Predator!

[LVSteve]

Yesterday, I noticed all my Tree Lizards were hiding. Couldn't find any lurking in their usual spots on the block walls. Hmm, neighbor's cat? grackles? Roadrunner? Nope, at about 1730 I spotted this on the block wall. Click for fullsize.

 

[Rudi]

What is it?

 

[lihpster]

I know exactly what my father would call it. As a wildlife biologist for 35 years, he was always being asked by people upon seeing a flash of movement or even just the bushes moving what animal was that. His standard response in those cases was, "That's an LBJ."


Not the President. In this case LBJ stands for "Little Brown Job".

 

[LVSteve]

It appears to be a Desert Spiny Lizard, but it could be a Yellow-Backed Spiny Lizard. the two species can look very similar depending on where we are in the breeding season. Their ranges overlap.

 

[biku324]

I thought this thread would be about the MQ-1 Predator.

 

[boykinlp]

What is it?

A Baby Dinosaur!
Larry

 

[STCM(SW)]

One shot from my M696 would make it dead meat....

 

[jeffrefrig]

I thought grackles ate those things.

 

[LVSteve]

One shot from my M696 would make it dead meat....

...and you would do that because...???

 

[LVSteve]

I thought grackles ate those things.

With its tail, that lizard is 10" or more, that's more than the average grackle wants to take on. Also, the Desert Spiny Lizard is not known for having a gentle demeanor.

 

[kraynky]

I was thinking of using,......... BBQ sauce on it........maybe lemon pepper.......

 

[Xfuzz]

Last Saturday this dude was roaming the hood.
Roofing crew one street over spotted it and knew the owners.
It had escaped over a year ago.
Had been nesting two doors up from my place under a ground level wood deck.
That is a full-size cinder block by it.
If that thing had crossed my path on one of our nighttime walks I would have puddled my
knickers.

Red Tegu..

 

[Rustyt1953]

 

[GnarlsR2]

I've lived in Arizona for 29 years. I've seen lots and lots of wild life. I'm an animal lover and really enjoy the wild life of Arizona. It's a hard life for animals here. I've seen one male Desert Spiny Lizard crawling on top of our block wall fence. He was bout 12" from nose to tip tail. They eat bugs, so great for keeping bugs down. That looks like a female, they usually are not brightly colored like the males.