The air was hot, but rapidly cooling. That’s how desert environments are and it can surprise a person if they’re not used to or expecting it. I had been profusely sweating just an hour before and now I was pulling out my jacket to stave off the chill in the air. This was my favorite time of day in the desert. All of the wildlife that spent the day hiding from the heat would now be emerging to hunt and search for food. A landscape that just moments before appeared dead and desolate would soon be busy with life.

I stepped over some desert wildflowers as I made my way into another shallow alcove in the red rocks. This terrain was filled with these small nooks and crannies, the perfect places to search for both birds and beasts alike. The last few alcoves I had searched had produced plentiful lizards and even some Wood Rats scurrying around in the rocks. Both would make a perfect meal for something bigger, something I knew was out here somewhere. 

This alcove didn’t yield as many results as the previous few. Only a couple of small lizards moved about, mostly darting from one hiding spot to the next. I was about to start back the way I had come when out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a slight abnormality in the rock, a color that shouldn’t be there.

Slowly turning my head in that direction, I found myself staring directly into a large yellow eye, a Great Horned Owl! The Owl was tucked back in a corner of the rocks and positioned at an angle that made it extremely difficult to see. Slowly it began to emerge a little bit more to get a better look at the strange two-legged creature that had entered its domain. I slowly took a few steps back to give the majestic bird room to feel comfortable. Settling down in the rocks, I lifted my camera and photographed this mighty desert hunter as it peered at me from its hidden corner and as it began to survey the surrounding landscape for some potential meal. I stayed with the Owl for time, until finally it focused in on some sight or sound that my inferior senses couldn’t register. It took off silently across the darkening desert landscape and just like that was gone from my view, disappearing into the shadows of the night.