Southern California has been baking in a heatwave this weekend.  It was 107 F at my house yesterday and 105 today.  When its that hot, drinking beer in the air conditioning sounds like a much better way to spend an afternoon than being outside.  To still get outside and take some photos, a friend and I went out last night to take pictures of kangaroo rats.

Because we’d had such good luck last time, we decided to try the same spot.  Again, we arrived for sunset.  The fires currently burning have left a lot of smoke in the air, which created a colorful sunset.  I couldn’t find a landscape that captured my interest, so I tried a skyscape instead:

Cotton Candy sunset, August 2009

Once it got dark, we set up, and waited for kangaroo rats to come out.  And out they came!  One individual was particularly cooperative, and we were able to get a number of shots of it:

Stephen’s Kangaroo Rat, August 2009

We set up near its burrow in lawn chairs with our tripods in front of us.  We were able to sit in relative comfort (i.e. ~78 degrees) while we interacted with these wonderful little critters.  About midnight we headed home.

A good night indeed!