This blog post is coming rather late, which is better than never. During the second week of August April and I were camping at Emerald lake, in the Hyalite range. The turquois blue lake teams with fish, while the surrounding 270 degrees of talus fields hold dozens of pikas. Over twenty years ago Dr. Chris Ray of Colorado University at Boulder choose it as her study site for her pika research due to the relatively undisturbed nature, abundance of pikas and ease of access in the area. This summer I had the opportunity to join April and Dr. Ray as they continued there ongoing field work above Emerald Lake.
During that second week in August, April and I assisted Dr. Ray in her intensive trapping and data collection. Dr. Ray resides outside of Boulder, CO. but has been traveling to the Bozeman area for over two decades, to finish her PhD, and now to collect information for a long-term comparative study. Shortly after camp was set up we headed to the talus fields. On that first Monday evening we meticulously scanned a section of the talus field for both previously tagged (marked by color coordinated ear tags) and untagged pikas. Spotting tagged pikas we were able to start taking data on winter survival rates. Locating an untagged pika and its hay pile gave us a start for the next days work, trapping. Tuesday morning we set out to the same talus fields that had been surveyed the day before in order to set our twenty-four traps. In order to coax a pika into the have-a-heart style traps they must be carefully camouflaged, baited with wildflowers, forbs and shrubs. It is also important to protect the trapped pika from predators such as weasels, and dangers like the mid afternoon sun. Setting the traps is a time consuming practice that takes just over half the day with the second half of the day being spent checking the traps for trapped pika. Our traps did not catch any pikas that first afternoon, but Chris decided she would continue her work, after dinner, in the rain. Around 8pm, with rain and lighting battering the wide valley, we received a call from an excited and weary Chris. She had finally trapped a pika and was looking for help in handling it.
Myself and another field assistant met Chris and the pika she had trapped under a stand of trees, out of the worst of the weather. Despite the poor conditions Chris cut no corners. She walked me through the meticulous process of first anesthetizing the pika, then collecting data. Once the pika has been anesthetized it is tagged and sexed. If the anesthesia allows blood and other samples are taken, before it is released back into the same location from which it came. The next four days were spent trapping and tagging pikas, an exciting process, yet not as dramatic as that first night in the rain.
During the rest of the week we were able to trap eight pikas from both sides of the canyon. Next year Chris and April will be back to check on pika survival and hopefully trap more pikas for the long-term study.
During that second week in August, April and I assisted Dr. Ray in her intensive trapping and data collection. Dr. Ray resides outside of Boulder, CO. but has been traveling to the Bozeman area for over two decades, to finish her PhD, and now to collect information for a long-term comparative study. Shortly after camp was set up we headed to the talus fields. On that first Monday evening we meticulously scanned a section of the talus field for both previously tagged (marked by color coordinated ear tags) and untagged pikas. Spotting tagged pikas we were able to start taking data on winter survival rates. Locating an untagged pika and its hay pile gave us a start for the next days work, trapping. Tuesday morning we set out to the same talus fields that had been surveyed the day before in order to set our twenty-four traps. In order to coax a pika into the have-a-heart style traps they must be carefully camouflaged, baited with wildflowers, forbs and shrubs. It is also important to protect the trapped pika from predators such as weasels, and dangers like the mid afternoon sun. Setting the traps is a time consuming practice that takes just over half the day with the second half of the day being spent checking the traps for trapped pika. Our traps did not catch any pikas that first afternoon, but Chris decided she would continue her work, after dinner, in the rain. Around 8pm, with rain and lighting battering the wide valley, we received a call from an excited and weary Chris. She had finally trapped a pika and was looking for help in handling it.
Myself and another field assistant met Chris and the pika she had trapped under a stand of trees, out of the worst of the weather. Despite the poor conditions Chris cut no corners. She walked me through the meticulous process of first anesthetizing the pika, then collecting data. Once the pika has been anesthetized it is tagged and sexed. If the anesthesia allows blood and other samples are taken, before it is released back into the same location from which it came. The next four days were spent trapping and tagging pikas, an exciting process, yet not as dramatic as that first night in the rain.
During the rest of the week we were able to trap eight pikas from both sides of the canyon. Next year Chris and April will be back to check on pika survival and hopefully trap more pikas for the long-term study.
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