An inseparable pair of owls...

that I increasingly believe are siblings, based on observing their behavior and listening to their vocalizations. They hang out here together, both in the morning and in the evening, often side-by-side on the same limb, sometimes interacting with each other with their talons. Interesting and amusing.

Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginianus).

Here's your morning owl...

enjoying sunrise on one of its favorite perches above the birdbath.

Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus), appearing a little bleary-eyed after a long night.

Astonishingly tolerant of my nearby activities, this juvenile GHO has hardly moved from its morning perch over period of several hours. I truly enjoy co-existing in the forest with these flying tigers.

The second GHO has now joined the other, perching in the same tree but a little higher, and similarly at ease with my presence. I believe they’re both waiting for me to turn on the sprinkler.

EVENING UPDATE: These two GHOs hung out all day long, and here are a couple of more shots of these big birds.

Note the nictitating membrane moving across the eye, a transparent membrane to protect and moisten the eye while maintaining vision.

Smiling?

This juvenile owl...

is really going to enjoy the water sprayer I’ve configured in the trees today, having watched it hopping around in the sprinkler yesterday like a little kid, wings spread wide. It was 100° F with similar temperatures forecast for today and tomorrow, and what youngster wouldn’t enjoy the water?

Juvenile Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) in the direct morning light, patiently waiting to play in the sprinkler.

Now nearly noon with rapidly warming temperatures, this youngster took refuge in a deeply shaded corner of my shed roof, wondering what time the pool opens.

Success! Happy owls enjoying a cool shower. They’ve both lingered within the spray for several hours throughout the hot afternoon.

Washed, dried and fluffed at the end of another hot day.

My marmot friends...

are increasingly habituated to my morning visits and are consequently pretty relaxed, this one clearly enjoying basking in the early sun despite my close proximity.

Yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris).

Mid-day bonus: A pair of well-camouflaged owls, an adult (L) and a juvenile (R), lurking in the ponderosas near the birdbath on a hot afternoon.

Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus).

Fifty-three years ago today...

humans first landed on the Moon, with Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin being the first men to walk on another body in the solar system. It was only 66 years from Kitty Hawk to Tranquility Base, and now, sadly, 50 years since man last walked on the Moon with Apollo 17.

Apollo 11 Hasselblad photo AS11-40-5875 showing astronaut Buzz Aldrin at Tranquility Base.