The eastern cottontail is not a Washington native, but with 7,857 records it is one of the most documented mammals in the state. The great majority come from the settled lowlands west of the Cascades, with King County alone contributing 4,601, a map of suburbs, farmland edges, and coastal parks rather than wild country.
An Easterner that followed settlement
Eastern cottontails were released in the Pacific Northwest in the early twentieth century and spread through exactly the habitat people create: brushy fencerows, overgrown field corners, yards, and park edges. Washington’s records bear that out, running through Deception Pass, Dash Point, Lake Sammamish, and Fort Worden state parks, Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve, and the San Juan Islands, then thinning quickly where the lowland gives way to unbroken forest.
A spring and summer flush of young
Cottontails do not hibernate, and they breed from late winter into summer, raising several litters a year in shallow nests tucked into ground cover. Washington’s counts rise steeply from April through July, when females are foraging hard and inexperienced young rabbits sit conspicuously in open grass, then settle back as the year winds down.
Status in Washington
NatureServe flags the eastern cottontail as exotic in Washington and assigns it SNA, Not Applicable, because the species lies outside its native range here. Globally it remains G5, secure across its native eastern North America.
Full species profile
