First Catch

Last year I spent a considerable amount of time photographing lizards. Not just any lizards - Oriental Garden Lizards. I really enjoy photographing them. Even watching them is interesting. You can get really close if you're careful not to spook them.

With all the new construction sites and the massive destruction of vegetation here I expected there to be very few of these lizards this year and I'm sad to say that I was right. I've seen very few of these and that's really sad. This was the first lizard I was able to photograph this year. I've seen a couple of lizards in the last three weeks but that's too few.

Hope you all have a good week ahead :)

Drama

This particular Oriental Garden Lizard didn't mind me taking pictures of it. It was a little shy in the beginning but after a while it was ok with me being around it.

Getting Busy

I've been photographing Oriental Garden Lizards for a while now and I've almost documented an entire life cycle - right from the eggs to them shedding skin. What I hadn't been able to capture was these lizards mating. Well, I kinda did. I won't say I'm 100% satisfied with these images because I wish I could have gone closer but I'm happy that I got something.

Redhead

Can you spot the Oriental Garden Lizard? Should be easy since it's the only thing with a red head in the frame.

In The Open

I really don't mind if I had to photograph Oriental Garden Lizards all day. They're awesome and beautiful.

Curiosity

I noticed this Oriental Garden Lizard on this wire fence once morning and I had to get a picture.
It seemed to be really willing to all me to take a few pictures after a while. It was quite shy in the beginning but got comfortable with me being around.

Steady Gaze

It's no secret that I enjoy photographing Oriental Garden Lizards. These are amazing creatures but most people don't really like them.

This one got a little too close to my dog and he started barking his head off. Fortunately that meant that I got to take this picture.

Always Watchful

This was a rather unexpected encounter. I just peeped out of the window and noticed this Oriental Garden Lizard on the fence. I grabbed my camera a got a few quick shots before it noticed me and ran off and climbed this lemon tree.

This was rather unexpected but gave me quite a few good shots.

Watchful Eye

So I was out getting lunch for my dog when this lizard jumped out of nowhere. It's head was bright red when I first saw it so I'm guessing it was somewhere high up trying to attract a mate.

It seemed to be shy but allowed to take a few pictures before deciding that it didn't quite like me.

Outta Here

This lizard held this pose for a few moments before giving me one final look and running off.

A Greeting

I was out shooting another lizard when this one just poked its head out and stared at me.

Hanging On

These lizard sure are athletic. I could never pull off a move like that.

Spot The Redhead

Apologies to people with red hair everywhere - I do not mean to offend you.

I'm merely referring to this beautiful lizard.

Peeping OGL

OGL? What's that you ask? Well that stands for Oriental Garden Lizard.
Their numbers are fast depleting in this area and so I try and take their pictures whenever I can.

Trying To Hide

Watching this lizard reminded me of playing hide-and-seek when I was little. I could never stop laughing and so was one of the first ones caught.

This lizard just couldn't stay still. If it hadn't moved I would never have noticed it but it just started running as soon as it saw me when I was more than 20 feet away. Now I'm glad that it did move because it gave me a really unique shot.

A Brief Stare

This juvenile Oriental Garden Lizard was very difficult to shoot.

It kept hiding. I'm sure if it plays hide-and-seek with it's friends it'll beat them every single time. The fact that they can change their skin colour to a certain extent doesn't help either.

I had to search for quite a while just to find it and get this shot.

Playful

This is the juvenile Oriental Garden Lizard that I spoke of in my previous blog post about these lizards. This is only one I've seen that's this tiny.

It was thinner than my little finger - and that's really ting because I'm pretty thin myself. It was tiny but it's tail just stretched on forever.

It was beautiful though and I wish I had more time photographing it. It was really shy and kept jumping everywhere. It just wouldn't stay still. But it was worth it. I hope I get to see more of these this year.

First Catch

If you read my previous post, you'll know that I mentioned seeing two Oriental Garden Lizards two days back.

Well this is the one the co-operated and allowed me to take a few pictures. It held that pose for about thirty seconds which was more than enough time to grab this shot.

Last year was the first time I ever saw baby Oriental Garden Lizards (I think I'll just call then OGL to make it easier). Lets hope I see loads more this year :)

Intense

Since most of the lizard were hibernating I wasn't able to get good pictures so here is one that I took last year.

This particular fellow won a fight which I'm guessing was about its territory. It then went on to climb a fence and just stayed there for a while before coming back down and onto the grass.

It provided me with loads of really great picture opportunities and I must say that those pictures were some of my favourites.

Also I think the lizards are slowly coming out of hibernation because yesterday was really sunny and I saw two of these amazing creatures. I was able to shoot one (with a camera, obviously).

Leaf Eater

We've had this cherry tree in our front garden for a few years now and one of the best things about it is the wildlife it attracts. There are loads of birds, bats and Oriental Garden Lizards that love this tree.

I've seen birds and bats eating the fruit but I've never seen an Oriental Garden Lizard eating one so I was curious when I noticed this little lizard munching on something. Turns out it was eating the leaves.

It was completely engrossed in what it was doing that it didn't even notice me sneaking up on it to get a picture. This has got to be one of my favourite pictures of this beautiful creature.

You can find this picture and more in my new "Best of 2013" video on my Youtube channel.