Posts in Category: lizard
Green in the night
Green Basilisk: Frog Heaven, Sarapique, Costa Rica, December 2024 — I posted some daylight photos (if you call under deep canopy in the rain, daylight) a while back…but this was a much larger and more mature individual we found at Frog Heaven on our night walk. Taken by the light of my Ulanzi Photo Flashlight. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 88 and 600mm equivalents. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. -1.3 EV exposure compensation. Processed in Photomator.
Green on green
Green Basilisk: Pierella Ecology Gardens, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica, December 2024 — Not an uncommon lizard of the rainforest, but an uncommonly close view of one, and a daylight view at that. Our guide at Pierella found it for us while looking for Red-eyed Leaf Frogs in a damp spot in the forest. This is the Jesus lizard, so called because it appears to walk on the water…or run at least…it’s specially adapted feet and light weight not breaking the surface tension. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 477 and 231mm equivalents. (Like I said, a close view. :} Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
not-Green Iguana
Green Iguana: Caño Negro Wetlands Reserve, Costa Rica, December 2024 — The Green Iguana is only green when it is young. As adults they are various shades of bronzy brown and dull orange. This is, I think, a big adult male, lounging in the foliage along one of the many channels in the Caño Negro wetlands. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 246 and 600mm equivalents. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator. Assembled in FrameMagic.
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.