The Tangled Trail

Look for Lizards

As the weather has been warming up, we’ve been seeing more and more lizards on our walks.  I believe these little guys (they are about 3-5 inches long) are Western Fence Lizards.  We have them all over the place here in the East Bay.

Maybe your child(ren) would like to go on a walk to search for lizards?  We usually find them soaking up the warmth of the sun on the brick walls that line the hills around our neighborhood and, quite often, right on the sidewalk.  We make a game of trying to get as close to them as we can before they run away.

Do you have lizards in your neighborhood?  What  kind of lizards are they?

I took the following pictures yesterday while we were out near our home picking up trash.  I was curious how close I could get with my iPhone camera.

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Responses

  1. Tahoe Sux Avatar
    Tahoe Sux

    Great pic in the middle. Right place, right time!

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    1. A Nature Mom Avatar
      A Nature Mom

      And he let me sneak up on him… my phone was about three inches away from him when I took the photo.

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  2. Leah Avatar
    Leah

    I wish we did! We’d be looking for a long time here in New England. 🙂 My daughter would love them. We have chipmunks … lol

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    1. A Nature Mom Avatar
      A Nature Mom

      How about frogs?

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      1. Leah Avatar
        Leah

        Good call! My daughter also likes to dig for worms which we can probably do tomorrow since we’ve had so much rain.

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  3. beechcreekproject Avatar
    beechcreekproject

    I’ve seen a lot of lizards lately on my hikes but I’m not sure of the type. Paco chases them all the time and luckily never catches one. I think he just likes the chase. Looks like you got pretty close. My favorite lizard as a child was the horned toad. We lived in Texas and we’d find them all the time. We are always a bit afraid of them because we were told they shot blood from their eyes as a defense.

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  4. A Nature Mom Avatar
    A Nature Mom

    Thank you for the confirmation! I’d love to see my son catch one some day… he’s going to have to work on those slow and steady movements before that happens, though. Then we’ll look for that blue belly.

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  5. Galen Leeds Photography Avatar
    Galen Leeds Photography

    They are Western Fence Lizards, also known as “Blue bellies.” If you ever catch one and turn it over, you will find some beautiful shades of blue, hence the colloquial name. I used to love catching them as a child myself. It takes slow steady movements to get close to them. Good exercise in patience for young children

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