Baby horned toad, my garage, several days ago.
Around here, July is the season for all manner of new-born critters to burst forth from eggs, wombs, and cocoons. Spiders and snakes and dozens of different kinds of beetles, some black and shiny like armored Town Cars, others dun-colored and plug-bodied that amble amiably along the sides of the roads looking for snacks. When I go out running these days, I really have to be careful where I step, and it upsets me if I inadvertently crush one while I'm driving.
The little feller above I spotted squirming along the garage floor a couple days ago. I ran in to get my camera, locked Maddie inside, and managed to snap a half dozen photos while he tucked himself under the car and launched into invisibility mode. Then I went back inside to load the photos, wondering not for the first time how anything this small manages to grow up and make it to adulthood, given all the forces of man and nature against it.
Adult horned toad, top of the Sandia Mountains a couple weekends ago.
But that's the thing about Mother Nature. She persists. Thank God.
13 comments:
Great finds! I've not seen one that little before.
When I was growing up in East Texas, there were lots of horned toads. But I have seen one there in years.
I'd love to call him Albert, please.
Oh, and I wuv him. From afar.
Good afternoon Moi,
Boxer, lx. Hello, how are you?
One of my favorite pets as a child was a horned toad lizard. I probably cared a lot more for him, than he did for me. He disappeared after a couple months. Still more fun to play with than a snake.
As for mother nature you're right she does. It just seems like she's losing her patients.
How cool! They are some of my favorites.
S~
How adorable is he?!
He reminds me so much of my Harvey (bearded dragon).
I like reptiles & amphibians ... they're so cute! lol
I am convinced that "Mother Nature" is a perpetually menopausal woman.
heh..he knowed a friendly garage when he seen one.
A clan young'un keeps some sort of lizard/ iguana creature fer a pet.
Ma Nature is clever an' wise--it doan do to obstruct her, better to cooperate wif' her.
BTW, next sample in the fragrance dept fer Aunty? Route du The --fresh green, amber, citrusy, barely floral note (Barney's NYC--note for Sept)
Baby portraits!
So when you get maxxxxxed out by writing/editing you have an alternative career :-)
Was at the fair one year and some guy at a save the horned toad booth was telling me they can't survive if you take them out of about a thirty foot radius of their home base. I guess I inadvertently killed a few that way growing up. I hope Albert has a good place to stay near your garage.
lx: I think I see more now than I did as a kid. Although, maybe I just wasn't paying attention back then.
Boxer: I have a tendency to name every critter that crosses my path, too.
Karl: Mother nature is a mutha. She'll win out in the end, in spite of everything and long after we are only a hiccup of a memory in the great evolutionary swath of time upon this earth. Then the sun goes supernova and she laughs last.
Serendipity: I have a special place in my heart for all things reptilian, too.
Blazng: You have a bearded dragon? Cute! I like reptiles so much because they are the link between the primordial ooze and where we stand today.
Aunty: I like certain tea-based fragrances. Bvlgari makes one that is very pretty. I'll give this one a try :o)
Fishy: Funny you mention that; I may have to find a new career sometime soon. My hands are beginning to give me trouble.
Grins: Interesting! I never heard that territorial thing before. Oh, if only we could take back some of the things we did as kids, huh? There are a couple of too-tighly-squeezed cats I need to make apologies to.
Time for voice activated software?
halloooo? stop writin' real work an' post somethin' fer the home folks--it could count as an act of charity. Aunty decrees a 30 day indulgence fer it. Heh.
oh dear! Sorry--din't know about Otis--what a sorrow, Sugar. Left message on the recent post.
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