What YOU lookin' at?

This poor old Desert Spiny Lizard was not impressed with me. He had taken up residence in a hole underneath our front stoop and every time I came outside he would be relaxing in the entrance to his hole, see me coming and go rushing back underground. I appologised and explained that I needed to go in and out of my front door from time to time. I then settled to sit and drink my tea and he made his way over to a nearby agave and scowled at me!

The Lizard Tree

I spend endless hours looking at and watching everything in nature, it never fails to thrill me how everything has a reason and a place. Like a vulnerable little lizard that blends so perfectly with the bark that the potential predator will pass right by.

The Man

This splendid fellow was doing his push-ups on a rock outside our bedroom window and he was looking so splendid I just had to take his picture. How could we fail to be impressed?

The Big Reveal

As with pretty much everything in the desert, it is very spikey

All the way down to the tips of its toes

It is a rather sleepy Desert Spiny Lizard, lounging in the afternoon sun.

Say Cheese!

You know I have a great fondness for herps and way up on the list is the enigmatic Desert Spiny Lizard. This big one was enjoying some warm early morning sun when I intruded on his personal time for a photo. What do you think he's saying?

A Personal Favourite

You may have realised by now that I love Herps. They are not to everyone's taste I know but I really enjoy having them around and there is one particular species that is a personal favourite.
The Desert Spiny Lizard was the first close reptilian encounter I had when we first moved in. We had a group of people working to clear all the Buffle Grass that had taken over our land. It was a chilly winter morning. The grass was being bundled into bins before being put onto a trailer. I walked past an empty bin and saw a pair of eyes looking up at me. One of the guys had found a lizard and put it in a bin! I wasn't sure what his long term plan was for the lizard but I didn't want it kidnapped lizardnapped so I asked if I could move it. The lizard was cold and so very sluggish so it tolerated me lifting it out of the bin and carrying it to a warm sheltered spot to thaw.

 Ever since that day I have been smitten! This one lives outside our bedroom and each morning is perched on the same rock, catching the warming rays of the rising sun.

And this one hangs out by our kitchen window. He has a favourite tree where he rests up during the heat of the day.

And this wily character sits under the outside light at the front of the house and feeds on the insects that come to the light.

I love my scaly neighbours.

Nature Notes hosted by Michelle at Rambling Woods. 

There Be Dragons

As well as the prodigious number of saguaro blossoms that I mentioned in my last post, this seems to be a great spring for lizards too. We always see lizards draped about on various rocks absorbing the heat they need to put a spring in their step but over the past few weeks it seems there are lizards everywhere, to the point where we have to be careful where we tread.

As you know, I am a great fan of the much maligned reptile group so I am most happy to welcome these scaly characters into our yard. Especially when they are as spectacularly colourful as this particular individual.

Clearly he was quite aware of just how splendid he looked as he, very obligingly, allowed me to photograph him from numerous angles. For all you lady Desert Spiny Lizards out there, this could be the man for you!!

The Best of 2011

The whole point of this blog was to only photograph flora and fauna that ventured onto our land and despite a number of temptations I have stuck to it. To close up the year I have picked out one or two favourites from the last twelve months.
To start the ball rolling we will do Reptiles, this was a tough one but in the end I had to go with this glorious male Desert Spiny Lizard that I spotted sleeping in a tree one night during the monsoons.


A natural progression from here of course is to Amphibians, something I really didn't expect to find in the middle of the desert but again the rains provided and the monster that turned up in our yard was truly impressive - A Sonoran Desert Toad.


Next the Mammals and, despite some serious and far bigger competition, there could really be only one - my favourite cheeky little visitor, the Antelope Ground Squirrel :)


And on to Birds (sorry no fish!) Again I have gone for attitude rather than scale and so the 'mighty' Broadbilled Hummingbird is the avian representative.


The Invertebrate lovers amongst us will cry foul but I am not going to do a representative from every group, two stars will suffice, for colour the Flame Skimmer is my choice.


And for grand scale the somewhat daunting Arizona Blonde Tarantula


I couldn't possibly do a 'best of' without some Cactus representation and the king of them all is the mighty saguaro. Rather than the classic arms akimbo shot I went for something a little more intimate


I love photographing cacti when the sun is sinking, the soft light against the severity of the spines is such a great contrast and none highlight that better than the fearsome cholla


So animal, vegetable or mineral (they are all gems after all!) these are some of my favourite sights from 2011.
Happy New Year everyone.

Sleeping Beauty

Whilst wandering around the yard in the evening, I spotted this magnificent Desert Spiny Lizard sleeping safely wedged in the branches of a mesquite.

Say Hello to My Little Friend.

Extra chilly mornings allow me to take liberties with some of my neighbours, very gently of course. And when the photo op is over I place him in the sun to warm-up and I stand guard so that no predators grab him until he is warmed through and he scuttles away into cover.

Too cool to run

This gorgeous Desert Spiny Lizard was feeling too chilly to run away which gave me the perfect photo 'op'.