ochotona princeps

This is the American Pika (picture is mine (and cropped), taken about five days ago on the ridge north of Soards Creek, BC). It's a lagomorph (rabbit family) that looks like a hamster, and goes "EEEEP!!" rather loudly. They are absolutely hilarious. There were about five in and around the loose rock piles of our last camp kitchen area. They spend the 2.5 summer months collecting grass and essentially curing it into straw by leaving it in a pile in the sun for a day. They then store it all deep in their burrows in the rock falls, and eat it over the winter (surprisingly they don't hibernate). They are amusing because they'll steal each others' piles of grass, and chase each other around, making loud insistent "eeeeep!" sounds.

It turns the quiet mountainside into quite a vibrant community, when there are also the whistling marmots, the screaming birds of prey, the rockfall-causing goats, the chattering ptarmigans, the squeaking ground squirrels, and the cluster of sparrow-like birds that bombed us with rocks.

One particular pika, over the course of a few nights, shredded the spongy foam of my sandals (as they sat in the vestibule of the tent, a few centimetres from my head), presumably for nest insulation material. It also left a lot of little shits on my "doorstep" for me to find each morning as I pulled my boots on. Bastard. I chased it whenever I saw it. It would run under a rock, then as soon as my back was turned it would run out and "eeep" at me. Such insolence. They'd make an amusing pet though, if you could get them to scare the shit out of your guests by "eeping" loudly at them when they least expect it. Your average run-of-the-mill pet hamster, gerbil, rabbit, or rat will not do that.

Any pet with the ability to surprise or shock people is good in my book. So the monkey that dances for you then steals your wallet, parrot that asks for a cracker then tells you to fuck off, or small fake hamster that can ruin your eardrums are all good. Marmots are loud fuckers too, but they're groundhog sized and so not as easy to keep as a pet. They have a shrill whistle that they give when they sense danger, or wish to chat with other marmots (or people pretending to be marmots). It is possible to have a good solid back-and-forth conversation with a marmot for several minutes before one of you gets tired of it.

You can see my video of Matt Callaghan of Arrow Helicopters landing the A-Star helicopter C-FKHG, directly beside me on the mountain, by clicking right about here. Or here. Or even here. But never here. Oh and it appears that google video has ruined the video quality. Bugger.

He always lands directly beside us and our gear, which is mildly distressing if you're not used to it. It's actually much safer that way than him being several metres away, where we'd be in danger of being chopped up if the wind suddenly caught the machine and tipped it sideways. Plus it's faster to load the copter if he's just right there. That's why pilots who aren't comfortable landing right beside us are not preferable. As an aside, it is rather difficult to hold the camera steady when you can't see due to the wind blast, and it's not a video camera by design (i.e. no picture stabilization technology or anything).

bye for now. Some interesting field stories to come, probably. Most interesting how we both escaped a very near call with a falling stone, moving so fast it was invisible. Probably chucked at us by the fucking birds.