Pikas

The pika is a small mammal, with short limbs, rounded ears, and short tail. It is also known as the "whistling hare" due to its high-pitched alarm call when diving into its burrow. The name "pika" appears to be derived from the Tungus piika.

Habitat

Pikas are native to cold climates, mostly in Asia, North America and parts of eastern Europe. Most species live on rocky mountain sides, where there are numerous crevices to shelter in, although some also construct crude burrows. A few burrowing species are instead native to open steppe land. In the mountains of Eurasia, pikas often share their burrows with snowfinches, which build their nests there.

Activity

Vegetation pile, drying on rocks for subsequent storage. Gad Valley, Snowbird Ski Resort, Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah

American pika with mouthful of dried grass. Sequoia National Park, CA

Pikas are diurnal or crepuscular, with higher altitude species generally being more active during the daytime. They show their peak activity before the winter season. Pikas do not hibernate, so they rely on collected hay for warm bedding and food. Pikas gather fresh grasses and lay them in stacks to dry. Once the grasses dry out, the pikas take this hay back to the burrows for storage. It is not uncommon for pikas to steal hay from others; the resulting disputes are usually exploited by neighboring predators like ferrets and large birds.

Eurasian pikas commonly live in family groups and share duties of gathering food and keeping watch. At least some species are territorial. North American pikas (O. princeps and O. collaris) are asocial, leading solitary lives outside the breeding season.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pika

Pika photos

"More than a Mouthful by Larsthrows

"More than a Mouthful Too! by Larsthrows

"Ochotona thibetana,Tibetan Pika by reurinkjan

Pika - Stanley Glacier Trail by Jimbo1239

Pika by these are only words

Up Close and Personal with a Pika

Collared Pika at Denali National Park by Critter Seeker

Quintessential "cute" - The pika by oldmantravels

Adorable rock rabbit, the pika. by oldmantravels

Crews spot a Pika by WSDOT

Pika by Sandra Leidholdt

Pika near Medicine Lake by Patrick Berden

Pika by MikeManning

Tango Anyone?? by Badgerdx

Pika by Colorado Sands

Pika by wild prairie man

Pika by gainesp2003

Pika under a Blue Sky by Colorado Sands

A Sweet Little Pika by Colorado Sands

Pikas videos

Fragment from BBC's Attenborough Explores Our Fragile World about Pikas. 

"A relative of the rabbit, the collared pika sounds much like a squeak toy when it calls out. Taken at Denali National Park in Alaska."

Images via Flickr

Move, Eat, Learn

3 guys in 44 days turned 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food into 3 beautiful and compelling short films.

Rick Mereki : Director, producer, additional camera and editing
Tim White : DOP, producer, primary editing, sound
Andrew Lees : Actor, mover, groover

‪Amazing Time-Lapse of Phoenix Dust Storm‬‏

via youtube.com

These amazing pictures were shot by two photographers - Mike Olbinski and Blaine Coury - in Arizona. These time-lapse videos show a wall of dust moving through the city of Phoenix in Arizona. Sandstorms like this happen during the region's monsoon season, which is underway. They occur over desert land and can reach thousands of feet into the air, spurred by strong winds. The dense cloud dramatically reduced visibility, grounding flights at a major airport and leaving thousands without electricity. PS A haboob is a type of intense sandstorm commonly observed in arid regions throughout the world.

Video source: http://www.mikeolbinski.com/ and http://www.krazywake.com/

Daybreak Photography

Photographs from around the world capturing the beauty of dawn.

Rangitoto @ Dawn by Chris Gin

Cannon Beach at Dawn by akameus ( Randy Kosek )

HDR Dawn at the Old Cisterna - Virtual Tour Panorama by Giuseppe Parisi

Bay Bridge Sunrise by MumbleyJoe (Tyler)

Kaval, Serbia by Radonich Aleksandra

Ocean beach fog bank sunrise by louie imaging

Before Dawn by NatashaP

Before the Sunrise by Xindaan

Over the sky by Garry

Baltic Sunrise by Xindaan

Misty Water in the Morning by Xindaan

Sunday morning sunrise... by ouldm01

Fresh! by Siebe

Photos from Flickr

Waterspout 'tornado' in Australia

Dramatic footage filmed from a helicopter by Australia's Channel 7 shows a series of powerful waterspouts near the coastal suburb of Terrigal, on Australia's New South Wales coast. Several powerful columns of swirling air could be seen blasting along the water's surface near the coastline. Channel 7 claimed the spouts reached heights of up to 600 metres (nearly two thousand feet), but dissipated as they neared land. The natural wonders came as strong winds and heavy rain also lashed other parts of the state, causing flash flooding and traffic chaos in Sydney.
-RT

The Arctic Light - Breathtaking Time-Lapse HD Video Captures Northern Phenomenon

"This was filmed between 29th April and 10th May 2011 in the Arctic, on
the archipelago Lofoten in Norway.

My favorite natural phenomenon is one I do not even know the name of, even after talking to meteorologists and astrophysicists I am none the wiser.What I am talking about I have decided to call The Arctic Light and it is a natural phenomenon occurring 2-4 weeks before you can see the Midnight Sun.

The Sunset and Sunrise are connected in one magnificent show of color and light lasting from 8 to 12 hours. The sun is barely going below the horizon before coming up again. This is the most colorful light that I know, and the main reason I have been going up there for the last 4 years, at the exact
same time of year, to photograph. Based on previous experience, I knew this was going to be a very
difficult trip. Having lost a couple of cameras and some other equipment up there before, it was crucial to bring an extra set of everything. I also made sure I had plenty of time in case something went wrong.
If you can imagine roping down mountain cliffs, or jumping around on slippery rocks covered in seaweed with 2 tripods, a rail, a controller, camera, lenses, filters and rigging for 4-5 hour long sequences at a time, and then having to calculate the rise and fall of the tides in order to capture the essence - it all prved bit of a challenge.

And almost as if planned, the trip would turn out to become very difficult indeed. I had numerous setbacks including: airline lost my luggage, struggling to swim ashore after falling into the Arctic sea: twice, breaking lenses, filters, tripod, computer, losing the whole dolly rig and controller into the sea, and even falling off a rather tall rock and ending up in the hospital. As much as I wanted to give up, the best way Out is
always “Through”. I am glad I stuck it through though because there were some amazing sunrises waiting."

via TSO Photography, on vimeo

The Mountain (Timelapse Video)

"This was filmed between 4th and 11th April 2011. I had the pleasure of visiting El Teide. Spain´s highest mountain @(3718m) is one of the best places in the world to photograph the stars and is also the location of Teide Observatories, considered to be one of the world´s best observatories.

The goal was to capture the beautiful Milky Way galaxy along with one of the most amazing mountains I know El Teide. I have to say this was one of the most exhausting trips I have done. There was a lot of hiking at high altitudes and probably less than 10 hours of sleep in total for the whole week. Having been here 10-11 times before I had a long list of must-see locations I wanted to capture for this movie, but I am still not 100% used to carrying around so much gear required for time-lapse movies.

A large sandstorm hit the Sahara Desert on the 9th April (bit.ly/​g3tsDW) and at approx 3am in the night the sandstorm hit me, making it nearly impossible to see the sky with my own eyes.

Interestingly enough my camera was set for a 5 hour sequence of the milky way during this time and I was sure my whole scene was ruined. To my surprise, my camera had managed to capture the sandstorm which was backlit by Grand Canary Island making it look like golden clouds. The Milky Way was shining through the clouds, making the stars sparkle in an interesting way."

via TSO Photography, on vimeo

Tulips Kingdom of the Netherlands

Spring in Netherlands is especially beautiful thanks to millions of tulips that are grown every year and enjoyed by people around the world.

Photo credits: gajkens, on fotki.yandex

Video impression from the tulips fields nearby Voorhout, The Netherlands, HD 1080p (tulips "Temple of Beauty"), Music: Piano Sonata No.16 in C major ("Sonata semplice"), K. 545, Allegro, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.