… since we last had an anole – that’s an awfully long time.
Not many opportunities for photos recently, but that may be corrected soon. In the meantime, we have some captures from the other evening, when I glanced out the front door and thought I saw something extra on a lawn decoration. It had moved by the time I could get the camera in hand, but at least I’d confirmed that I wasn’t seeing things.
Let me set the stage here. The item in question is a balancing metal bird thingy of The Girlfriend’s, and what you see is the bowl and the support stem of the balancing part – as well as a very small juvenile Carolina anole (Anolis carolinensis.) This was shot not long before sunset in ambient light, thus the grey nature of it, though I did use the flash as well, which made it look to be well after nightfall.
The thing is, this ornament stands all by itself in the middle of the lawn well away from all of the thicker plants and good cover that these lizards adore, so this is a rather odd place to see it. I can only assume that it selected this because it’s one of the few spots in the front lawn that gets dependable sun at this time of year, and it’s been chilly enough that the anoles are getting sluggish. This hypothesis is supported by the dark coloration, able to maximize absorption of the UV energy, though by this time the sun wasn’t hitting anything on the property except the tops of some trees. Yet, I would have though that the metal would lose its heat, and the anole’s as well, too quickly, so maybe this isn’t a working theory.
I was more concerned about even a minor breeze springing up and the ornament starting to spin or rock, not an ideal thing for such a small reptile wrapped around the pivot point, and I was considering removing the balancing portion entirely as long as the lizard was there. Thankfully, a little later on the anole had shifted to a safer spot.
Again, nothing really handy for scale, but I suspect it’s reasonably evident anyway. I think the rod that the anole is enamored with is about 6mm in diameter. Suffice to say this is one of the smallest specimens around Walkabout Estates, weighing about as much as two average leaves. Though it’s rude to talk about weight…