From last year, a Collared Pika on a cloudy day in the Talkeetna Mountains. I’m back in Alaska again, officially here to “photograph Moose,” but at this point I think we all know it’s just a cover story to spend the rest of the week chasing the perfect pika landscape.
If you want to photograph weasels, there are few places better than a pika colony. Worst case, you’ll get to spend the day with some pikas.
This Ermine (Short-Tailed Weasel) was kind enough to pay me a visit while I waited for some pikas to forage. The Ermine kept them hidden away in their burrows, so I had a fun few minutes photographing it as it popped in and out of the rocks.
Before this trip, I didn’t have any photos of a Collared Pika gathering hay for the winter. When I found this spot where a pika was foraging on the other side of a small ridge, I knew I could get that shot and more: a pika foraging in the scenic landscape of the Talkeetna mountains. Sure enough, the pika eventually appeared on the rock I was watching, and I snapped this shot with clouds descending on the mountains behind.
I wasn’t looking for shorebirds on this beach, but when my main target didn’t show up I took an interest in the turnstones foraging on the beach. The sun was blocked by some cliffs, but when it peeked out and lit up the rocks up the background, the shot came together.
In honor of #fatpikaweek, here’s a Collared Pika looking nice and chonky on top of its favorite rock.
With the shutdown of most ranching in Point Reyes and the removal of part of the Elk fence, the Tule Elk are starting to spread out into areas they hadn’t previously inhabited. That means more room to forage for the Elk, and new vistas for photographers. This bull Elk was rounding up his harem in front of a dramatic cliff-face just as the sun finished setting.
When I sent my wife this photo at the end of my first full day in Katmai she texted back “are you in heaven!?” My answer was simply “yes.”
The effect, of course, was done 100% in camera. It was actually an accident caused by a slight equipment misconfiguration, but when I saw the flare I knew I needed to line the bear up in its path.
Thank you to all the @shoot_small followers who voted for this image in the Anything But Birds mini contest!
From a trip with @sstone_images and @sergiushannan_photography.
A Diademed Sandpiper-Plover pauses from feeding in an alluvial stream.
The Collared Pikas were good to me on my trip to Alaska. Look at this noble rock rabbit!
It’s been five months since I last photographed a Coyote. This one bedded down right near me. And then got up and stretched multiple times. Each time facing away from me. It raised its head when a nearby Coyote howled. And kind of went “meh” before putting its head back down. It didn’t deign to wake up as the sunset slid across some distant cliffs, only giving me this portrait after the sun had done down.
But I got to spend an hour hanging out with a Coyote, so it was a pretty good evening.