The Riparian Brush Rabbit is a subspecies of the Brush Rabbit that is very common in your area. You also have a related species, the Desert Cottontail. Before the California landscape was so completely altered by dams and irrigation canals, the Great Central Valley was a huge seasonal wetland. Riparian Brush Rabbits were probably quite common from Redding to Bakersfield, and the other (common) Brush Rabbit was more of an upland form. Now the valley is a different place with very little habitat suited to the Riparian Brush Rabbit.