Old Friends and New

(July 26th) For the evening, I decided to hit up the valley/river area where I had seen the Hoary Marmots earlier. Try as I might, they were nowhere to be found. However the American Pikas that I had seen before were there in small numbers and good light. These little creatures are balls of energy and also quite loud. They gave me some great postures and behaviors as I watched them.

Pikas are quite amazing creatures. I've photographed them before, but always get a kick out of them. They're not rodents like mice and squirrels, but are more closely related to rabbits and elephants. They only live in rocky alpine areas that have some of the harshest conditions around. Yet despite the extreme cold they face in winter months, they never hibernate. Instead they store food from the warm months for feeding all year long. If only your dog knew how to do that!

I worked the pikas for quite a while getting some nice shots. But the area was close to a scenic vantage point and a lake and as the sun began to lower many people showed up. Since the pika location was quite near the trail and lake, very soon the people scared these brave little creatures back into the rocks. So I headed back out of the valley amd ran into an elk who barely acknowledged my presence while he was eating dinner.

Coyotes are an animal that I was dying to photograph on this trip. I had seen several, but no chance at a photo so far. I saw a gorgeous specimen in near perfect light cross the road as I was driving and immediately stopped the car and ran out into the fields and woods after it. The coyote immediately knew I was around. It didn't seem afraid of me and never ran, but it wanted to keep distance walking away from me at a the pace of a brisk walk for me. I followed it for about 1.5 miles as it did all sorts of tricks - cutting back when it crossed a ridge and was out of site, heading through brush, and finally losing me in some dense bushes. In the thrill of it, I didn't realize till I got back to the car that I had taken my teleconverter off since the elk was so close earlier and forgot to replace it. I didn't get the perfect shot I was hoping for, but I can't describe how much fun and excitement it was just to be in the fields with it.