Wild kingdom in the backyard
Texas spiny lizards tend to be skittish, scuttling under the car or a potted plant when you walk by. But one very laid-back lizard has taken up residence on the shady upper patio in recent weeks. It calmly eyes me and holds its ground, even when I’m dragging a hose around. It has even allowed a few close-up paparazzi pictures. That wrinkly face!
Its scaly coloring is lovely, isn’t it? It’s meant for camouflage against tree bark rather than hose-cart tires. Texas spiny lizards are Southwest-native arboreal lizards that also enjoy nosing around in leaf litter and basking in the sun. They eat plenty of bugs, so I’m a fan.
Another bug hunter in my garden is the green anole, a favorite of children and wildlife observers because of its ability to change color from green to brown and its placid temperament. It’ll cock its head and watch you brightly as it sunbathes on a fence or leaf, seemingly unafraid. I spotted this one eating a sphinx moth and still have no idea how he managed to choke it down.
Red admiral butterflies have been sipping nectar from tall verbena (V. bonariensis) in the Circle Garden.
They are quick fliers but allow photos if I don’t make sudden movements.
This morning I saw a monarch there too.
I accidentally got a photo of a wasp on a poppy leaf. What is it doing, I wonder? It seems to be rolling something up.
Honeybees busily gather pollen in the poppies.
And check this out! One very skittish screech owl has been spotted multiple times in the owl box. We’ve no idea if it’s a nesting female or just taking occasional refuge here. About 1-1/2 years ago we lost our owl tree and had to move the box. Since then, no owl has chosen to raise chicks here again, a loss I feel keenly. But maybe this spring…
What kind of animal activity is going on in your wild kingdom?
__________________________
Digging Deeper
Come learn about gardening and design at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, authors, and gardeners a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance; simply click this link and ask to be added. Season 8 kicks off in fall 2024. Stay tuned for more info!
All material © 2024 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
Lots of fun wildlife activity in your garden! Watching wildlife is one of my favorite things about the garden. Do you have lots of paper wasp in Texas? They are relentless here. We have so many that build nests high up in the eaves and we can’t reach them. Last year the Eastern Phoebe was eating the larva from the nest so that was helpful.
Yes, we have paper wasps too, although I wouldn’t characterize them as relentless. We do have to take out one or two nests under the eaves each year. How nice to have a bird do that for you!
Love your wildlife. I have never seen a spiny lizard in my yard. But I am seeing more toads. I also have a screech owl and this year, an owlet as well! It looks big enough to fledge so I’ve been watching closely. The house sits on a pole with the nearest tree 6 ft away. I’m concerned it will end up on the ground.
Hooray, an owl! None in my owl box yet this year. I keep looking.
That’s me too, every day, looking to see if it’s there and if it will show itself. My fingers are crossed that it has set up house, but I kind of suspect not. The behavior doesn’t match up with what we’ve seen in past years, where mama would be in the doorway all day by now as the chicks grow bigger.
I love that you have a screech owl(s) — we have all sorts of birds and other wildlife, including black bears, but no owls in our urban woodland forest.
I’ll skip the bears, but it’s exciting to hear about your animal sightings, Lisa. 🙂
An owl! I “need” an owl box.
They’re pretty fun!
So glad the owl may be back! Wonderful photos, as usual… Thank you.
I actually think he/she is only visiting (sob!). But I’ll take an occasional visit, just so long as I get to see one. 🙂
Your reptilian wildlife seems very exotic to someone who lives on the West Coast. In my yard it’s common to see a Western Fence Lizard and we might occasionally see the larger Northern Alligator Lizard.
The Texas spiny lizard seemed pretty exotic to me when we first moved into this house 12 years ago. I’d only ever seen anoles in my former garden here in Austin. But now that I’m living in a live oak forest, these fierce-looking (but harmless) lizards are everywhere. It’s a completely different habitat, just a few miles from our old house. We have alligator lizards here, but I’ve never seen one in my garden.
I love seeing the lizards especially when they are eating all of the bugs. I’ve seen a few whiptail lizards this year which I haven’t seen much of in the past.
Working from home, I’ve been able to watch hawks build a nest in our backyard. I actually saw them mate too. They were then pushed out by another larger set of hawks and by pushed out, I mean one of the hawks was unfortunately killed, found under the nest with his head pecked at. The new hawks then built up the nest even further for a couple of weeks, but have moved off to another nest close by. I imagine this is a result of two pairs of hawks building nests too close to each other. Sad, but at least I don’t have to worry about them swooping down on my dog like they have in the past.
Wow, it’s pretty incredible that you were able to witness that. But how sad too. Good for your pup though!
Love your wild kingdom observations. I too have seen the spiny lizards and anoles that keep me company while I’m weeding and tending to my close-to-the-house tame backyard garden of sandankwa virburnums (favorite hangout for the anoles), crossvine, lantanas, and coneflowers. But today I was given a real treat (?) walking in my farther-from-the-house, not-so-tame wildflower field flanked by side oats gramma and mountain pea – a coral snake slithered right across my path of steppers. I shooed it away but think it really likes the mountain pea. Time for a trimming on the pea! And the anoles seem to know to avoid the wildflower area.
Re the cute owls, I’m assuming you can’t have owls/owl houses if you want to keep songbirds visiting? Aren’t small birds part of the owl’s diet?
A coral snake sighting at close range is excitement indeed. See my post from 2016!
As for screech owls, they definitely co-exist with songbirds. We have plenty of wrens, titmice, finches, cardinals, and more in our trees and birdhouses, even when we have an owl family in the owl box. While screech owls are capable of killing songbirds, they hunt at night, and I’ve read their diet mostly consists of moths, roaches, lizards, and small rodents. If you have trees, you may have screech owls hunting in your garden already. A box just gives them a place to nest, and watching them is a real treat.
Do you also have wasps that parasitise spiders? We do, and yours appears to have bundle of spider.
Yes, we do, Diana, even ones that are big enough to paralyze and drag off a tarantula. I looked at the high-res version of the photo to see if I could tell if that’s what’s going on. I can’t make out that it’s a spider, but it’s an interesting theory — could be!