Photography
 
The sun was setting in the Absaroka-Beartooth mountains near Cooke City, Montana and the autumn grasses and talus fields were painted in a subtle orange-gold hue.  
 
This adult pika spent much of the summer and fall collecting plant material - her winter rations.  Plants were collected and carried back to her haystack or haypile.  Deep snow accumulated in this high-elevation mountain, and she used the food, stored in her kitchen pantry all winter and foraged for lichen and cushion plants deep under the snow.