Black-tailed Jackrabbit - Preferred Habitat

Preferred Habitat

The black-tailed jackrabbit can occupy a wide range of habitats as long as there is diversity in plant species. It requires mixed grasses, forbs, and shrubs for food, and shrubs or small trees for cover. It prefers moderately open areas without dense understory growth and is seldom found in closed-canopy habitats. For example, in California, black-tailed jackrabbit is plentiful in open chamise (Ademostoma fasciculatum Ceanothus spp.) chaparral interspersed with grasses, but does not occupy closed-canopy chaparral. Similarly, black-tailed jackrabbit occupies clearcuts and early seral coniferous forest, but not closed-canopy coniferous forest.

Black-tailed jackrabbit does not migrate or hibernate during winter; the same habitat is used year-round. There is diurnal movement of 2 to 10 miles (3–16 km) from shrub cover in day to open foraging areas at night. Home range area varies with habitat and habitat quality. Home ranges of 0.4 to 1.2 square miles (1–3 km2) have been reported in big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) and black greasewood (Sarcobatus vermiculatus) communities of northern Utah.

Black-tailed jackrabbit require shrubs or small conifers for hiding, nesting, and thermal cover, and grassy areas for night feeding. A shrub-grassland mosaic or widely spaced shrubs interspersed with herbs provides hiding cover while providing feeding opportunities. Small shrubs do not provide adequate cover. In the Snake River Birds of Prey Study Area in southwestern Idaho, black-tailed jackrabbit was more frequent on sites dominated by big sagebrush or black greasewood than on sites dominated by the smaller shrubs winterfat (Krascheninnikovia lanata) or shadscale (Atriplex confertifolia). Black-tailed jackrabbit does not habitually use a burrow, although it has occasionally been observed using abandoned burrows for escape and thermal cover.