Saturday, June 27, 2015

Seasonal Activity Patterns

Sooooo sorry for the sounds of silence.

My Spring filled up with new projects and wide-ranging road trips, and thus severely limited my Intertubes watering hole time.

But it is resulting in fascinating new friends & camera trapping content. And, as usual, more wandering around in amazing California wild lands.

And now it's Summertime, and the living's easy.

Well, getting easier. And more often close to home.

So, how about some cam trap photos?

These pics are from a pilot last Fall that became one of this season's new ongoing studies.

But I expect you'll agree they're well worth the effort. And hopefully the wait.

habitat and setting
The eastern Sierra Nevada habitat and scene

pika on haypile bed in snow
American Pika sleeping on haypile under rock at 11:40pm in snow

pika tending haypile in snow
Doing some haypile tending at 12:27am

pika tending haypile in snow
Chillin' (literally)

pika on haypile bed
Afternoon nap on the 'stack at 2:37pm

pika on haypile

pika on haypile bed
Kicking back at 10:15pm

pika gathering willow
Bringing back willow - a top food

pika on a favorite sunning rock
Enjoying a moment on a fave sunning rock

pika gathering corn lily
Bringing back dried corn lily

pika napping on the haypile
Sleeping on the 'stack at 11:47am

pika dashing to next errand
Off to the next episode

"So much time and so little to do."
"Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it. Thank you!"

- Willy Wonka


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5 comments:

  1. love the flying pika!

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  2. Aw!! It's like looking in a pika's living room window...

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  3. Very nice photos -- interesting little critters. The closest thing we have here in the east is the Allegheny woodrat that occupies similar habitats and has a somewhat similar lifestyle.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Woody. They do have many similarities to woodrats, but also a big difference too - they're rabbits, not rodents, so they can't hibernate.

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  4. The 10:15 pm and 11:47 am shots do look suspiciously like sleeping on the haypile, which is something I've never seen (thank you!), but the 2:37 shot looks like adding some pee to the stack, which is something I see a lot (maybe to recycle nitrogen or to help keep the stack from blowing away--the pee makes leaves stick together). Nice work!!!

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