Large Lizard

There are a range of lizard sizes around the place. There’s an alligator lizard that I’ve seen a handful of times that I think lives in the garage – it’s close to two feet long. Probably a cousin of his that showed up in the toilet at the old house a few years ago. These guys I refer to as “Fredzillas,” they’re huge and will get your attention if you stumble across one. They’re harmless.

A size down from the humongous alligator lizards are the full-sized fence lizards. Like this guy.

He was out on the back wall this weekend, at the same time I was taking pictures of one of the “small” lizards. (I shared those pictures yesterday.) If yesterday’s lizard was a small, this guy’s a large. Tomorrow I’ll share pictures of a medium-sized lizard who popped up onto this same wall a couple feet away.

This big guy was well aware that I was there, but as long as I stayed five or six feet away and didn’t make any sudden moves, he was okay.

Then the medium-sized lizard showed up and the big guy went into his territorial display. When he did, lo and behold! His bright blue underbelly showed up. He puffed up his belly to display, got up on all four legs as tall as he could, and puffed up his chin.

Then he started doing “push ups.” I’ve talked about how I’ve seen this from time to time, but I don’t think I’ve ever photographed it. To see it, first save this photo, or load it into a photo viewer…

…then do the same for this one. Now flip back and forth between them quickly. Up! Down! Up! Down!

The medium-sized lizard charged at him, but then chickened out and scurried off of the wooden beam, onto the dirt, around this guy, then back up onto the beam on the other side about ten feet away. I guess that’s a win?

Then, after settling for a minute or two in the shade of this flowering plant, I had to move to see him. Between me moving and the smaller lizard just annoying him, he took off.

He chased the medium-sized lizard off of the wooden beam and over the side, then took one final opportunity to turn around, do a couple of push ups, and glare at me.

SORRY!!