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03/22/2004 09:03:54 PM · #1 |
We went on a little hike last Friday on the Hieroglyphic Springs trail near Phoenix AZ and on the way down we came upon this little guy. He was rather tame and just ran down the trail keeping about 30 feet in front of us. I was able to snap this picture with my wife’s C-750 zoomed in all the way at 380mm.
His body was about 12 inches long and so was his tail making him about 2 feet long in total. I’ve never seen anything like this in the wild before and I wondered if he was someone’s escaped pet or if he was indigenous to the AZ desert.
Are there any herpetologists out there that can identify him?
Thanks,
Roger
Message edited by author 2004-03-22 21:05:34. |
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03/22/2004 09:06:44 PM · #2 |
You've got a nice shot of a Yellow Headed Collared Lizard.
Correction- judging by the last photo on the page I linked to, that'd be a Western Collared Lizard.
Message edited by author 2004-03-22 21:08:21. |
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03/22/2004 09:10:21 PM · #3 |
| Awesome photo, that's for sure. Beautiful colors. |
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03/22/2004 09:31:49 PM · #4 |
Shannon, thanks for identifying him for me.
Earlier in the same hike this Gila Monster ran right in front of my 12 year old son and into the rocks. Steve Erwin is his hero so you can imagine how excited he was. He looks kind of mangy to me and I don’t know what is wrong with his tail but it was cool to see him out in the wild.
Roger
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03/22/2004 11:11:30 PM · #5 |
Egyptian Uromastyx part of the family around here.
 Spikers.
 Spikers on the loose.
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03/22/2004 11:41:45 PM · #6 |
Awesome hike Roger, wonderful pictures. I've ran into plenty of rattlesnakes but never a gila monster. Even though the bite isn't fatal I think I would want to head in another direction. =)
Thanks for sharing those with us. |
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03/23/2004 01:55:52 AM · #7 |
| Great shots Roger , especially the Gila Monster , You're very lucky to have seen one . Fortunately , they move kinda slow so there not much danger . And that's one big collared lizard ,ya gotta love the Az desert, especially this time of year when it's so lush & green . |
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03/23/2004 07:14:19 AM · #8 |
I think that is Waldo. So that is where he is!
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03/23/2004 07:42:03 AM · #9 |
Roger... you were lucky. It's pretty rare to see a Gila Monster while out hiking - especially on a somewhat popular trail.
In all the hiking I've done and time spent in the desert - I've seen one Gila Monster and actually walked right past without spotting him. He scampered a bit after I passed, and that's when I turned around and saw him.
I wasn't on a trail and it was a warm August day after some recent rains deep in the Supes...
I didn't have a camera with me though :-(
Thanks for posting such great pics of the lizards. What an exciting day for you all.
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03/23/2004 09:09:26 AM · #10 |
| Hey Roger, I think your Gila is a Chuckwalla, a common fat lizard of the Sonoran desert. The gila has a much longer body and skin looks like beads of color. Nice shots of both lizards. Van |
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03/23/2004 06:41:27 PM · #11 |
Van,
Thanks for properly identifying that lizard. I thought his color was wrong for a Gila Monster but based on the body shape I didn’t know what else he might be. Either way I didn’t want him to bite me :)
Roger
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