Friday, May 15, 2009

Southern Alligator Lizard
Click on image to enlarge - © 2009 jim otterstrom

An Alligator Lizard explores the new native-plant rock garden at Earth Home Garden yesterday afternoon. More pictures of the garden coming soon.

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13 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

SOUTHERN, ALLIGATOR.

Tourist season started already.

I told you you have become a
tourist attraction.

9:32 AM  
Blogger Jim said...

Hi Anon-

This reptile's no tourist, he's a Big Bear native who was trapped in a subterranean water meter enclosure, rescued by a meter reader, and delivered to Earth Home Garden.

Southern Alligator Lizards range from Washington State to Southern Baja California, so maybe they should be called 'Western' Alligator Lizards rather than 'Southern'.

9:56 AM  
Blogger David Edward said...

i saw his cousin in my garden yesterday. Sailing trip notes and pictures recently posted on Sugarloaf mountain

10:31 AM  
Blogger Tim Hodgens said...

Jim,

I'm curious about the aligator's left "paw." Is that a stump or is the "paw" pointed in towards the body? If the latter, seems awkward but maybe there's an adaptation story there.

Tim

10:57 AM  
Blogger Jim said...

David-

Yep, lizards are out in force since the weather warmed up, and I'll check out your blog for the sailing adventure.

Simply Tim-

I had similar thoughts the first time I viewed my photo, wondering if maybe that foot was crippled or something, but after reviewing my other photos, and going back out to watch the lizard crawl around the garden again, I saw that the rather human-like five-fingered hand/foot was functioning just fine. I have another photo where both of the front feet are curled under like that. I found that awkward looking stance curiously interesting too!

11:32 AM  
Blogger Tabor said...

We have had some red-faced lizard on the deck and at least two blue tailed skinks setting up shop.

1:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Baja!!! Do you know if he took any trip south lately?
This could be bad.
does he have a green card?
naturalized?

Oh Just NATURAL.ists

Thanks for the Facts guy.

10:17 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

How big is this liz.

from photo hard to tell.

looks good sized

10:24 AM  
Blogger Stan Gibbs said...

Just wanted to know if you would be open to selling advertising on your blog to related gardening sites. If yes, please get in touch with me as I would be interested in buying an ad. I could not find an email address on your blog which is why I am commenting here. Please feel free to delete this comment. Thank you!

11:16 PM  
Blogger Linda Navroth said...

Nice to see you posting again--have missed you!

I had one of these big boys in my garden last year. Wish I found them more often! Not like when we were kids, that's for sure. I'm sure you remember how much more abundant such critters were 'back in the day.' I even remember finding a horned lizard when we lived in Torrance. Bet you'd never find one there now!

3:27 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I just set up my Delicious account and your blog was the very first thing I wanted to bookmark to make certain I can access it from anywhere. :) I love this "garden."
KinKY

9:56 PM  
Anonymous Mary Anne said...

Fab photo, Jim!

11:16 PM  
Blogger Endment said...

you are so close - he looks absolutely huge!

Great shot

8:43 AM  

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