March 5, 2012 – Out working in the garden, I was surprised to find the first lizard of the year! It was warm but I wasn’t quite prepared to see a lizard. I think he/she wasn’t prepared to see me either and it made a hasty retreat under a wood pile when I got too close. I had always called these common lizards Western Fence Lizards but looking in my Stebbins Field Guide, I see from the range map that it is actually a subspecies of the Eastern Fence Lizard, the Southern Plateau Lizard, Sceloporus undulatus tristichus. It looked to have over-wintered in good condition. It was an odd feeling knowing that he/she had just woken from its long sleep of at least 4 months, and now was being watched by this strange and very large creature. No wonder it scurried out of sight.
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