Hilary Bralove is a wildlife photographer who takes some stunning images of wildlife in places like the South Dakota Badlands, the Oregon coast, and Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park. Bralove recently shared photos of one of her “absolute favorite and most challenging subjects to photograph”—the American pika. Bralove didn’t just take photos of pikas, though, she took photos of “flying” pikas carrying tiny bouquets of wildflowers.
The pikas aren’t really flying, of course, they’re leaping from rock to rock. As they do, Bralove expertly captures them mid-air with wildflowers clutched in their mouths. She says the small mammals collect wildflowers and tundra grasses to store in their winter-food stashes. These food stashes help the animals survive harsh winters in the mountains.
“I spend numerous days and hours each summer up high in the Rocky mountains of Colorado, observing and trying to photograph these little speedsters,” Bralove wrote in a Facebook caption.
Check out these little cuties already preparing for winter here:
About American Pikas
The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) says: “Despite their cuddly appearance, American pikas . . . are among North America’s toughest animals. Pikas are one of the few mammals in the lower 48 states that can survive their entire lives in alpine terrain, the windswept no-man’s-land above tree line.”
These small, rodent-like mammals are related to rabbits. They grow to a max of 8 inches in length. You can find American pikas in the high-elevation mountains in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, and New Mexico.
You can follow Bralove on Facebook, Instagram, and Flickr.