The brush rabbit’s California record, 10,199 sightings across 49 counties, draws a nearly unbroken line down the state’s coastal spine. San Mateo County leads with 1,880 records and Santa Cruz follows with 1,448, with heavy counts in Santa Clara, Monterey, and Marin and a long tail reaching from Humboldt in the north to San Diego at the border.
A rabbit that never leaves cover
Brush rabbits are small, dark cottontails that live their whole lives inside dense, low growth: chaparral, coastal scrub, blackberry tangles, and brushy field edges. Unlike jackrabbits they never dash across open ground; pressed, they slip a few body lengths into the thicket and freeze. That habit shapes where they are found. The Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Point Reyes National Seashore, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, and the Younger Lagoon Reserve all hold thick records on exactly this kind of overgrown edge.
A long, mild breeding season
Along California’s fog-cooled coast the growing season barely pauses, and brush rabbits breed through much of it, raising several small litters in nests hidden under brush. Records build through spring to a May and June crest, when young rabbits are out feeding at the edges of cover in the long evenings, then ease slowly through the dry half of the year without ever going quiet.
Status in California
NatureServe has not ranked the brush rabbit at the state or global level (SNR and GNR), and it is not specifically listed under California’s conservation framework. The species is native to the state, and coastal California holds the heart of its narrow Pacific range.
Full species profile
