Description

Sometimes as a photographer, people are going to think you are crazy or weird.

We stopped for a picnic at Medicine Lake in Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada.  It was a beautiful day and there were some nice wildflowers that sparked my photographic interest.  While sitting there having a bite, I heard a high-pitched sound, kind of like a whistle. I looked around for the source of the sound and when I turned I saw something sprinting away from the corner of my eye.  I kept my focus on the point where the little figure disappeared and not a minute later I saw a pika emerging.

To most people it looks like a mouse or a fluffy grey tennis ball. But it’s not only quite different from other rodents, it is also cute as a button.  The rocks we choose to have lunch on was their territory. Because moments after the first one had shown itself a second pika raced out of the hole in the rocks and sprinted to the other side.  The first one stayed on the rock as if on guard to check the surroundings.

By that time I had grabbed my camera with long lens and was trying to photograph these enormously fast little creatures. And if one person grabs a camera in a National Park, suddenly everybody comes running towards you to look what you found.  I got away with some great shots of pika in their habitat displaying some of their characteristic behaviour.  To others I must have looked like an idiot with a long lens because of all the people that came to look, not a single one even tried to photograph them.

Canon 40D, 400mm, 1/400s at f6.3, ISO400

Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada