway - in a spot where there was little bit of extra grit and few dead brown leaves, which I suppose was the closest thing to camouflage that he was able to find when the need to become suddenly invisible hit him. What it was that had caused him to freeze, I could not see from where I stood. (I could not see any people nearby.) But what I learned from watching him for a while was that hares are able to remain "frozen" for a very long time... He did move one of his hind feet a little bit a couple of times, but otherwise he just sat absolutely still in the same position and looking in the same direction for over 15 minutes. (I don't know how long he had been sitting there when I first spotted him, and I finally gave up on waiting him out, and did not actually watch when he left. But not too long after my last photo.) 

The time stamps for the the six photos in the collage are: 
19:17 - 19:21 - 19:28 - 19:31 - 19:31 - 19:32 

(Not sure if I have the camera set on winter or summer time, but never mind.)

Out and About

I'm still feeling a bit "knocked out" by the hot weather here. The temperature may have gone down a couple of degrees (C) compared to the weekend; but instead it's now more humid, with occasional thunder and rain showers. Still too warm indoors; and as my study faces south-west, I'm limiting my time at the computer... 

Today I managed to get out for a walk (or a "stroll") between 10-11 am; just my usual paths around the old cemetery, and down to the little park by the river for a bit. 

 

Yellow water lilies in the river, blurry because zoomed in from quite a long distance with my phone camera. 

 

 
A number of similar flowerbeds in blue are found in different "park" areas of the cemetery.

I have shown several photos before of the hares living in the cemetery - or at least I assume that they "live" there, as that's where I usually see them. However, it happens that they also visit the lawns between the apartment buildings where I live. But it's usually in winter evnings that I have spotted them there, and not least when snow on the ground, so I have kind of assumed that it's been when they've had difficulties finding food elsewhere.) But a few nights ago (Saturday) I saw one grazing on the lawn below my balcony, and it wasn't even dark yet! And certainly no lack of greenery in other places, less frequented by humans. (It was unusually quiet in the neighbourhood at the time, though - not children out playing etc.)

Multiple images of one and the same hare, zoomed in from my balcony on Saturday evening.

Observations

 

Zoomed in from my window last night (with my proper camera rather than my phone): A hare sitting completely still in this position on a path between my building and the next - probably doing his best to be invisible... Not very successful in that envionment, but I've often seen them "freeze" like that on gravel paths in the cemetery, when there are people about. What had scared him, I don't know - from my own elevated position I could not see anyone about. He even stayed frozen like a statue that way while I went to fetch the camera, zoomed in, and snapped the photo, so at least over a minute. And he wasn't even really close to any of the new strange additions to the neighbourhood: Big stones painted in bright colours!

 

The summer holidays have started; and in summer, there are always a number of young people doing odd jobs around here - mostly to do with simple gardening jobs and litter-picking etc. 

Painting stones is a new task that I've not seen before... The big stones, in their natural state, have been there before: Their purpose is to stop cars from taking shortcuts across the lawns. The colours used to paint them (bright yellow, purple and blue) I recognise from benches around the estate that have also recently been (re-)painted. Whether also painting big stones is really an improvement to the neighbourhood might be a matter for discussion... Personally, I haven't quite made up my mind about that yet! (lol) 

The rabbit did not appear until later, so at least he won't have got painted by mistake. 

Now I'm just waiting to spot birds with yellow, bright blue or purple feathers, indicating that they've landed on wet paint... But maybe they're too clever for that... ;-)

Big flocks of birds can be seen scanning the lawns after the lawn-mower has been and gone. (Mostly doves/pigeons in this photo, I think. But there are also crows, jackdaws, magpies and sea gulls to give them some competition.)
 
Apart from this, no strange observations to report.

 

Ascension Day

 Ascension Day, (celebrating the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven, 40 days after Easter) is still a public holiday here in Sweden, even if many people now probably only have a vague idea of its origin, and just welcome it as a "day off", or even a long weekend (those who can often take Friday off as well). 

Traditionally, Ascension Day was often celebrated here with an early morning church service and picknick outdoors. I have to confess it's been a long time now since I myself (not an "early morning person") partook in any such event; but I remember some such occasions from back in my youth. (Back in 2021, I posted some photos from 1975 + one of my grandfather's from 1924).

Today may also have been a rather good day for people feeling up for a morning outing, as it has been sunny and not too cold. (Rather windy, though!) 

For my own part, I had a lazy morning, though - with just a little bit of "potting" on my balcony before lunch:

I re-potted two rubber plants (Ficus elastica) that have grown too big for the window sills indoors, and put those out on the balcony; where I think they go rather well with the fake green leaves on the "privacy screen". That corner of the balcony is also farily well protected from strong winds. (I still have one more Ficus plant indoors, and they're easy to take cuttings from.) 

In the afternoon, I went out for my usual walk around the cemetery, checking up on the azaleas and rhododendrons and whatnot. I also saw one of the hares, and managed to snap two photos (one zoomed in). The other day I saw two of them, so there is at least a pair of them still living there.

Lots and lots of elm tree seeds on the ground and whirling about in the wind today -  like snowflakes in the air, and making a rattling sound on the ground, almost like dry leaves do in autumn.

Yellow azaleas beginning to "droop"... But on the whole, they're still offer a blast of colour:

The Easter Hare

 

Left: The world is getting greener every day right now...
Middle: The Easter Hare, relaxing after hard work over the weekend (?)
Right: Daffodils growing in a "wild" spot down on a bank by the river. (I suspect that at some point in time, someone just threw out some old bulbs there...)

There has been a hare living in the old cemetery for as long as I can remember. I've lived in this part of the town for nearly 17 years now, though, so I suppose it can hardly be the "original" hare any more... ;-) Last year, there were also two of them. But so far this spring, I've only seen one on its own again; and in all the years I've lived here, I've never seen more than two together. In winter, he/they can also sometimes be seen grazing on the lawn right outside where I live, at night. (Again, usually just the one, but a few times I've seen two.)

There used to be rabbits living in the cemetery as well - quite a lot of them. I haven't seen any of those in the last few years, though. (They're smaller than the hares, and different colours, so one does not mistake one for the other.) They were cute, but also a bit of a nuisance (digging holes on graves, and eating planted flowers). So I'm not sure if they moved away on their own initiative or perhaps eventually had some "help". (Always made me think of the novel Watership Down by Richard Adams...) 

The Hare is very shy and it's not easy to get him to pose for photos. Sometimes I think he believes himself to be invisible if he just sits really still on the gravel between old grey gravestones, though - and then I can sometimes manage to zoom him in, if I in turn keep my distance, and move very slowly and quietly... 

(I also sometimes find myself talking to him - telling him he has nothing to fear from me, except ending up on my blog - but in a such a low whisper that I can hardly hear it myself!)

Hares

 

Yesterday when going for an early evening walk around the old cemetery, I came across a hare. I think it was a hare rather than a rabbit, as it was rather big, with long ears. Actually after a while I saw that there were two of them. At first they ran away from me - but when I stopped to take out my camera, they both changed their strategy and decided to stop and remain totally still, trying to look invisible instead. One of them did better than the other. (Can you detect that one in the photo above?)

I tried to remain as still as could as well. Unfortunately my mobile phone camera is not the best for zooming, but I tried...