The suburban setting just above “downtown” Lake Havasu (if Havasu can be said to have a downtown) where the owls hang out in the rather bland park, whose purpose is unclear since there are no facilities at this particular patch of grass and no trees. But it’s obviously suitable enough for the owls. 
I went down to Lake Havasu City, Arizona to run my usual weekly rounds of errands on July 14, 2017 on a baking hot 114 F (46 C) evening. I saw several burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia) standing guard in a small grassy park just past sundown, and took the opportunity to photograph them from my vehicle without disturbing them.
This pair of burrowing owls kept trading places. One would sit low on the ground while the other one stood, and then they would flip. I suspect they might have been taking turns at enjoying a slightly leaky sprinkler head and a small pool of water, but I didn’t actually go look to verify this.
There were 6 or 7 owls hanging out a bit past sunset on the green grass of an irrigated park trying to stay cool. I suspect that they were a family unit, or possibly two families, nesting in nearby vacant patches of desert, or the channel embankments of the many dry washes that run like veins through the Havasu hills and slopes. Burrowing owls eat small rodents, lizards, and insects and use underground nests to shelter and raise their young in. Unlike most owls, burrowing owls are most active during the morning and afternoon daylight hours, not at night. On milder spring or fall days they might be seen all day long, but in summer heat they hide underground where it’s cooler, emerging mainly at sunrise and sunset.
Adult cottontail rabbits are not vulnerable to being preyed upon by the owls, which they are larger than, but I am not sure if a nest of baby bunnies might be a food source for the owls….
This owl was panting to cool off, somewhat similar to what dogs and other animals do. At 114 F, it was very hot on this mid-July evening!
Some of them were holding their wings slightly out and away from their bodies, probably also a heat ventilation behavior.
Burrowing owls have lost a lot of habitat in most of North America (and likely in Central and South America as well) but they are clearly able to adapt to certain suburban situations, perhaps especially in this area where more reliable water and food sources are available than out in the low, hot, and open desert. But in most places the owls are losing ground due to agricultural conversion and other development, making them vulnerable to serious population declines.
Look! Feathery eyelids!
Burrowing owls don’t live in highly urban areas. They need burrows to live in and without those being present in dense population centers then they can’t survive. Plus feral cats and stray dogs would kill them, they can be hit by cars, people could fill in their burrows, etc. I hypothesize that the only reason they are in Havasu is that it’s a small city with larger lots on quarter to full acre parcels with dry washes draining the hills surrounded by vast open desert. They can make a living here specifically, but they aren’t otherwise generally known as frequently-seen urban wildlife, unlike raccoons or even coyotes, for example.
Doing a little preening and plumage maintenance. Like most owls, burrowing owls have extremely flexible neck vertebrae, and can rotate their heads almost 300 degrees very quickly to spot and catch prey, or detect threats to evade.
One Facebook friend reports in a comment on the original post made there on Sept 13, 2017: “In 2007 we took a very long drive from Buenos Aires to Cordoba and out to the foothills of the Andes. We saw abundant numbers of burrowing owls even though there was virtually no natural grassland the whole 100 mile round trip. They have adjusted there to corn and soybeans and other crops. I have no idea if things have changed in ten years but I was happy to see so many back then. Not sure if abundant was the right word but we did see a lot. I may have been influenced by the contrast with their relatively rare status in the states.”
I replied: “As long as there are places for them to have burrows then I suppose they can survive in fairly human-dominated habitats, since they don’t seem to be afraid of people once habituated, and people don’t generally hate and kill them unlike some other creatures. The owls seldom create their own burrows (not very deep and long ones in any case) and need another digging animal to do it for them. If that other animal species (kit foxes, prairie dogs, badgers, etc) is prevalent enough for them to survive as well, then burrowing owls can share the space. But the problem is that so often those other animals are on the despised list and are eliminated, thereby shutting out the owls too. Thanks for the report. It’s interesting to hear that they weren’t extinct down there, although who knows whether they are actually thriving or slowly declining etc. But Argentina is a huge and relatively thinly populated country so there’s probably still quite a decent population down there. I hope.”
One other Facebook friend observes: ” I wish that the name could be changed to burrow owl. They don’t actually make their own burrows or engage in the act of burrowing. They use somebody else’s burrow. Burrow owl.” To which I said, “I was semi thinking along those lines, but hadn’t articulated it that clearly yet. Agreed.”
And one final comment of note from yet a third friend: “There are several owl pairs using burrows in the grassy center of Miami International Airport’s runway complex. Since rabbits are sometimes seen there, I’m guessing they are the burrowers. Apparently noise isn’t an issue.” My response was, “Interesting! They appear to prefer open terrain and to my knowledge don’t thrive or survive in denser vegetation, so an airport kept mowed short is an island of open habitat for them in Florida.”
Long live the burrowing owl! These adorable and expressive little birds deserve our full respect and protection.