There are signs of spring starting to show even though we're still in February. The grass is starting to turn green. The live oaks are out of sync though, as normal; they are starting to drop their leaves.
We walked by a wild redbud (Cercis texensis) tree on our property because I wondered if it was starting to show buds. Sure enough, it was! Now I'm worried that a late freeze in the next few weeks will get it.
The reptilian activity is still very low, though. Since they're cold-blooded, I'm sure they need it to be consistently warmer before they venture forth. I dug through my old photographs and found these two representatives of the lizards we find around here.
The first one is an anole (Anolis carolinensis). It's actually a Carolina anole, but it's also known as a green anole, an American anole, and a red-throated anole. It's sometimes also called a chameleon because of its ability to change color, but it's not a true chameleon.
The male has a red dewlap, a flap of skin along the throat, which it extends to court females. We used to play with these when we were kids. If you pick one up by the tail, it may drop the tail, leaving you with a wiggly tail in your grasp, to distract you, while the lizard gets away.
This one was on our kitchen door frame. The main body is about six inches long, but the tail is even longer.
The second one is a Texas Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus olivaceus). This one was on our house's rock exterior rather than the tree he would normally inhabit. He stood out against the white limestone, but when they're on a live oak, they're very hard to see. I've seen Dixie, our Border Collie, chase one around and around a tree, the lizard always keeping the tree trunk between itself and Dixie. I first heard Dixie chasing it and then could hear the lizard scurrying around, but I didn't see the lizard until I got closer.
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