Category Archives: Critters

I was walking along the backyard sidewalk and saw something moving down by my feet. I glanced down, saw movement, and managed at the last second to shift my foot so I didn’t come down on top of this dude.

I stopped, I froze, it froze, and I expected the lizard to hit Mach 2 getting away from me. Nope, he just sat there for the longest time. Long enough for me to get out my phone, get it turned on, bring up the camera app, lean over, and snap off a few photos. Still no movement by my lizard pal.

No pushups, no movement, no nothing. But it’s missing most of it’s tail, so things have been tough at some point quite recently.

It occurred to me that its pinhead-sized brain was figuring this was it, the big one, that last fatal mistake. It had zigged when it should have zagged and now that ginormous creature hovering above it just inches away (i.e., me) was going to just devour it in one swell foop. It was just hoping that the finale would be quick and painless.

But what do we say to the god of Death? “Not today!” I wasn’t feeling much like eating live lizards, and I was feeling sorry for this little dude who might the the one I saw last week in this same part of the yard – so I just walked away.

Regrow that tail in peace, live long, and prosper my medium-sized lizard compadre!

It’s been getting warmer and we’ve had several days in a row in the low 80’s. While I’ve seen little skittering motions out of the corner of my eye once or twice while strolling through the back yard, today was the first time this year I got a clear view.

Normally I would expect the first fence lizards of the year to be the teeny, tiny, newly hatched “popcorn” lizards (so named because they’re basically just light snacks for the birds, bigger lizards, and other predators). But this dude was pretty good sized.

One of the “blue bellies,” he didn’t retreat when I spooked him, but started doing push-ups to demonstrate his dominance. I refrained from dropping and giving him twenty-five, although I might be able to do it these days.

Something of a “chonky boi,” I’ll keep an eye out for him and if I spot it before I get close enough to disturb it or make it feel threatened, I can turn and take a different route for my walk. The sun really did feel good, and I want to be a good neighbor and/or host.

He also needs to watch out, the fence he was hiding out against separates our yard from the new neighbors, and in particular, their dog, Blanc. I’m waiting to see if Blanc is into chasing tiny reptiles, but I wouldn’t be surprised, and Blanc might have a different idea regarding the role of good neighbor and/or host.

Aren’t they supposed to land to rest on some surface that sort of matches their coloration?

These two by our front door this morning seem to have gotten it backwards.

Nonetheless, their coloration and detail is beautiful.

Their survival instincts? Perhaps not so much.