From out the fiery furnace

[altivo]

...there came forth a wind with the force of hellfire itself. Or so it seemed. Heat index 108F and not a breath of air stirring. Thank goodness that the setting sun brings some slight relief. Horses are out in the open again for what little coolness they may find there.

The owls arrived again at dusk, drinking from and playing in the birdbath. This time I quickly switched off the indoor lights so as not to betray my movements and frighten them. I was able to catch one of them in the beam of a flashlight for some length of time, and examine another who sat on a fencepost for quite a while with the aid of binoculars. Though the light was dim, I could make out enough ear tuft to convince myself that they are indeed screech owls (probably young ones born early this spring) and not saw-whet owls. Either is possible here, though the screech owl is more likely. We have heard screech owls fairly often since living here, but this is the first time since spring of 1999 that we have actually sighted the birds themselves. Mice and chipmunks are in great abundance this year, possibly due to a crash in predators. Even feral cats are very scarce this summer, so the little owls should find plenty of suitable prey and we welcome their assistance in keeping these nuisance rodents down.

Comments

[avon_deer]

Do you get high humidity with that heat?

[altivo]

In this part of the country, yes, high heat is normally accompanied by high humidity. The "heat index" is a virtual temperature that is supposed to represent the "feel" of the air on your skin based on actual temperature plus the effect of humidity. Sort of a wind chill in reverse. (And usually there is no wind, which makes it worse.)

We normally get the same heat indexes for a few days in summer, but they come from a lower real temperature and a higher humidity than what we've had the last two weeks. This time the relative humidity has only been around 60-65% but the real temperature has been close to or above 100°F most days. That's more typical of Texas I think. More often we get 80% humidity and real temperatures around 92°F.

[avon_deer]

I hate humidity. We get a lot of it as well. Makes higher temperatures much more uncomfortable.

[altivo]

Indeed. I often say that the reason we need air conditioning is to lower the humidity more than the temperature.