We Love The Stars Too Fondly

It’s getting crowded under the Volvo…

Last weekend I saw two lizards soaking up photons from the hot driveway, one of which is (I believe) the legendary Doctor Lizardo, and the other a darker, almost jet black lizard with a missing tail, who I was thinking of calling “Stumpy.” Then earlier this week I saw a third lizard out there, a smaller, light tan colored youngster, along with “Stumpy.”

Today was again a busy day for lizardkind on the hot, hot driveway.

I was going out to get the trash cans when I spotted this guy.

I was quite surprised that he didn’t bolt immediately as I retrieved the rolling trash barrels. My path from the street to the back yard gate goes within a couple of feet of him, and when they’re empty and being dragged across the bumps in the lawn and up onto the driveway, they make a LOT of noise.

Be he was cool – then he sat right there while I went back into the house and got my camera. Perhaps he’s been chatting with Doctor Lizardo who is also not an instant bolter.

His tan color is definitely lighter and more brown than almost all of the other lizards in the yard.

His look reminds me of a soldier in a desert camouflage uniform, so I might call him “Khaki.”

On closer examination of the pictures, I can see some bluish stripes of scales along his back. He also has a black patch behind each of his front legs.

Just before sunset, I was confused by this guy. He was out away from the car, not moving, not running away. My first thought was that he was dead, but then I saw the head moving.

I again went back into the house, got the camera, and found him still there when I came back out. Very odd. And he looked…awkward.

In looking back at the pictures from earlier in the week, it all became clear. He’s not just missing part of his tail – he’s missing his feet and part of his legs on his left side. I didn’t see it earlier, but in the pictures from last weekend, so is the second lizard there.

This is “Stumpy.”

His coloration appears much lighter and more brown in this lighting, where in the sun he appeared quite dark and more black. (Do these lizards have the ability to make short-term changes to their coloration? I didn’t think so, but now I wonder.)

He’s not missing just his tail, but also much of his left-side limbs. That’s got to be a serious survival disadvantage.

Yet, if it’s the same lizard I think it is, he’s the guy that’s been out several times over the winter and dashing to hiding through a crack under the garage door when I get too close. I noticed the tail problem but never the missing feet, so I can’t say if the foot issue is recent or I just never noticed it.

He never moved a muscle except to swing his head around to watch me, even though I was starting to get pretty close. In fact, I got so close that I couldn’t focus the telephoto lens. I was down on my knees about three feet away and stumbled when I tried to scoot back a foot or so. The he turned and took off under the car and down the driveway that I lost sight of him immediately.

I hadn’t at that time noticed his feet, but his almost completely motionless state made me think that he was hurt, right up until he took off like a bat out of Hell. Then when I saw the pictures, I was even more amazed that he could move like that with that physical issue.

I won’t call him “Stumpy.” I’ll call him “Warrior,” because he is!

There had been some minor confusion about the lizards that have been sunning on the driveway underneath the cars. Last year we had seen Doctor Lizardo, who had then lost his tail. Then this year, after they came out of hibernation, there was another, darker lizard there who was missing his tail but really didn’t look like Doctor Lizardo. Then there was a lizard with a re-grown tail that I thought might be Doctor Lizardo.

It was very confusing. It would be so much easier if they would wear the little name tags I made for them.

But this weekend there were two of them out there at the same time, which hasn’t ever happened that I’ve seen, so that’s brought some clarity for me.

This guy was out on the grass instead of on the concrete and brick, which was a trait of Doctor Lizardo. (I’m guessing, but I think it’s for temperature regulation – if it starts to get too hot then they’ll move onto the grass where they’ll rest on top of the blades, getting some air circulation underneath them?)

This guy is darker, almost black, and has no tail, so let’s call him Stumpy. (I say it with admiration, not a belittling attitude. If my tail got chewed off by a cat or bird, I doubt it would grow back any time soon.)

This guy has a full tail…

…where this guy is just starting to grow his back.

One step closer and this guy’s got an eye on me, but he’s holding fast (another trait of Doctor Lizardo)…

…while this guy has had enough of that shit. He didn’t run into the garage (I’ve seen him retreat under the garage door in the past) but he’s not going to stay out in the open. (I was probably still eight or nine feet away at this point, taking pictures with a 300 mm telephoto lens.)

Doctor Lizard lets me get another step closer…

…and another. Now you can see that the tail is regrown since there’s a break in the scale pattern where the new tail grew.

He’ll even let me crouch down to get a close-up. This is probably no more than four feet away. You can see some of the beautiful patterns to his scaling, but none of the brilliant green markings that showed up later last year. I suspect there are some color changes from time to time with the scales, depending on where we are in the mating cycle. Again – guessing.

This dude has moved away from the tire to give us a great view of that tail and his scales, but he’s not going to let me get anywhere even near to closer.

Standing up from a crouch (and potentially falling over and landing on top of him I guess) was a bridge too far. We’ll retreat to under the car and pray that the shocks and suspension are enough so that he won’t get crushed when I fall onto the car. (They will be. I’m not that out of shape post-COVID!)

So, evidence of Doctor Lizardo with a regrown tail, dark brown, beautiful scale patterns, co-existing with Stumpy, much darker, in the process of re-growing his tail. A little bit of clarity.

Of course, today I went out to get the mail, Doctor Lizardo wasn’t there, Stumpy was, and there was a third lizard, a light tan color, about half of Doctor Lizardo’s size. And none of that takes into account the five or six or seven different lizards in the back yard, or the two or three that live on the big tree…

Lots o’ lizards!