In August, I spend a week doing photography in Alaska. The main point of the trip was to photograph bears and wolves in Katmai, but I also spent a few days in the Anchorage area, focusing on Collared Pikas.
I had taken two previous trips to Hatcher Pass. The first one was very early in the season, just as the remaining snow was melting off, so there was no fresh growth for the pikas to gather. The second had been in late autumn, and the pikas hadn’t been doing much foraging either. That meant I was missing a classic shot of a Collared Pika bring plants back to its haypile. My goal for this trip was to get one of those photos.
Of course, I didn’t want just any photo of a Collared Pika carrying food. The goal was to get a scenic shot, showing the pika gather food in its mountain habitat.
Day 1: Foraging Pikas
I was familiar with the area by this point, so it didn’t take too long for the pikas to show off their hay-making skills.
They also had no problem showing off their adorable side.
It took a little while, but I eventually found a spot where a pika would pause on its trip from a foraging spot to its haypile.
Sometimes I’m not the fastest thinker in the field. The pika would just pause briefly on the rock, so it would often be moving by the time I got focus. I was so focused on getting a posed shot of a pika that I didn’t stop to think about what a cool photo an environmental action shot of a pika running with food would be. I even had my shutter speed cranked down to 1/250s get a nice and low noise photo. That meant great shots like this came out blurry!
After watching the pikas for a while in this spot, I went on a bit of a walk to find different compositions. I was really happy with this shot of a Collared Pika with lush green mountains in the background.
Day 2: Pika Friends
After kicking myself a bit over my shutter speed miss on the first day, I headed back to the spot where I’d shot the foraging pika. Unfortunately, the pikas were nowhere to be seen.
I waited for a while and the reason for their shyness became clear when a Short-Tailed Weasel (Ermine) popped out of the rocks!
The weasel was very bold, popping out right at my feet to investigate my backpack. At times, the weasel appeared to be sizing me up to decide whether it could take me down for dinner! Only polar bears have displayed more curiosity about my edibility.
Eventually the weasel moved to a more respectable distance and peered at me from behind a rock. I barely had time to get my camera focused on it before it took off, but I managed to get my favorite shot yet of a weasel.
The pikas were already in hiding by the time the weasel showed up, but the ground squirrels stood up to make their alarm calls, which produced another one of my favorite photos from the trip.
Day 3: Morning Pika
I only had a few hours on my final day before I had to head to the airport. Unfortunately pikas are not typically early risers and the light was gloomy, so I didn’t get much. But, a pika did briefly let me watch it forage before it was time to for me to bid Hatcher Pass farewell once again.
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