Really bored today so this evening I decided to drive up to Laurance Lake for pika watching. I heard several beeps reverberating off the boulders across the lake as I headed to the reliable viewing spot. Sure enough one showed up. Fun fact: pikas cut grasses and other foliage and store it in large piles in the sun to cure it. Once dried, these hay piles are stored amongst the rocks and are the primary food source in the winter.

From Audubon's field guide:
The naturalist Thomas Nuttall, who described the call as "a slender, but very distinct bleat, so like that of a young kid or goat," was astonished when "the mountains brought forth nothing much larger than a mouse."

Christopher Pike's Fall Into Darkness is on USA!