First pika

Posted on June 7, 2014 by Alistair

 

Pikas usually live on alpine scree slopes. I have heard their calls, pee-ka, previous years but before today, I had not seen this relative of the rabbit. Today at an altitude of over 1100 metres, I saw my first pika. Pikas are often considered the epitome of cute.

Pikas are vegetarians

that live among the rocks.

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4 Responses to First pika

  1. D Thorburn says:
    June 8, 2014 at 7:08 am

    Interesting Alistair! I always thought of pikas as being confined to high elevation scree.

    • Alistair says:
      June 8, 2014 at 7:17 am

      Doug, as did I, yet, there it was adjacent to one of the Six-mile Lakes. In exploring the issue, I found this:

      Because pikas can not tolerate the high diurnal temperatures typically associated with lower elevations, they are often considered to be a high-elevation species (up to 3,000-m)…. However, pikas can be found near sea level as well as within mountainous regions.

  2. D Thorburn says:
    June 8, 2014 at 3:32 pm

    I thought an avalanche was blocking the Six mile lakes road. You can still drive up the road?

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