L is for lizards

We have an abundance of these little critters in the desert.  Most prevalent are the neck-ringed lizards, but we’ve also seen a few others here, including an albino lizard.

 Albino lizard in the desert behind our house

 

They hibernate in the winters here.  Once they start appearing all over the place, we know that the cold weather is gone for the year.  These guys take up residence all over our yard, but this is fine because they eat bugs.  In the summer, it’s not unusual to see half a dozen of them clinging to the stucco on our house.  Their homes become the rock piles, crevices and behind our storage building, among other places.

 The lizard that lived in our fireplace

 

One year we had one living in the fireplace.  This year we have another one who’s decided to make his home behind the shutter in the front of the house.  There was one that lived there a couple of years ago but it was caught and eaten by a passing roadrunner.  Koki was very upset as she watched the roadrunner catch her friend, beat him to death on the rocks and then eat him right in front of her.  She pouted for days.  I suspect that was her way of mourning.

 A lizard with an attitude

 

Naturally she’s glad to see one back again this year.  The cats love to sit on a stool by the window and watch this guy as he plays with them by sticking his head out of the shutter.  This provides hours of fun. 

A lizard on our patio

I have at least a hundred pictures of lizards.  Like most things around here, I can't stop taking pictures.