Posts in Category: lizard
Green Basilisk Lizard
Green Basilisk Lizard, Isla Popo, Panama
One of the places the folks at Tranquilo Bay take their guests, at least those who are interested, is to the home of one of the indigenous people of the islands, where, for some reason, many different color morphs of Poison Dart frog coexist. When we visited we were greeted at the dock by the 7 year old son of the owner, who acted as our unofficial frog guide while we were there. Our second greeter, however, was this large Green Basilisk Lizard on a log at the base of a plant in the family garden. Amazing creature. Pure prehistoric!
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent. 1/125th @ ISO 450 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Sand Lizard. Germany.
I spent much more time in the countryside in Germany on this last trip than I have ever before. While I did not see a lot of wildlife, except for birds, I did see some. This the Sand Lizard, perhaps the most common native lizard in Germany. I love the patterns and the colors here!
Canon SX50HS at 1800mm equivalent field of view (full zoom plus 1.5x digital tel-converter). Program with iContrast and -1/3EV exposure compensation. f6.5 @ 1/500th @ ISO 800. Processed on the go in PicSay Pro on the Nexus 7 FHD.
Fence Lizards of Cabrillo
There are always lots of lizards at Cabrillo National Monument out at the end of Point Lomas above San Diego Harbor. They like the warmth of the sidewalks and walls in the sun. This first specimen was seeking the shade, not for coolness sake, but for camouflage.
Then we have the calisthenic lizards doing push-ups on the edge of a wall. I think it was some kind of dominance play for another males down below.
And finally a close up.
Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and auto Shadow Correction. –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1800mm (1) and 1200mm equivalent fields of view. f6.5 @ 1/1000 @ ISO 125-320. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
January Brown Anole
The Brown Anole is an introduced species in Florida, unlike the native Green Anole. Unfortunately is very invasive. There has been a colony of Brown Anoles living in the rocks along the pond by the restrooms on Black Point Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge for as long as I have been going there (10 years). They are were much more active during my few April visits, but on warm days in January you can still see them sunning themselves on the rocks. I like the curl of this one’s tail.
Canon SX50HS in Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Fill. –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1200mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 80. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Texas Spotted Whiptail!
I was on my way back to the car and the last day of the vendor hours at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, leaving the butterfly gardens at the National Butterfly Center in Mission Texas, when I heard a scuttling in the gravel that could only be a lizard. And there it was, a Texas Spotted Whiptail (as I afterwards confirmed). My second lizard of the trip. (The first was a Texas Blue Spiny Lizard seen from the tour boat on the Rio Grande River. And that, folks, is a lizard!). I like lizards, and the whiptails are so perky and, well, cute, there is a lot to like 🙂
Canon SX50HS. Program with auto iContrast and Shadow Fill. Just over 1000mm equivalent field of view (I had to back off on the zoom to get the full tail in). f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 200. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
And, since he was kind enough to scuttle around for a second view…from the other side. I am assuming the “spotted” comes from the legs!
Texas Blue Spiny Lizard
Our local guide for the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival River Pontoon trip on the Riverside Dreamer alerted us early to her favorite part of the trip. It was an unassuming spot. An old pump station and a section of river bank reinforced with broken chunks of concrete and old truck and tractor tires. The boat slowed and drifted in closer, and sure enough, there were a couple of Texas Blue Spiny Lizards basking in the sun on the debris, a few feet above the water. The tbsl is very similar to the more common Collared Lizard of North Texas and the rest of the southwest, but is restricted to the Texas section of the upper Rio Grande Valley. In fact these specimens are south of their normal range. This gentleman is about 10 inches tip to tail…the largest lizard to inhabit Texas.
Canon SX50HS. Program with auto iContrast and Shadow Fill. 1200mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 200. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness. Cropped for composition. This was shot from a moving boat…which is testimony to the SX50HS’ image stabilization.
3/13/2012: Lizard at Cabrillo National Monument.
The rocks and paths at Cabrillo were alive with lizards when I visited the Sunday before last. I am definitely not a herps person. It is not that I do not like them. I do. It is just that I don’t know much about them. A little Googling leads me to believe that all the various lizards I saw at Cabrillo, and they were various, were in fact Fence Lizards in various stages of being and of various sexes. I like the way this one clung to his rock in the hope that I, if I happened to be a predator (he seemed uncertain on that point even if I was not) would not be able to see him. I also like the bokeh … the way the lizard is isolated against the out of focus background. And the texture of the rock is interesting as well. Lots to like here 🙂
Canon SX40HS at 1240mm equivalent field of view (840mm optical plus 1.5x digital tel-extender). f5.8 @ 1/640th @ ISO 100. Program with iContrast and -1/3EV exposure compensation.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity and sharpness.
2/22/2012: Brown Anole, Merritt Island NWR
In honor of Wild Life Wednesday, instead of just another bird, I will offer up this little Brown Anole, captured at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. I have taken pics of the native Florida Green Anole on these very same rocks, near the rest stop half way around Black Point Wildlife Drive, but that was in the spring. On this January day, the only lizard present was this little guy, certainly descended from illegal immigrants (or at least escapees) from Cuba or the Bahamas, but now well naturalized in most of Florida.
Canon SX40HS in Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1) 1680mm equivalent field of view (840mm optical plus 2x digital tel-extender). f5.8 @ 1/800th @ ISO 100. 2) 840mm equivalent (cropped slightly) f5.8 @ 1/800th @ ISO 125. 3) same as #2.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
5/2/2011: Green Anole, Ft. Matanzas FL
When I shot this Green Anole at Ft. Matanzas National Monument in Florida, I was assuming it was one of the non-native Anoles…escaped pets which breed all over Florida…but it turns out to the only Anole actually native to North America. An interesting creature. This one was after the husk of a bug of some kind which had fallen on the rail of the boardwalk at Matanzas. Interestingly, I attempted, without success, to photograph an Anole (not the Green) at this very bend in the boardwalk last year when I visited the National Monument. (Oh, I got pictures of it, but nothing I kept.)
Part of the success here is the new camera with its longer zoom and rapid fire mode…but mostly this Anole was just much more cooperative.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 810mm equivalent field of view. 1) f5.7 @ 1/200th @ ISO 180, 2) f5.7 @ 1/320th @ ISO 160, 3) f5.7 @ 1/160th @ ISO 220. User program for rapid fire and continuous focus.
Processed lightly in Lightroom, mostly for clarity and sharpness.