"LOOK BEHIND YOU!"

Pika - 7 Photos

Rocky Mountains, Alberta, Canada

"Look behind you!" is probably the most "call-and-response" from the audience in British pantomime. It is often performed during the Christmas period and generally attended by families with young children.

Have found the best way to see Pikas is to track their rapid movements. They do disappear but generally reappear close by. Then it's a matter whether or not they remain stationary for the few seconds it takes for human reflexes & camera focusing to have photography success.

Photo #1 through Photo #3 are some of those moments. Of course, there was some "eeping" accompanying the sightings. Photo #4 is a pop-up of a hay retrieval before heading back to to a den. I suppose a case of "caught in the act".

So I was quite surprised with all the sentry & look-out duty happening, a Pika dashed through the broken rocks & reappeared directly in front, with his/her back towards me (Photo #5 & Photo #6).  Standing there for a few seconds and even turning to look left & right but never looking behind, the Pika eventually bounded away - places to go, harvesting to do, I guess. There were alarms being sounded but not once, did the little fellow "look behind".

As an added point of interest, is Photo #7, a cropped version of Photo #4. In the right of the photograph, just down from the top is a rock with a grayish green lichen that closely resembles a heart. It is touching to think that Nature has adorned her stony walls to reflect the love of Pikas. :) :) 

PHOTO #1

PHOTO #2

PHOTO #3

PHOTO #4

PHOTO #5

PHOTO #6

PHOTO #7