It’s been a scorcher this past few weeks at Humblebee Farms. Temperatures have consistently been above 100 degrees. Everyone is feeling the drag. The chickens keep hunkered down below a shrub that we mist throughout the day. The squirrels sprawl out on our concrete porch. The hummingbird even put on a display following our sprinkler back and forth in the one small area of lawn we keep. And the bird baths? They are a war zone. So I probably shouldn’t have been surprised when I stumbled upon the night bather at the end of twilight.

The Night Bather

We already knew we had owls around. We first spotted the little screech owl during our encounter with the egg-eating snake. Later I accidentally scared off a pair at the bird bath when I went out to close up the chicken coop. But last night the little owl didn’t seem to pay any attention to me. Probably because he was just so happy to have a chance to cool down! So I ran back in and grabbed my camera and caught these adorable/ amazing pictures.

Since bath time we’ve seen the owl again – this time with mamma. Our guess is that this little guy is a young’n and that’s why he’s not as afraid as an adult that might know better. Either way, we are excited to see that we have residence owls. They are excellent natural predators for rodents. To encourage them to stick around, we plan on putting up an owl box soon. The previous owner already has a metal pole in place – most likely for the same reason.

Stay cool folks!