More nature photos.  Whoda thunkit?

I caught (via camera, not literally) this little guy just doing his thing in the early afternoon sunlight.  It’s a male green anole (Anolis carolinensis).  First, they change color but are not chameleons.  You’ll see the evidence of that ability as you work through these photos from top to bottom; his change in color is recorded as you see his body progress through various combinations and designs.  Second, I know it’s a male because of the red/pink fan of skin on its neck that is used to woo the lady lizards (I hope to catch some video of these regulars around these parts, including the male using its neck fan and doing the lizard dance of which they’re quite fond).

This was my first attempt to digitally capture one of these little guys and I’m not entirely happy with the results.  I’ll keep trying.  That shouldn’t be too difficult since they’re numerous in this area.  In fact, I always see a great many of them hanging out around my patio during the warmer months.

It was immediately after that photo that he scurried back into the thick of the bush.  While I couldn’t get any pictures while he made his way down to the bottom, I was able to catch up with him there — and immediately noticed he started to change colors on the way down, a process that slowly finished as he reached the ground.

In the very next photo, take note of two things: how long his tail is, and his now green-and-brown color.  The color change is complete by the last photo.

And via flash…

And sans flash, but only after he leaped to the other side of the bush…

Here’s the only one I got showing his whole body — head to end of tail.  I wish it was better quality.

Look at his color now that he’s on the ground.