Rocky Mountain National Park, CO
It’s Harvest Time for Picas
Picas are traditionally found at high elevations, though I know of a few in the 6000 ft elevations of Wyoming. This group of photos was taken at Rock Cut in Rocky Mountain National Park. The elevation there is over 11,000 feet.
In the summer months, the little critters gather grass and leaves, then take their small bounties to their rocky dens. Some build “haystacks” on the rocks to dry the leaves, but the ones I saw were hiding their harvest inside the rocky caverns.
I spent a good part of a morning with the Picas. It’s relatively easy to photograph them sitting on the rocks, but I wanted to take it a lot farther and try to capture one leaping through the air. It’s not an easy assignment. To say they are extremely fast is a huge understatement!
It’s difficult to locate and follow a running pica as it weaves its way through the bolder fields. I found a Pica that was “consistently” going back and forth across a cople of rocks. Knowing the they often follow the same course, I was able to predict where to focus. Of course they only cross where you want them about 30% of the time! This one was active for a few minutes as I found a good angle. After taking only a few photos, it quit making its rounds and sat atop a rock for close to an hour. I waited it out and the effort paid off.
The sequence of shots above is one of three sets I liked. It took a while to zero in on the settings and technique. I was just hoping she kept harvesting long enough for me to find the magic combination of settings.
The action shots were taken at 1/4000th, F/13, using Auto ISO. With the bright morning sun, the ISO ended up at 3200. I needed the fast shutter speed to stop the action. I needed a little extra depth of field since it didn’t cross in exactly the same spot each time. So, to get the extra depth of field, I stopped the aperture down to F/13. I captured the images using a Sony A1 and a Sigma Sport 60-600mm lens. I set my camera to manual focus mode after focusing on a good crossing spot. When in manual focus mode, the camera can capture up to 30 frames per second. When using a Sigma lens in autofocus mode, the capture rate drops to about half. The Pica passed through my scene at an incredible speed so I had to anticipate the jump and hope it crossed through the right zone!