2023 Summer Road Trip: Oliver Lee Memorial State Park: A Morning Visitor

 

2023.0805 Lizard visitor at my Oliver Lee Memorial State Park campsite. Alamogordo, New Mexico. Credit: Mzuriana.

 

I surely do love lizards. 

They are always welcome at my campsite.

The book, by the way, sucked. My God, 'twas a murderous bore. I cannot fathom why I read it to the end. I warned the campground host, to whom I offered it, that he cannot give it back to me no matter what. I warned him: It's no good. I made an ethical disclosure, in other words, respecting his right to self-determination in making a decision he might regret.

Other lizards I have loved: 

 

 

#30

 

Birmingham, AL: Update on That Lizard in a Mailbox

 

Lizard shedding (molting), Birmingham, Alabama. December 2020.

 

 

Hello there, little one! You're in a doorway today! Nice to see you again.

 

Lizard shedding (molting), Birmingham, Alabama. December 2020.

 

What's this? A crack in your tail? Did something happen? I didn't close the storm door on you, did I? 

 

Ohhhh, you're molting! That explains the gray collar in the mailbox photos!  

Hmm, but now I'm thinking there are two of you. Mailbox lizard who had completely molted except for the collar, and doorway lizard who had completely molted except for the tail.

 

Lizard shedding (molting), Birmingham, Alabama. December 2020.

I don't think I knew lizards molted. Snakes, yes. 

An informational video here. 

 

Birmingham, AL: Lizard in a Mailbox

 

Lizard in a mailbox, Birmingham, Alabama. November 2020.

The title says it all. 

Lizard in a mailbox, Birmingham, Alabama. November 2020.

Lizard in a mailbox, Birmingham, Alabama. November 2020.

Lizard in a mailbox, Birmingham, Alabama. November 2020.

Lizard in a mailbox, Birmingham, Alabama. November 2020.

Back to Texas: COVID-19 Unfolding, Part 888: My Site Mates

 

 

 Notwithstanding COVID, I was not alone in my campsite. Strangers pushed into my corona bubble. 

The night before my departure from Lake Livingston State Park, as I sat outside in the gloaming, I felt-heard a small rustling beneath my chair. Discounted it. Then I heard it again. Pulled out my phone and hit the flashlight feature. Who - what - goes there? I panned the leafy floor. 

A frog. 

 

 

The next morning, as I broke camp, other site mates revealed themselves. 

Tucked into the space between my tent roof and the rain fly, a walking stick.  

Gripping the side of my colorful tablecloth - a sentimental artifact from the road trip my daughter and I took to Alaska when she was 16 - a green lizard. 

 

Neither the walking stick nor the lizard gave me any mind. 

 

Tucson, AZ: Year of the Lizard

Lizard eating insect. Opelousas, Louisiana. April 2015.

I like lizards. Even their name: Lizard.

Lizard looking for love. Opelousas, Louisiana. April 2015.

In places past, I collected: 

• Pink houses
• Crawfish
• Sonic booms
• Tarantulas

Side-splotched lizard. El Paso, Texas. August 2016.

Tucson will be the year of the lizard.

Lizard, Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. May 2019.

Lizard art. Tucson, Arizona. March 2019.

Compendia of lizards in these here parts:

• From Saguaro National Park
• From Reptiles of Arizona
• From iNaturalist

Lizard art. Desert Diamond Casino. Sahuarita, Arizona. May 2019.

Below is a slide show of my cumulative lizard collection, so it will grow as my time in Arizona grows. Mostly from Arizona, but some from other places.

Do dinosaurs count as lizards? I'll have to think about that.

Tucson, AZ: Tohono Chul: Flora and Fauna

Lizard at Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

Fauna


I heart desert lizards. They scamper up and down trees and across grounds; they do push ups; they pop out their necks like bubble gum; they move their heads about charmingly. They eat insects. They are relatively polite, not making a mess of one's garden, house, or trash. They are quiet. They are not likely to climb onto you.

There are many lizards at Tohono Chul, just as there are in Tucson generally. On my Easter afternoon visit, I saw a lizard with black and white rings arund its neck and a curly tail - like a Samoyed's curl - with black and white rings at its tip.

Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

Flora


The usual assortment of cacti reside at the botanical gardens, of course.

Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

So maybe one's eye naturally seeks out that which is a little different, such as how the light passes through a bloom or how it rests on giant seed pods that a tree sloughed to the earth.

Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

 

Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

Or how light transforms paddle spines into tiaras.

Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. April 2019.

Related posts here: 

Tohono Chul: Steel Beats
Tohono Chul: Cactus Shadow Study


A slide show below:

Opelousas: Outside My Window #5

Green lizard, Opelousas, Louisiana. April 2015.

I've seen and heard more interesting things outside my Opelousas windows in six weeks than I saw during an entire year from my Lafayette apartment.

Green lizard, Opelousas, Louisiana. April 2015.

Today it was a lizard looking for love. Literally looking for love. OK, not love, sex.

Green lizard, Opelousas, Louisiana. April 2015.

He searched up and down and over there and over here, oh yes, sir, I saw what he was up to while I peered through the window like that nosy neighbor on Bewitched ... Gladys?

Gladys from Bewitched. Credit: Bewitched wikia.

Periodically, he bobbed his head up and down and then expanded his throat sac, inflaming it with a fiery - may I be so bold as to say, passionate - red of hopeful seduction.

Green lizard, Opelousas, Louisiana. April 2015.

 Here's the video:

For more information about these green lizards, aka green anole, go here. By the way, the anole is actually in the iguana family.