Screech owl still hanging around
The screech owl is still hanging out in the owl box each day, dozing in the doorway each morning or alert but relaxed each evening.
It seems comfortable with me walking around below, staying put when I move trash bins or get the mail.
I enjoy watching this beautiful but fierce little bird, which for reference is about the height of an American robin.
Check out those long, curved talons.
The eyes of a screech owl, yellow-green with a black pupil, have a human quality. They’re so different from the eerie, fully black eyes of a barred owl, for example.
What a charmer!
Meanwhile, in a different birdhouse, I spotted another creature peeking out. At first I thought it might be a snake.
Then I realized it was a Texas spiny lizard, watching me watching him. Too funny!
Plants were catching my eye too, including mangaves, peanut cactus, and soap aloes in the terraced bed. It’s been a hot, very dry summer, but these plants soldier on.
Mangave looking silvery blue in the low light of late afternoon
The toothy, tiger-striped leaves of soap aloe are a big part of their appeal.
In the Circle Garden, the little ‘Fire Dragon’ Shantung maple is summer stressed but hanging in there. I hope it’ll get its legs under it this winter and put on some growth next spring or summer. If I’m lucky, maybe it’ll provide fall color next month. One can hope!
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Your Mangaves look happy, Pam – just like the owl and the lizard 🙂
Thanks, Kris. It’s good to see life thriving at the end of a surface-of-the-sun hot summer. Today we got our first real cold front, and I’ve got the windows open again. Ahh, fall.
Wonderful owl photos. So beautiful!
We have Screeches here–we hear them in the night–but I’ve never seen one. My neighbor’s owl box pair successfully fledged FIVE Barn owlets this year–very experienced parents and a delightful lack of rabbit damage in the garden.
Lovely garden shots, too. The beauty of autumn light is a joy (and a relief) after the harsh glare of summer.
Wow, 5 barn owlets is amazing. And no rabbits is even better!
Hope your sweet little screech owl sticks around for the duration! You may have mentioned it already, but when do they mate?
I hope so too. Their nesting season is in late winter, with chicks fledging around Memorial Day.
And, you caught the owl with bedhead too! Fun eye shot with the little lizard peaking out of the birdhouse. Chipmunks moved into one of ours.
Well darn. I hope they provide you with cute entertainment at least. 😉
I love seeing the wildlife attracted to your garden. I have never had a lizard of any sort in my garden.
As dry as it has been around here the past few years I will be looking for plants that will survive through drought. Seeing all of your beautiful plants makes me wonder if some of them would survive here.
I’m sorry to hear you’ve had drought in Indiana, Lisa. It sure takes a toll on garden and gardener alike.