Tag Archives: Anoles

Puffed up and angry

A green anole defends its territory in a hedge from an encroaching photographer. A typical display involves a lot of head bobbing and extending of the anole’s dewlap. If the intruder is another anole, the defender might rush the other one, though in my experience, they rarely end up fighting.

When I’m the intruder, the anoles usually have a similar expression to this one, a sort of benign resignation.

Bamboo with gecko and anole

I noticed this gold dust day gecko and green anole in a stand of yellow bamboo. The gecko was just hanging out as per usual, but from the anole’s perspective it was intruding on his territory. When that happens, an anole will puff out his pink dewlap and engage in some vigorous head bobbing. This performance will put wanna-be anoles in their place, but I have yet to see it work on a gecko.

Posted in response to Becky’s July Squares challenge theme of ‘Perspective.’ See more responses here.

Green anole looking rough

Green anoles often look a bit rough on the top of their noses, but this one was particularly rough and white in that area. In addition, while it has assumed brown coloration, a patch of green refused to go away. One or both of these conditions might be related to shedding, but it could be something entirely different.

Green anole

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Green Macro or Close-Up.’ See more offerings here.

Here’s a green anole (Anolis carolinensis) perched on a green ti leaf so that I could take its photo (possibly). Light greens in the sun, dark greens in the shadow. With all this, I can forgive the anole its powder blue eye-shadow.

Brown anole

I’ve posted plenty of anole photos on this blog, but they have all been of the green anole or Carolina anole (Anolis carolinensis). Some of these photos have shown an anole that is colored brown, but that’s because the green anole can change color to brown.

It was only recently that I saw my first brown anole (Anolis sagrei), which has a quite different look and different markings to the green anole. Native to Cuba and the Bahamas, it is considered quite invasive and will outcompete green anoles for territory. This one was next to the coast path through Hualalai Resort on the Kona coast.

Favorite photos from the early days

My first decent pueo photo taken on Old Saddle Road. I noticed it on the post as I drove by, then stopped, got out, and started taking photos. The bird watched me with that intent stare that they have. (Original post here.)

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Oldie-but-Goodie or Favorite Photo.’ (See more responses here.)
This seemed like a good opportunity to run a few of my favorite photos from the first year of this blog.

Hawaiian monk seals are solitary creatures, but these two spent some weeks in each others company. On the left is the female and on the right is IO5, the male I see most often up here in Kohala. (Original post here.)
A rusty millipede casts a giant shadow.
I saw this rusty millipede crossing a dirt road in the late afternoon and liked its giant shadow. This photo ran on the BBC website here. (Original post here.)
A new born calf is cleaned by his mother.
A cow cleaning her very new calf. Another photo that ran on the BBC website here. (Original post here.)
A pair of zebra doves perch on a mock orange branch
A couple of zebra doves enjoying the late afternoon sun together. (Original post here.)
Breakfast strikes back
A personal favorite, this green anole snagged a Chinese rose beetle, but the beetle did not give up. Instead, it got itself onto the anole’s nose before escaping. The anole did not look thrilled at having this incident photographed. (Original post here.)
Finally, a photo from a hike along the coast. Colorful tide pools, blue ocean, white sand – I spent a long time traversing this stretch. (Original post here.)