It seems whereever we travel, we always find an array of critters to amuse and entertain. Now, central Florida doesn’t have any chipmunks (sad, yes) but they do have plenty of small lizards! You can’t go anywhere without seeing these little guys!
“Larry” (Brown Anole, Male, Anolis sagrei, Common Florida Reptile) Canon PowerShot SX40 HS, 100mm, F/5.8, 1/640s, ISO 100, Nik Color Efex Pro ‘Vignette’ Filter
They are full of personality but very skittish. Just when I would get close enough, they would scurry away, only to return moments later. Perhaps it is some sort of lizard game??
They particularly liked hanging around the pool ledge, basking in the hot sun. This female was certainly gettin’ her ‘tan on’ while making sure the other reptiles weren’t invading her territory.
“Lounge Lizard” (Brown Anole, Female, Anolis sagrei, Common Florida Reptile) Canon PowerShot SX40 HS, 34.3mm, F/4.5, 1/800s, ISO 100, Cropped and Nik Silver Efex Pro ‘Vignette’ Filter applied
During our visit, we also saw many birds wandering about, most likely looking to make a nice meal out of the small lizards. 🙂
“Little Blue” (Little Blue Heron, Egretta caerulea) Canon PowerShot SX40 HS, 20.3mm, F/4.5, 1/200s, -0.7EV, ISO 100
Mostly, we saw white egrets, cormorants and ducks, so it was a nice change of pace to come across this colorful fellow. I wish it wasn’t just as we were leaving for the airport! Isn’t that the way it is with critters? When you have all the time in the world, none can be found but as soon as you are in a hurry or ill-prepared, boom! They appear out of nowhere, posing all nice.
Until next time, my friends. 🙂
Milkay Photography 
36 Comments
Nice array of cute critters, Tracy. I’m fond of lizards and herons, but must say I don’t like the idea of one eating the other, but such is life.
I didn’t actually see the heron eat a lizard, so… 😉
Figures you’d think lizards are cute, Lynn! 😉 These little guys were a hoot to watch…I would have liked to have gotten a shot of the male flaring his orange fan. Oh, well, next time, right?
Thanks, Lynn! 🙂
Your lounge lizard looks ready to take the plunge. Larry has a lot of personality going for him. And the way you have him in the frame just adds to it. That’s a really nice one, Tracy.
Thank you, Steve! I think Larry was trying to size us up and once he figured that I wasn’t after the local insects, he let us stay. 🙂
Always good to see critters we’re not used to seeing eh, and we certainly don’t get many of them over here… Loved all the variation in birdlife when we were over there…
Yes, I agree! I’m sure Floridians look upon the lizards as pests and the birds as, “Yeah, a blue heron. See them all the time.” I wonder when they visit North are they like, “Oooooh, look honey, a chipmunk!” 🙂
Love the little heron! How adorable!
The little lizards remind me of a trip to Florida with my parents when I was child; the hotel had outdoor tables with umbrellas made of thatch and little lizards would randomly fall out of the umbrellas while we were sitting there!
Thanks, Karen! Isn’t he just amazing??! He’s BLUE for goodness sake! 🙂
How funny! As a child, you must have thought that to be quite something!
That first one takes the cake for me! He looks like a dinosaur!
He does! Thanks, Derrick! 🙂
We will be in FL in a couple months. I’ll have the kids be on the lookout. Great pics. Love the bird. Do you leave your big camera home when you travel? I notice that these were all taken with the Powershot.
I don’t think you’ll have to look far…in some areas they are everywhere. Funny how up here we get so excited over cardinals and bluejays…those woudl stand a chance if we had these guys walking around, right? 😉
You caught me. 😉 Lately, I haven’t been travelling with my big Nikon (the D300), even though it is definitely my preferred camera to use. Too many lenses, too heavy to carry around (man, have I gotten lazy!) So, a few months back, we bought a couple of “bridge” cameras…the Canon Powershot and a Nikon Coolpix. Neither are pocket cameras (no idea why Canon uses ‘Powershot’ and Nikon uses ‘Coolpix’ for so many of their models, no matter the size…very confusing.) The Canon has a nice zoom but I have to admit, I was definitely missing the D300 when I was taking these shots!
Thanks, Becky! 🙂
I love lizards too, they always seem to have so much personality! and some will be daring and come out to play or try and steal some food. At my parents place in the Solomon Islands they had geckos, and the antics the ones who lived in the house got up to were hilarious!
There were one family of them and they liked to sleep behind a picture that was on a slant on the wall, if my mother made ice-cream some of them eventually got so tame that they would come to lick the empty bowls.
One day one fell into the bowl and couldn’t get out, the ice-cream had made the sides of the bowl too slippery for him to get traction so he was sliding around all over the place. My mother made a “ladder” with her fingers and he used those to scramble out, but he did come back for more the next day!
What funny stories! Looks my comparison of lizards to chipmunks is quite accurate as each species indulge in humorous antics! Thank you for sharing, Kiwi!! 🙂
Those little lizards are cute, and the blue heron is so perfect I thought he was a statue at first!
Thank you, JP! The heron does look like a statue! I didn’t even see that before now! If s/he had been a statue that would have been so much easier to photograph! 🙂
Great captures. I love the Little Blue Heron. Gorgeous bird. And lizards are so much fun. 🙂
Thank you, Robin. You are very kind. 🙂
I photographed a male showing off for the ladies behind the Big Thunder Mountain FastPass machines a couple of years ago.
One time we stayed at a Fort Wilderness Cabin and, on the first day, an anole came in and we could not find it. We’d see it once in awhile but could never catch it. As we were leaving to go home, it ran out the door. I guess it wanted to hang with us on our vacation. 🙂
I bet it did! How funny! I spent alot of time watching the anoles around the pool. I wished I had brought my Nikon with a good zoom so that I could have hung back and got some interesting macros. Next time, right? 😉
Nice captures – and you composed them very fine – with nice shadows – my favorite is the second – the simple construction and diagonal line works perfectly!
Thank you, Truel! I purposefully lined up the diagonal in the second image but since my camera doesn’t take a square format, had to crop in post to get the graphic look I wanted. Thanks for noticing! 🙂
Very cool, M.P.! And impressive! You’ve got to be fast on the draw (or the click) to catch up with interesting critters like these! I completely agree with Truel, too… that diagonal is so nice…
🙂
Thank you, Sig!
I think I’m becoming known in the critter-world as a ‘stalker’… 😉
I live in lizard country too. BUT, this week we had an amazing thing happen. I’d left a pumpkin on our step since Halloween (lazy I know but it didn’t rot or anything). When I woke up it was smashed on the porch and I assumed some kids or dogs had done it. When I pulled the surveillance camera, I saw a wild pig eating the pumpkin.
I only visit lizard country. 😉
That is amazing! (1), that a wild pig ate your pumpkin and (2), you have surveillence cameras!!
Ooooooo. I love the lizards! How sweet are they? Did you sneak one home? Lol.
They do seem sweet! Fortunately, none made it into my backpack, tho I think my kitty would have liked a new ‘toy’. 😉
Thanks, Amy!
Love those lounging lizards – Larry looks great. I’d dearly love to get down to Central Fl some day, for the butterflies – lizards, too!
Thank you, Tom! Much appreciated!
Oh, you should go!! 🙂
Aww sooo cute kinda picture 😀 😀 😀
Thanks! 🙂
Cute critters… in pictures… I don’t enjoy showering with them (there is a long story there)! You making me yearn for a trip to Disney. I haven’t been since the year they opened… ahem… i was 2. LOL
Thanks, kc! Oh, you’ve got to spill the shower-with-lizards story!
You would love WDW…it really is a happy place! 🙂
Nice shots : )
The heron and its shadow became a classic : )
Aw, how kind. 🙂
Thank you very much!