With 1,284 records, the eastern cottontail is one of the most thoroughly documented mammals in Rhode Island, and the map reaches every county. Providence and Washington counties carry the largest shares, with Newport and Kent close behind, a spread that mirrors the state’s quilt of yards, old fields, hedgerows, and brushy coastal scrub.
An edge animal in a state of edges
A cottontail needs two things side by side: open ground for grazing on grasses and clover, and dense cover within a quick bound for escape. Rhode Island’s post-agricultural landscape supplies exactly that, mown paths beside thickets, bramble-choked field borders, and low scrub along the coast. Ninigret and Trustom Pond national wildlife refuges hold good records where grassland meets shrub cover, and Beavertail State Park, Nicholas Farm Management Area, and Snake Den State Park each add their own mix of openings and brush.
Present every month of the year
Cottontails do not hibernate, so records run all twelve months, climbing from spring into a strong April through August plateau as several litters a year bring young rabbits out onto the grass. They feed most at dawn and dusk, freezing low inside cover before breaking for it with the flash of white tail that gives the animal its name.
Status in Rhode Island
NatureServe ranks the eastern cottontail S5, Secure, in Rhode Island, and the species is native to the state. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous here. Not every Rhode Island cottontail is this species, though: the much rarer New England cottontail also occurs in the region, and the two look nearly identical in the field.
Full species profile
