For reasons unknown, I keep going throughout the weekdays without really feeling like posting, even when (as now) I have a selection of photos to put up, as well as a couple of other topics that I could tackle. Instead, I let myself get involved in other projects, which is fine, they need doin’, but makes the posts rather sporadic and clustered.
So let’s see what the Estates anoles are up to, shall we?
We purchased a new hibiscus (Malvaceae) plant and put it at the corner of the garage, and it took a few days, but I finally found a Carolina anole (Anolis carolinensis) checking it out, though it refused to perch pleasantly up alongside one of the massive blooms, instead trying to remain inconspicuous down low on a stem.
A week later, it was largely the same thing, only this time I could work with the flowers a little more.
That’s just one blossom behind the anole, with two others on the way in the foreground. Hibiscus flowers don’t last any time at all, but at least this plant is presently slamming out new buds on a constant basis. We’ll have more on that later on.
I mentioned that we’ve entered the season for newborn anoles to appear, so I’ve been keeping my eyes open, but as yet not too many have shown. I did like the color pattern of this one though:
I have this listed as dew, which is probably accurate, but at the same time we’ve had some horrendous rain storms and this might be residual mist from that. Which means falling gently from the air rather than condensing directly on the cooler skin of the anole, an important distinction of vague gravitational influence. That’s a mere blade of liriope that it’s perched on, by the way.
Another perspective yielded an interesting detail:
With a little help from the light angle and that odd color pattern, we get to see that, at this age, the anole has yet to grow into its eyes – in fact, they seem to take up more of the head than the head does. Which is funny when you compare it to the previous image, where the actual opening that admits light is far smaller than what you’d think. If this was all you saw, you might imagine it had eyes like those South American treefrogs or something.
Now, while we’re in birthing season, we still have some of the anoles in the previous stages.
Spotted these two on one of the decorative metal sculptures in the yard, only at that time the male was proudly bobbing and displaying his dewlap, which had apparently worked by the time I returned with the camera. Except, curiously, the female already appears well on the way to depositing an egg or two – I would have said this was imminent, in fact, so do they have overlapping cycles or something?
I’ve been seeing this particular female around for a few weeks, and know this because of the condition of her tail, which seems pretty ratty. Not visible in this pic, though, is the kink at the end which confirms that I’ve been photographing her for a while – what you can see, if you look closely, is that same little lump on the lower jaw as well. By the way, this is the patch of liriope on the other side of the walk from those linked photos, so only a few meters away. She has a regular haunt it seems.
The next day, the male had chosen a different sculpture in the same patch of decorative grass.
A bit subtle here, but you’ll see it. And we go in closer too.
His tail seems to be in fine shape, which is funny, because it’s usually the males that have the missing tail tips and scarring, from battling other males for supremacy. He’s taking advantage of a little bit of shade here, because it’s been hot as fuck again even with the rain, and while there’s undoubtedly more shade down into the grass thicket, there’s at least the chance of a breeze here.
He was still using the same sculpture at night, too.
There are two bird sculptures on this balance thingy, and this time he’s on the second one – we can tell because this one sits an an angle.
You’d think he’d pick the one that was almost level, just to make sleeping easier, but as numerous images on this blog attest, anoles don’t give a rat’s ass about the angles they sleep at; their toes, it seems, lock onto anything and don’t relax in sleep. Even though this one isn’t sleeping at the moment, aware of something happening in the vicinity of that blinding light.
A little later on, I returned as it had fallen back asleep, and did some frames from another angle.
Now, we see the actual angle, since this is shot dead level. Well, more or less – I have some issues at times with holding the camera right bang on, but it’s close anyway. This time we definitely get more of the impression of a reluctant air passenger. The faintest hint of the dew can be seen now, making the back and shoulders look a little bumpy.
I should have had even more images from tonight, but the flash batteries were being balky at the same time as the lens constantly fogging up – I would have thought the nighttime temperature difference wasn’t big enough when I took the camera out, but that shows me. Anyway, this is enough for now, and clears out a few older pics.