{"id":1085,"date":"2012-09-01T10:40:47","date_gmt":"2012-09-01T16:40:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/invertedsky.net\/?p=1085"},"modified":"2012-09-01T22:35:36","modified_gmt":"2012-09-02T04:35:36","slug":"pop-goes-the-weasel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/invertedsky.net\/?p=1085","title":{"rendered":"Pop goes the weasel"},"content":{"rendered":"

I took a hike to one of my favorite alpine tundra areas.\u00a0 The area doesn’t have an official name, but it is within the boundaries of the Indian Peaks Wilderness area.\u00a0 Looking east from this unnamed 12,000 foot mountain top, the smoke from the wildfires in western Nebraska helps to differentiate the different layers<\/em> of the mountain view.\u00a0 Normally it’s just a mass of forest and one ridge is difficult to discern from another.<\/p>\n

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(Click for larger on all photos)<\/p>\n

In the mountains, the season is transitioning from summer to fall.\u00a0 The aspen leaves in some areas are already in full autumn colors. It seems a week or two early. Many of the small plants in the tundra are turning rust color as well.<\/p>\n

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Only a few small dirty snowfields remain on the high peaks.<\/p><\/div>\n

Usually by mid-September, these high peaks and ridges will have had several dustings of snow.<\/p>\n

As I sat on the mountain top eating a snack, I kept my camera ready for getting a good shot of a pika.\u00a0 In spite of years trying, I’ve never gotten a good shot.\u00a0 In this case, I didn’t have right lens with me.<\/p>\n

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Pika<\/p><\/div>\n

Pikas are small members of the rabbit family and make their homes in under the boulders and rocky areas above treeline.<\/p>\n

I caught something out of the corner of my eye, right below where I was sitting.<\/p>\n

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Long-tailed weasel<\/p><\/div>\n

This little guy, not including his tail, is about 8 – 10 inches long.\u00a0 His tail is about 6 inches long.\u00a0 I’ve never experienced a weasel this curious before.\u00a0 I’m glad I had my camera ready.<\/p>\n

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Long-tailed weasel<\/p><\/div>\n

This guy was very agile.\u00a0 He’d pop his head up for a second or two, then disappear into the boulders, and unexpectedly pop up again in a different place.\u00a0 It was entertaining to me to guess where he would show up next.\u00a0 For a moment I thought there were two of them because one moment he’d be on one side of me, a few seconds later, the other side.<\/p>\n

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Long-tailed weasel<\/p><\/div>\n

I’m grateful for auto-focus technology in cameras.\u00a0 I never would have gotten any photos otherwise.<\/p>\n

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Here you can see the black tipped tail of the weasel.<\/p><\/div>\n

In the winter time, they turn all white except for the tip of the tail. Two winters ago, I saw a white short-tailed weasel bobbing through the snow with a vole in its mouth.\u00a0 The short-tailed weasel in winter is also called an ermine.<\/p>\n

This weasel was probably hunting the pikas that were nearby.<\/p>\n

While I was hoping to get a good shot of a pika, I came away with some good shots of a weasel instead.\u00a0 It was a gorgeous day up on the tundra, and so rare that the wind was dead calm at that elevation.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I took a hike to one of my favorite alpine tundra areas.\u00a0 The area doesn’t have an official name, but it is within the boundaries of the Indian Peaks Wilderness area.\u00a0 Looking east from this unnamed 12,000 foot mountain top, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[147,87,146,145,121],"class_list":["post-1085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photography","tag-indian-peaks-wilderness","tag-mountain-top","tag-pika","tag-weasel","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/invertedsky.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/invertedsky.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/invertedsky.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invertedsky.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invertedsky.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1085"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/invertedsky.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1097,"href":"https:\/\/invertedsky.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085\/revisions\/1097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/invertedsky.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invertedsky.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invertedsky.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}