Whenever we visit Arizona I have a little personal wishlist of animals I really want to see. Last time we were there I managed to see two that were really high on the list. We were visiting Sabino Canyon. I am not a big fan of hiking when it is hot so my husband had used the incentive of visiting the hummingbird monitoring site at the bottom of the valley to entice me. As we were heading out to it, this delightful little horned lizard scuttled across our path - check one! Somehow I had always thought they were bigger but I was quite entranced. It seemed as though he was so confident of his camouflage on the rocky ground that he just ignored us and went about his business which gave us a great opportunity to photograph him. However with the sun directly overhead and him being the same colour as his surroundings it was surprisingly difficult to get a good shot. Now I will have to pour over my reptile books and try to find out which species of horned lizard this is.
The very top of my wishlist, surprisingly wasn't a 'herp' but a mammal. I love pigs, always have and while this next character isn't actually a member of the pig family it bears enough of a resemblance to pigs to have won my heart. I have so wanted to see a Javelina and when we arrived at the hummingbird monitoring area there it was rooting about in the undergrowth! Perfect.
Ironically the hummingbirds were a bit of a let-down because the only two species that I saw were the two I most commonly see at my own feeders and the light was nowhere near good enough to get decent pictures. (You'll have to visit my other blog to see what they really look like.)
However I was so delighted with the Javelina that it really didn't matter. The classification of the Javelina is that it belongs to the same order as pigs and even to the same sub-order but it is from the family Tayassuidae which is (ironically) the 'new world pigs!' Their outward appearance is obviously very 'pig like' even down to that lovely snuffly snout but the foot structure, digestive process and the dental structure distinguishes them from true pigs.
By now it was really starting to warm up and most wildlife was very sensibly lying low and avoiding the heat, apart from the silly humans of course. The few exceptions were the endless array of beautiful lizards striking the pose as they thermoregulated on various rocks along our path. Again - one of these days I will get down to trying to work out the species of some of these but for now I just want to get this post out!
Check out the length of the toes on the hind feet of this guy.
Eventually even the lizards realised that it was too hot to be out in the sun and as they disappeared into the undergrowth we made our way back to the car and to a long, cold and much needed, drink. But hey - I got to see two new species on my wishlist so the sweating was worth it.
Photo Credits - CJT & DominickV
