by Rich Leighton | Jun 15, 2022 | Lizards, NANP, Natural History, Nature & Wildlife, Reptiles, Texas
Sometimes you are just walking along admiring the wildflowers like I was on this day in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas, when from inside a a thicket of shrimp plants, I saw this green anole watching me carefully. I just love the turquoise color around its eye!...
by Rich Leighton | Mar 16, 2022 | NANP, Natural History, Nature & Wildlife, Nature Photography, Reptiles, Texas, Turtles and Tortoises
Very recently I was looking for the somewhat rare and mostly unheard of American alligators found in South Texas just north of the Mexican border in Hidalgo County when I suddenly surprised this spiny softshell turtle that I didn’t even see until I was about 4...
by Rich Leighton | Oct 22, 2021 | Herps, NANP, Natural History, Nature & Wildlife, Nature Photography, Reptiles, Texas
Back in the swing of things posting new images! One of the coolest finds during our first couple of outings into the Rio Grande Valley was finding this Texas tortoise (Gopherus berlandieri). Very similar to the gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) that I often found...
by Rich Leighton | Oct 19, 2021 | Herps, NANP, Natural History, Nature & Wildlife, Nature Photography, Reptiles, Snakes, Texas
I’m back from a bit of a hiatus! We moved from the Seattle, Washington area to the Southern tip of Texas in the Rio Grande Valley last month, and it’s been a mad scramble to get up and running again! In order to get back in the groove of posting new...
by Rich Leighton | May 23, 2021 | Herps, Interesting Nature Facts, Natural History, Nature & Wildlife, Reptiles, Snakes
Most people know garter snakes as common and mostly harmless, but they are in fact mildly venomous. These beautiful snakes are what is known as rear-fanged, meaning they have enlarged back teeth connected to what is called the Duvernoy’s gland that they use to help...
by Rich Leighton | Dec 13, 2020 | Herps, Interesting Nature Facts, Natural History, Nature & Wildlife, New Mexico, Reptiles
Collared lizards are capable of bipedal locomotion. This means they can run on their rear two legs at speeds up to 15 miles per hour! If you see a collared lizard with red splotches on its body, you can tell it is a gravid female (carrying eggs) and these red markings...
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