Monday color 7

green anole Anolis carolinensis on banana leaf
[These posts are usually lined up well ahead of time, so this one was completely written when I got the images in this post, which might actually be the same individual – they were taken not three meters apart.]

One of the images taken back on this day last October – I elected not to use it then. I know that I had been under the leaves of this banana plant, looking for silhouettes of insects on top since the sun was shining through so distinctly and the leaves are a brilliant chartreuse with a nice texture when backlit, but I can’t recall whether I spotted this green anole (Anolis carolinensis) then, or if I saw it from this perspective and then went back to see if it could be viewed from underneath – I suspect the latter.

green anole Anolis carolinensis toe silhouette through banana leafEither way, that photo was obtained too, though the lizard’s position atop the thick rib of the leaf reduced the distinction of the shadow – it really needs the image above to explain what it is you’re seeing. I actually waited to see if the anole would provide me with a better shadow pose, or would even launch itself after a leaf-footed bug that was walking along the same leaf (and provided its own silhouette images,) but the reptile was more interested in basking, possibly because the October nights were pretty chilly.

Within a month, the banana leaves were brown and hanging limply, with the appearance of corrugated cardboard that had been soaked in the rain and dried, and the anoles were nowhere to be seen, having sequestered themselves for the winter. Which just reminds me that I’m still waiting for spring and the reappearance of useful photo subjects, something that these Monday color posts were supposed to counteract. I gotta work on my psychology…