Was out in the yard yesterday, trying to oxidize some old deck boards, and as things were smoldering I wandered around a little bit. On the wall right near the access door that has served as an anole hideyhole, I found this guy enjoying the sunlight.
Now, the temperature when I spotted this Carolina anole (Anolis carolinensis) was roughly 12°c, but that was the absolute peak for the past several days and it’s been way colder than that at night, so I really expected them to be remaining in shelter. However, that’s the edge of the dryer vent right alongside, so it seems likely that this one has found a pleasantly warm spot to spend the winter. I would have attempted to relocate a couple into the greenhouse, since it has a heater that maintains at least 10° and it got up over 20° in there today, but I’m not sure what this does to their metabolism, to say nothing of finding anything to eat in there, so I leave them to handle it on their own. But I think it’s safe to say this is the earliest appearance of the species that I’ve logged.
I should probably try the anoles out with mealworms, see if they like those as a food source, because I know I can keep those in the fridge for a while and thus would be able to provide snacks in circumstances like this. Seems like a fair trade for all the photos I’ve gotten of them over the years.