Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Not Another Snake!

Earlier this morning, B tapped on the glass doors and indicated with hand signals that I should get my camera. When I got to him, he added, "And shoes!" He said there was a garter snake outside. My first thought was, "Another snake?" Then, "It's way too cold; it's 33 degrees," having dropped over 45 degrees last night. The third thought was, "Well, this one is for Kimberlee, who likes garter snakes and lives in No-Reptile-Land in northern Alaska."

Well, it turned out to be a glass lizard. (Sorry, Kimberlee.) It had found a warm spot for the night: the ashes from our burn pile where we burned some yard trash yesterday.

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I don't think it was the same one as I encountered in October. This one has a round pattern on the top of its head that is absent in the pictures of the other one.

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From the looks of its tail, it is in the process of regenerating a new one. It is lighter in color and has less pattern on it.

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An earthworm also recognized the relative warmth and was bravely (or ignorantly) sharing the space with a critter that might well wake up a little more and have it for breakfast.

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Overhead, crows were calling and a red-shouldered hawk perched in the sunny top of an oak, screaming a warning,

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so I covered the glass lizard with a few more blackened pieces of wood so as not to tempt those birds to have it for breakfast.

4 comments:

  1. looks like a busy year end at your house. All sorts of critters coming to keep warm

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  2. WOW! I would have been doing a little happy dance over seeing that lizard!

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  3. I've never even heard of a "glass lizard." Very cool! Now I'll have to do some research! :)

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  4. Kimberlee,
    See our entry in October, Glass In My Eyes, for a little more info.

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