Pikas: Cuteness Alert
Finally got around to uploading some photos from a trip to Canada last year.
Of the many animals you can find in the Canadian Rockies the Pika is definitely one of the cutest. They also make good target species for photogs on vacation, presenting enough of a challenge in locating and getting close to, but not as impossible as animals like Moose. I had under 2 weeks in the Rockies between Jasper and Banff, and most mornings involved getting up at 5-6am and getting to a trailhead for first light, a few hours of trekking brings you into the alpine bowls, where the chirping of pikas can be heard to echo distantly. Staring across boulder field your eyes tend to struggle to focus on where the sounds come from. When something does move, more often than not it is aground squirrel (cute but too tame to be interesting wildlife photography).
Pikas will definitely spot you before you spot them. Their first reaction is to freeze so they give no motion clues. If you find them (can take sometime using binoculars) then you need to slowly creep up on them. Very slowly. Over large boulders and loose rocks. Just as they come to significantly fill the frame they will run for cover, so try its time to again. They will re-appear within 15 minutes, so if you get a few meters closer and wait it out you may be in with a chance, but they are clever and have sharp eyes.
The patience pays of though. repeating these early starts and the patient waiting can get you within some tens of meters. On one of the last days this was enough for 300mm lens on a crop body.
The processing is rushed but the RAW files nice and sharp with plenty of details for future PP, almost no cropping. All shot with a D90 and 70-300 VR, a perfect travel and hiking setup for wildlife (some hike were over 8-10 hours, 4-6000 feet of climbing so the 70-300 was about as heavy as I wanted to go, some very visible CA is the only downside, sharpness is as good as my 70-200 2.8)).
They make a wonderful loud squeak, here is a pika squeaking its lungs out:
My GF loves B&W, so I made this one for her
Ground squirrels however are far simpler to photograph, indeed they will come up to you and pester you. Don't leave a backpack with food in it lying around or you will return with holes in it
Enjoy.
Finally got around to uploading some photos from a trip to Canada last year.
Of the many animals you can find in the Canadian Rockies the Pika is definitely one of the cutest. They also make good target species for photogs on vacation, presenting enough of a challenge in locating and getting close to, but not as impossible as animals like Moose. I had under 2 weeks in the Rockies between Jasper and Banff, and most mornings involved getting up at 5-6am and getting to a trailhead for first light, a few hours of trekking brings you into the alpine bowls, where the chirping of pikas can be heard to echo distantly. Staring across boulder field your eyes tend to struggle to focus on where the sounds come from. When something does move, more often than not it is aground squirrel (cute but too tame to be interesting wildlife photography).
Pikas will definitely spot you before you spot them. Their first reaction is to freeze so they give no motion clues. If you find them (can take sometime using binoculars) then you need to slowly creep up on them. Very slowly. Over large boulders and loose rocks. Just as they come to significantly fill the frame they will run for cover, so try its time to again. They will re-appear within 15 minutes, so if you get a few meters closer and wait it out you may be in with a chance, but they are clever and have sharp eyes.
The patience pays of though. repeating these early starts and the patient waiting can get you within some tens of meters. On one of the last days this was enough for 300mm lens on a crop body.
The processing is rushed but the RAW files nice and sharp with plenty of details for future PP, almost no cropping. All shot with a D90 and 70-300 VR, a perfect travel and hiking setup for wildlife (some hike were over 8-10 hours, 4-6000 feet of climbing so the 70-300 was about as heavy as I wanted to go, some very visible CA is the only downside, sharpness is as good as my 70-200 2.8)).
They make a wonderful loud squeak, here is a pika squeaking its lungs out:
My GF loves B&W, so I made this one for her
Ground squirrels however are far simpler to photograph, indeed they will come up to you and pester you. Don't leave a backpack with food in it lying around or you will return with holes in it
Enjoy.
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