Future for Charismatic Pika Not as Daunting as Once Feared

[HassleCat]

3. How to see them

Pikas are residents of high altitude talus slopes. To see them, you can hike up to the alpine meadow elevations and look for a rock slide that has jumbled piles of large rocks. The pikas live in the rocks and harvest grass from the meadows. They store the grass the same way a farmer stores hay in a barn. Well, they don't have baling machinery, so they just make piles of grass. If you sit quietly among the rocks, they will come out and sun themselves or gather grass. When alarmed, the make a "whistle" noise, same as a groundhog.

Some of the national parks and grasslands have good prairie dog towns. My favorite is in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Unit. It's an easy hike, not crowded, and the prairie dogs will come out and look at you. Every once in a while, an eagle or hawk will swoop down, and all the prairie dogs will sound the alarm and dive for cover. There's also a bison herd, and they sometimes walk around near the prairie dog town. And the park is named after our only progressive president.