No, that is not the creature. That is what started our exploration. We recently built a small back patio so that we could sit out back and watch the zucchini grow. Seriously, have you ever noticed how fast zucchini grows? Okay, back to that thing up there. Over the last few weeks we started seeing what looked like mouse droppings, only they had a little white ball on the end of them. So, being who we are, we wanted to solve the mystery. So, I googled, "droppings with white tips" and guess what? We discovered that what we were seeing were lizard droppings. Yep, you heard me right--lizard droppings. Here is what I have learned: "Lizard droppings have white tips due to the process of reptile elimination: both feces and urine exit their body through the same opening: the cloaca. Lizards are very water-efficient and their urine is quite concentrated. The white tip on the droppings is uric acid crystals." In case you were all wondering. Ha
I am always amazed how even someone who has been a "learner" and thought she knew a great deal about nature and wildlife, can keep on learning even at almost 55 years of age.
Now we knew we had a lizard in the garden and by the size of the droppings, a pretty good sized lizard at that. Michael has since seen that lizard (approximately 6 inches long) appear from under the tool shed and then disappear as quickly as it appeared. I had yet to be so privileged. I would go out into the garden and sit for a while and call out, "Here Liz-red, Liz-red" That was the nickname I gave to him. "Here Liz-red, Liz-red". Well, late this afternoon, it happened.
Running along the raised flower bed border was a lizard. Only he was not "Liz-red". He was a baby lizard only an inch and a half long. I went back into the house and got the camera hoping he would hang around for a few pictures. To my delight, when I returned, there he was posing. I was able to take three shots before he scampered away into the Basil jungle.
It would appear that "Liz-red" was not a he after all. We now have baby lizards in the Wood's Secret Garden.
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