Swamp rabbits show up almost entirely in Georgia’s Coastal Plain, in the river-bottom swamps and wet floodplain thickets that give the species its name. Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and the Bond Swamp bottomlands along the Ocmulgee River hold some of the state’s steadiest records, and Banks Lake’s shallow, cypress-studded water is exactly the kind of ground this rabbit favors. It rarely shows up in the drier Piedmont or the mountains further north, so a Georgia sighting is a good clue you’re standing in real wetland.
Locals sometimes call it the “cane cutter,” and for good reason. It feeds heavily on cane, sedges, and other wetland plants, and it’s a genuinely strong swimmer that will slip into flooded timber to escape a predator rather than run across open ground. It builds a simple nest of grass and leaves tucked into a hollow log or a raised mound of vegetation, kept just above the reach of rising water.
Georgia records run year-round, with reports climbing through April, May, and June as the rabbits move around more during the spring breeding season. That rise reflects more sightings, not more rabbits; report volume tracks where people were looking, not the size of the population.
Full species profile
