My neighbor Mr. Dearhamer called up this week and said he had blue pee spots on his driveway and I might want to come over and take a picture. I hesitated. Not exactly a usual invitation. Also, I'd decided long ago to never publish pictures of scat & pee I find out in the woods (though I take pictures of the stuff for ID purposes). Doug said once he'd determined the spots weren't from windshield wiper fluid or something else leaking from his cars he'd researched what it else it could be. Turns out the blue stains in the snow were caused by rabbits eating buckthorn bark. (There is a stand of buckthorn on the other side of his driveway.) A phytochemical produced by non-native buckthorn trees passes through the rabbits and is excreted in their urine. The urine is a normal yellowish color but after ten minutes of sunlight exposure turns blue. I did some research too and all sites made mention that rabbits need to be stressed to eat buckthorn bark (some thought it was because the specific phytochemical which causes the blue pee makes buckthorn taste bad to the rabbits). Both Doug and I doubt that since we've had a mild winter so far and there are other food sources readily available in the area. The tale of the blue urine is a pretty cool story so I'm breaking my no-no on scat/pee and posting doo-doo.
My neighbor Mr. Dearhamer called up this week and said he had blue pee spots on his driveway and I might want to come over and take a picture. I hesitated. Not exactly a usual invitation. Also, I'd decided long ago to never publish pictures of scat & pee I find out in the woods (though I take pictures of the stuff for ID purposes). Doug said once he'd determined the spots weren't from windshield wiper fluid or something else leaking from his cars he'd researched what it else it could be. Turns out the blue stains in the snow were caused by rabbits eating buckthorn bark. (There is a stand of buckthorn on the other side of his driveway.) A phytochemical produced by non-native buckthorn trees passes through the rabbits and is excreted in their urine. The urine is a normal yellowish color but after ten minutes of sunlight exposure turns blue. I did some research too and all sites made mention that rabbits need to be stressed to eat buckthorn bark (some thought it was because the specific phytochemical which causes the blue pee makes buckthorn taste bad to the rabbits). Both Doug and I doubt that since we've had a mild winter so far and there are other food sources readily available in the area. The tale of the blue urine is a pretty cool story so I'm breaking my no-no on scat/pee and posting doo-doo.
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