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Friday, May 30, 2014

Desert Beauties

I love the colorful Collared Lizards that live in the desert. I remembered where I'd seen a pair at this time last year so I made that my bike ride destination one day. Believe it or not, a male and female Collared Lizard pair was in that spot!

The male is more blue than the female. This guy was pretty shy and hid soon after I arrived. Both of them were big, perhaps about 10" long, including their tails.
To my surprise, the female seemed curious about me. She kept walking so close to my feet that I couldn't even focus my camera on her at times.
Finally, she perched on some rocks near me to keep an eye on me.
She really did keep track of me.
It was fun to see her so closeup. You can see her nostrils, her ear holes, and the details around her eyes that almost look like eyelashes.
Apparently, this species is among the longest lived wild lizard species. They don't reproduce until they're 2-3 years old, and then they produce two clutches of eggs each year. I'm guessing that this male-female pair was together at the same time and same place as last year for a reason!
Finally, I feared that I was stressing out the female so I took off to finish my ride, leaving her on her rocky perch.

That was our last full day at K's Rock, playing around in the sunshine. Do you see the Runner peeking at me from the top of K's Rock? Apparently, it's a fairly easy scramble to get to the top when you start from the other side... but even easy scrambling was too much for my spine so I stayed on the ground.
In fact, I get scared when the Runner is up there so I distract myself by looking at other things like flowers. A Prickly Pear cactus...
And, taking pictures of our canines is another good distraction.
That evening, the clouds rolled in, looking very threatening but it didn't rain.
We gave thanks for a wonderful time in this familiar and gorgeous spot as we mentally prepared to leave the next day.
It was a peaceful and healing stay at K's Rock but it was time to move along to a new place in the desert. My back was feeling substantially better after our days of lazing around in this idyllic campsite.
We'll be back at K's Rock after the summer!

20 comments:

  1. Those lizards sure are beautiful colors! Looks like you had a wonderful trip!

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  2. Thanks for sharing your wonderful photos, it brings back memories of childhood and have a couple of the collard lizards as pets. It sounds like you had a great time in the desert with your canine friends.

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  3. those lizards are fascinating and fabulous! wow!

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  4. So glad you all had such a relaxing and fun time. I loved the lizards with their wonderful coloring. It must be wonderful to get out to the desert every now and then.

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  5. Those lizards are fascinating. We only have little brown skinks around here.

    XXXOOO Bella Roxy & Dui

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  6. wow!! such beautiful lizzards!!
    And yes we see the Runner-- peeking over the top! Such beautiful photos!
    love
    tweedles

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  7. Life in the desert is so intense that it often just makes you stop, breathless, and bask in the wonder! Love your photos, especially the lizards (Our Mighty Quinn was best friends with Milo, our three-legged 4'long female iguana).

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  8. Wow! I've ever seen lizards like that. It was so good of the female to pose for you. ;)

    I'm glad your back is getting better.

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  9. All of the photos are just beautiful but the lizards really intrigue us. What bright colors for the desert!

    Love ya lots♥
    Mitch and Molly

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  10. What gorgeous lizards! The word "beguiling" comes to mind. Glad your back is better!

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  11. The colours of the lizards was gorgeous. what neat little creatures. :-)

    Love the red cliffs and rocks - reminds me of the Sedona AZ area which I visited a couple of years ago...

    Marilyn

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  12. Just love those lizard pictures, the colors and textures are beautiful!

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  13. All your pictures were beautiful, but it is hard to focus on anything but those gorgeous lizards! So stunning!

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  14. Those lizards are so darned cool! It sounds like the trip was good for body and spirit! :)

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  15. Those lizards are incredible! I'd love to see those... So glad you are feeling better! Have the migraines subsided?

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  16. Awesome pics of the lizard.

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  17. Wow the Lizard is awsome!!
    Your Pictures are very special from this Place.
    We have mountins too in Sweden but very different.

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  18. I drooled over your lizard photos on my phone a week or so ago, and I've been anxious to get back and really take a good look on a bigger computer screen. And now I just can't stop looking!!!

    You know these are my favorites of your whole trip, right?!?

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  19. I drooled over your lizard photos on my phone a week or so ago, and I've been anxious to get back and really take a good look on a bigger computer screen. And now I just can't stop looking!!!

    You know these are my favorites of your whole trip, right?!?

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