Posts in Category: lizard
Wednesday extra: Monitor Lizard
Not our first Nile Monitor Lizard of the trip to Uganda in August…we saw one from the boat on the actual Nile in Murchinson Falls National Park earlier, but we were on foot for this one…beside the Kazinga Channel in the northern sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park. Sony Rx10iv at 238mm equivalent (so close). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus 1.3EV.
Nile Monitor Lizard
Nile Monitor Lizard on the Kazinga Channel in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda, in August 2022. Africa’s largest lizard and one of the most effective predators in Uganda. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Lizard edition: Agama Lizard
Agama Lizard: Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — There are several common lizards around the grounds of Pakuba Lodge where we stay in Murchison Falls National Park when we visit. The Agama is certainly the most colorful! Sony Rx10iv at 485 and 341mm equivalents. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 and 800 @ f4 @ 1/800th and 1/500th.
Cope’s Lizards
Big-headed Anole, Giant Green Anole, Brown Basilisk: Donde Cope, Guapiles, Costa Rica — in addition to lots of birds (and sometimes sloths), Cope always has a number of lizard species in his little sanctuary. This year they were particularly active…on the hunt…and we saw two with prey. I am not a lizard expert, by a long shot, but my best guess on the ids here is, as above, Big-headed Anole, Big-headed with prey, Giant Green Anole, Giant Green with prey, and Brown Basilisk. Sony Rx10iv at various zoom settings to fill the frame. Program mode with multi-frame noise reduction. Added light from flashlights. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos.
Green Basilisk
Green Basilisk: Sarapique River, Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica — You do see all kinds of things from the safari boat on the Sarapique and Puerto Viejo rivers. We came along side this group of Green Basilisks. We saw the adult male first of course…or rather our boatman, who is on the river every day, and knows were to look (as well as having a natural talent for spotting birds and wildlife, which he has demonstrated on every trip with him over the years) saw it. Only as we drew near in the boat did we spot the two females below the male in the tangle of branches (one might be an immature male??). The Green Basilisk is called the Jesus Christ Lizard by the locals, because of its ability to “walk on water”. It does indeed run across the water, moving fast enough and light enough not to break the surface tension. I have seen lots of Basilisks…in Costa Rica, Honduras, and Panama…but I have yet to see one on the water. Sony Rx10iv at 534mm. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 400 (females) and 250 (male), f4 @ 1/500th.
Santa Fe Lizards
New Mexico Whiptail 
New Mexico Whiptail 
Chihuahuan Spotted Whiptail 
Desert Grassland Whiptail 
Little Striped Whiptail 
Plateau Fence Lizard
In the six days we spent in and around Santa Fe, New Mexico, we encountered several different lizard species. The trouble is that all but one were whiptails, and I do not know enough about whiptails in general, and New Mexico whiptails in particular, to reliably distinguish them where the species overlap as they do in Santa Fe. Also there are several possible Fence Lizards in New Mexico. I have captioned the images with my best attempt at an ID based on the resources I could find on the web and in apps. Anyone who really knows their Southwestern Lizards can feel free to correct me. 🙂 To complicate matters, the New Mexico Whiptail is a fertile, female only, hybrid between the Little Striped Whiptail and the Desert Grassland Whiptail, both of which also occur in Santa Fe. So. All photos with the Sony Rx10iv at or near 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Eastern Collared-lizard
Eastern Collared Lizard, Ramsey Canyon, Arizona
Birding in Ramsey Canyon was kind of slow yesterday, for whatever reason, but this beautiful Eastern Collared Lizard posing nicely just about made up for it.
Sony RX10iii at 525mm equivalent field of view. 1/320th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in PhotoShop Express on my Android tablet.
Lizard Display
Western Fence Lizard, Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Superior AZ
I am in Bay City Michigan this morning, for the Midwest Birding Symposium. Yesterday was a travel day, so I only got one photo…which I will post as my For the love of landscape… shot for today. I still have hundreds of images that I would like to share from my cross country trip with my daughter Sarah. This is Boyce Thompson Arboretum, in Superior AZ…one of my favorite places to visit, though I have not been there in more than 20 years. We always used to stop on the way back from Tucson to Gallup on our spring break trips when I lived in New Mexico. Sarah and I were having lunch on the patio of the visitor center when these two Fence Lizards decided to dispute the territory on the top of a log round at the edge of the patio. I shot these from our table, between bits of sandwich. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 220 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Chuckwalla! NOT. Mexican Spiny-tailed Iguana.
Chuckwalla Lizard, Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum, Tucson AZ
I thought this was a Chuckwalla, another local lizard that makes itself at home on the grounds of the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum. There is an enclosure, just before you enter the museum gates, where Chuckwallas and other Sonoran lizards are supposed to be on display, but, honestly, they are hard to miss on any visit to the museum if you just keep your eyes open wherever you find large rocks (real rocks or the fake rocks the museum use to build displays…the Chuckwallas do not seem to care). This large male was displaying on a rock near the Mountain Canyon displays, which is where I have encountered the Chuckwalla most often at the ASDM. The panel shows the same specimen: full body (though the tail is curled around behind and below) and close up.
Note: This is actually a cross between a Mexican Spiny-tailed Iguana and a San Esteban Island Spiny-tailed Iguana…unique to the grounds of the Desert Museum…introduce there in the 70s and still breeding.
Sony HX90V at 285mm and 720mm equivalent fields of view. 1/250th @ ISO 320 and 400, @ f6.3 and f6.4. Processed in Lightroom. Assembled in Phototastic Collage.
Eastern Collared Lizard
Eastern Collared Lizard, Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum, Tucson AZ
Who says lizards can’t be beautiful? Did someone say that? I hope not! The Eastern Collard Lizard has all kinds of beauty going on. Not to mention attitude. This is one bea-ute-a-ful lizard…and don’t he know it! 🙂 This specimen was at the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum near Tucson Arizona yesterday on a hot day…but he was still sunning. Getting his beauty rays.
Sony HX90V at around 1000mm equivalent field of view (using a little Clear Image Zoom beyond the optical). 1/320th @ ISO 80 @ f6.4. Processed in Lightroom.