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Pika Kingdom
It’s good to be back in Alaska! There was a storm rolling in, but this Collared Pika was enjoying every bit of summer in the meantime.
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Pikas and Friends in Hatcher Pass
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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Snowy Pika Scene
As I’ve written about a few times, I’m on a quest to photograph an American Pika in its winter habitat: on a snowy rock, with snowy mountain peaks in the background. This is my best version yet.
I had visited this spot a week prior and got some decent shots of pikas in the snow, but didn’t manage a scenic shot. During the week, a late spring storm shut down the mountain passes. After the storm passed, I was third in line to drive Tioga Road up to my favorite pika spot. The storm had started as rain, which melted a lot of the snow off the rocks. However, it left a strong dusting of snow on the surrounding peaks, which had been getting bare the previous week.
The pika was retrieving hay from the talus to munch on while surveying the lake, which gave me opportunities to shift into position for the shot without scaring it off.
I know I can make an even better version of this photo, but that will have to wait for the snow to return in the fall.
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Caracara
A Crested Caracara on a fence post is as much of a Patagonia cliche as a Red-Tailed Hawk on a fence post is here in California. With the fence line leading into foggy mountains, I was pretty happy with my version.
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Standing Tall
This Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel liked to rummage around for flowers and seeds before dashing up onto a high rock to eat while watching for predators, which made it easy to line up this photo with pines in the background.
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Morning Wren
A Cactus Wren pauses in the brief eruption of color preceding a desert sunrise.
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Snowy Wren
I usually associate Rock Wrens with places that are warm year round, but they’re actually found all the way up to 10,000 and as far north as British Columbia. These populations migrate downslope or south for the winter. This one must have just returned to the High Sierra, following the melting snow back to its summer home.
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Emerging
An American Pika emerges from its talus home as it waits for the remaining snow to melt and the summer haying season to begin.
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