Antelope Squirrel

Antelope Squirrel at White Tank Regional Park:

So cute!

It was funny, because I was on 10-mile hike, probably almost 9 miles into it, and I hadn't seen any mammals.  Lizards:  check.  Two vultures playing in the wind:  check.  Various other birds:  check.  Squirrels, rabbits, packrats, javelina, coyotes:  nothing.  Then finally I saw this little guy.  Literally 2 minutes down the trail I saw another.  Then, just beyond that, a rock squirrel.  They must have been having a rodent convention. 

   

More Interesting Lizards

I don't usually so many lizards this dark, but the hills were alive with them on my hike mid March.  This was in the Estrella Mountain area, Phoenix, Arizona.  My best guess is ornate tree lizard, but if you have a better guess, I'd welcome comments below.

Whatever their species, they were beautiful little guys.  Look at this one's short, thick, blue tail!  I'm wondering if it's regenerated.  

Common Side-Blotched Lizard

Lizards were out in force last week at White Tank Regional Park.  This one posed like a model.  It's a common side-blotched lizard, and here in the Phoenix, Arizona area you see them all around the desert parks.  The males have blue on their tails and often some rusty orange on their chins.  Beautiful creatures.  

Here's a close-up of those gorgeous scales:

If you want an interesting article about

"Rattlesnake" Eggs

Some people in Arizona find a clutch of small eggs in their yard and In their worried minds they skip over all the possible birds that might have laid these eggs, skip over all the possible reptiles, and jump right to "rattlesnake!" Rattlesnake! Then they call the snake removal guy (who told me this story) and insist that they have snake eggs in their yard.

Well, rattlesnakes don't lay eggs.

Usually what these people are finding are quail eggs. Not nearly as scary.

It's interesting to me how we can ignore the obvious, logical, non-emergency explanation, and skip right to the far-fetched, illogical, end-of-the-world explanation.