Pikas live in talus, usually near the treeline.
The talus visited two days ago was near neither road nor trail. The pikas that lived there would likely be unfamiliar with humans, as even access from below was impeded by a bog.
However, a pika saw a human that day, and after consideration, it issued an alarm of “eep”. Consequently, all the pikas vanished into the talus. But, for how long?
A pika is a herbivore that is hunted by coyotes, bobcats, weasels, and raptors, none of which look or move like a lumbering human. Is this new interloper a predator? This pika was low on the talus, seemingly positioned to guard the approach. To assess the danger, the pika popped up at various places around the interloper. As the pika is prey, it has eyes on the sides of its head to give it a wide field of view. It is watching sideways.
The pika took its time before adopting the route of caution. Here it is facing its colleagues on the upper portion of the talus and crying, “eep”. It and all other pikas then vanished among the rocks.
Nothing stirred for about twenty minutes, but then, assuming that danger had passed, a few pikas emerged and began foraging among the rocks for lichen.
Some adventurous ones even left the talus to forage for greens on adjacent slopes. Despite their rather large ears, these pikas did not seem aware of the incessant camera clicks.
“Eep, I told you, eep! Do you want to end up being gawked at on someone’s blog? Shame on you!”
Dead Duck Day
A month ago, I posted a story, Mallard’s #metoo, about the gang rape of a mommy mallard. At the time, I did not relate my observations to a TED Talk, How a dead duck changed my life, I had watched some years earlier. But, the two events came together, today, on Dead Duck Day.
The Mallard has been characterized as the ubiqui-duck. Observing one does not come close to constituting an exciting sighting. Birders hardly find it worthy of much mention.
So, how did today, June 5th, come to be known as Dead Duck Day — a day which honours a mallard in Holland that died while being accosted? It is now a day when mallard fans gather at restaurants and feast on duck.
The story is told at Today I Found Out, but the circumstances prompting it turns out to be the proclivity towards rape by the male Mallard.
So, my posting, the TED talk, and the article about Dead Duck Day, all came together.
A scene from my posting about mallard rape.
