During a break in a trike ride in Maricopa I inspected a bush in a swale. To my great surprise I saw this little owl scamper away and stand quietly where it appears in the photo. It is about 30 feet (9.5 m) away. There is a little-used sidewalk at the top of the embankment and a street beyond that.

As I returned to my trike on the nearby sidewalk, the owl walked to the opening of a drainage pipe in the embankment and just stood there. I photographed it again, but the shadows made that picture less interesting. This was the first time I had seen a burrowing owl (identified from my wildlife book).