Collared Lizard Swarm at Joshua Tree

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fvachss
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Collared Lizard Swarm at Joshua Tree

Post by fvachss »

Went to the usual place in JTree to see Collared Lizards and was rewarded by a greater variety than I've seen in some time. At least 8 individuals seen over a 2.5 hour hike. The special treat though was (what I think is) a big Yellow Back Spiny Lizard, which I hadn't seen in that area before:

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The following are a few of the many Collared's seen today:

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There were also the usual herd of Chuckwalla wandering about - probably at least 30 before I stopped counting - but they're always easy to find there. The Collareds and Spiny were definitely the highlight of the day for me.

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nightdriver
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Re: Collared Lizard Swarm at Joshua Tree

Post by nightdriver »

Nice shots. I love collared lizards.

-nightdriver
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Fieldnotes
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Re: Collared Lizard Swarm at Joshua Tree

Post by Fieldnotes »

WoW, incredible shots! looks like an interesting adventure :beer:
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Kelly Mc
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Re: Collared Lizard Swarm at Joshua Tree

Post by Kelly Mc »

Cool shots of warm lizards :thumb:
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Porter
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Re: Collared Lizard Swarm at Joshua Tree

Post by Porter »

Man, I am looking at those bright orange mites on the back legs of those collards and that's coincidently the EXACT spot I've been experiencing the most pain today. :lol: Aqua therapy didn't do squat... well, I did some squats, but it didn't do squat :oops: Talk about a pain in the butt lol Nice shots :thumb: I dig that double chuck the most. Cool angle on the tail
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Kelly Mc
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Re: Collared Lizard Swarm at Joshua Tree

Post by Kelly Mc »

Porter wrote:Man, I am looking at those bright orange mites on the back legs of those collards and that's coincidently the EXACT spot I've been experiencing the most pain today. :lol: Aqua therapy didn't do squat... well, I did some squats, but it didn't do squat :oops: Talk about a pain in the butt lol Nice shots :thumb: I dig that double chuck the most. Cool angle on the tail

Hey! Good Eye There Porter! :thumb:

Check this out - whats crazy is that I have been off work with a pain EXACTLY there too! PT did nothing, so I asked for an MRI and it turns out its a synovial cyst in my L5 pushing up on a nerve root causing harmless but bad hip pain. Im getting it aspirated and shot up with steroids wednesday morning. Although Im older than you they are still uncommon even in people my age unless you work with your back alot, which I have. Small frame I have. Your alot bigger and stronger but I could imagine you being a person who overextends yourself physically (Geter Done!) and ignores small pain.

Im not kidding around its right THERE. If you havent had an MRI try to get one. It shows everything and although Im not really a Rush fan, being in the machine sounds alot like all their songs.
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Porter
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Re: Collared Lizard Swarm at Joshua Tree

Post by Porter »

Kelly Mc wrote:Hey! Good Eye There Porter! :thumb:

Check this out - whats crazy is that I have been off work with a pain EXACTLY there too! PT did nothing, so I asked for an MRI and it turns out its a synovial cyst in my L5 pushing up on a nerve root causing harmless but bad hip pain. Im getting it aspirated and shot up with steroids wednesday morning. Although Im older than you they are still uncommon even in people my age unless you work with your back alot, which I have. Small frame I have. Your alot bigger and stronger but I could imagine you being a person who overextends yourself physically (Geter Done!) and ignores small pain.

Im not kidding around its right THERE. If you havent had an MRI try to get one. It shows everything and although Im not really a Rush fan, being in the machine sounds alot like all their songs.
Lol ...Life is funny like that. I've been injured since last year and I remember reading something on here about Hubbs birding because of a hernia (operation?) and had to take a couple days to fully convince myself it wasn't some kind of head game mind joke :lol: :crazyeyes:

Oh, I goter done alright...lol I hurt myself in January of last yr (groin pull/strain), did rehab and the dumbass I am, thought I'll go back and tough it out, it's like when I used to roll my ankle skateboarding, I'll just walk it out....pfft. Put myself though agonizing pain for a couple months (good days/bad days) and got to the point after a month in a half or so (took a couple days off, worked til I couldn't, couple days off, worked til I couple, ect..), I couldn't load 13 boxes of oranges into a customers pick up truck from a pallet. My leg muscles felt like they were being ripped from my body, from the hip to the outter ankle. So, back outta work, MRI, Ultrasound, QME, ect,ect... diagnosis: tear of the inner adductor muscle where it connects to the pelvic bone and broken loose cartilage between the labrum and femur. 3am start, 10-15 hour days, constant class-A driving, running up and down the aluminum ramp of a refrigerated produce truck, hantruck kick rotating 300 lbs of produce (on said sensitive area), delivering all the schools, restaurants (Grocery outlet, red robin, old spaghetti fact, ect...)military bases, local routes, Lake Tahoe routes, produce literally stacked to the roof on some days (no room to put you hand truck in the back of the truck or the electric pallet jack that you need for two stops) then running seconds when you get back to the warehouse, for two years, pretty much just wore and tore me.... Best money I ever made though. It sucks... but if John Cardiel can un-paralyze himself, this an't shit. I just gotta baby fix myself.... slowly :?

Kelly Mc wrote:although Im not really a Rush fan, being in the machine sounds alot like all their songs.
:lol: OMG, that fuggin' thing was driving me crazy! I seriously thought I was gonna loose my mind towards the end :crazyeyes: lol It does sound like that! My exact interpretation as well actually. Sounds kinda cool at first... then it's like a bad acid trip at a rave :lol: :crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: :crazyeyes:

The only good thing about Rush was the drummer :lol: :lol: Sorry Rush fans... :? :lol: (EDIT...I listened to Tom Sawyer yesterday and yep, they without a doubt one of the best :thumb: 5/29/2017) I can hang with a bit a Beegee's on the right day but I've never liked that high pitched girly stuff. I can dig on some Muse only because he does that Cobain vocal style of emulating distortion guitar sounds. He get's a little too opera for me, but I like all ther hits, the early albums, and prolly 85% of each album. Even women... I can listen to Janis forever, Four non-blondes, breeders, Patsy Cline, Fiona Apple, several others... but I think Mazzy Star is the only woman's voice to ever have reached the inner depth of my teenage soul. :sleep: If I had Mazzy in that time machine from hell, I woulda fallen right to sleep . Love that Mazzy



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Porter
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Re: Collared Lizard Swarm at Joshua Tree

Post by Porter »

. (I don't like posting on grey lol I like posting on black)
mark buck
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Re: Collared Lizard Swarm at Joshua Tree

Post by mark buck »

Porter wrote:Man, I am looking at those bright orange mites on the back legs of those collards
Mites?
Hmm, I figured those were just orange specks of coloration, similar to the markings near the collar.

Either way beautiful lizards and photographs!
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Porter
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Re: Collared Lizard Swarm at Joshua Tree

Post by Porter »

mark buck wrote:
Porter wrote:Man, I am looking at those bright orange mites on the back legs of those collards
Mites?
Hmm, I figured those were just orange specks of coloration, similar to the markings near the collar.

Either way beautiful lizards and photographs!
yep, they be buggin :? I thought the same too at first til I took a closer look when I got my lifers last year. I always study the plant, rocks, and habitat of cool variations and lifer species so I can find them again elsewhere. The orange bastards were on the milkweeds (I think they were milkweed...lol I don't know most of my plant names).
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Kelly Mc
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Re: Collared Lizard Swarm at Joshua Tree

Post by Kelly Mc »

Hey Porter - yeah take care, what happens now comes back. The song is a good one, Ive heard it many times but never saw who sang it. No real MTV anymore. I didnt realize the singer was such a haunting little waif, edgy faery type.

Its cool how the chiggers cluster where the skin is thin and there is a vein. They are going to town.
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Porter
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Re: Collared Lizard Swarm at Joshua Tree

Post by Porter »

Kelly Mc wrote:Hey Porter - yeah take care, what happens now comes back.


For sure. First time I did Aqua therapy, I over stretched and the PT dude made me stop because my leg was swollen up like a balloon (which it was been doing all along since the injury, whenever it gets flared up) It's crazy! My ankle gets twice the size of the other one. So it's just gonna take a lot of fine tuning, slow strengthening, and appropriate R&R (hopefully).


Kelly Mc wrote: The song is a good one, Ive heard it many times but never saw who sang it. No real MTV anymore. I didnt realize the singer was such a haunting little waif, edgy faery type.
Great song! Dark, but soothing. It's definitely a medicine for my DNA.

Hahaha, Damn! That's harsh :lol: aren't you the one who's always sticking up for women's rights? :o :P If we hadn't conversed that one (and only) time on the phone when you left me that nice voice message (no sarcasm), after I called you and didn't leave a message (to see if you really were who you said you were. Like I think I explained, I live a very private life and only allow very selected few become apart of it), I'd be debating right weather or not you were Hubbs (or anyone/someone. only saying Hubbs because of the coincidence mentioned aboves) pulling some catfish-profile-troll stuff on me :lol: I get a lot of that :? As for the Mazz, I'm sure that's probably a result of how she was treated as a kid. But yeah, the talent, songwriting, and live performance of emotion and artistic quality is what impresses me. Reminds me of my youth and girls in my life at that time. Great times

Kelly Mc wrote: Its cool how the chiggers cluster where the skin is thin and there is a vein. They are going to town.
That is just downright disgusting... :lol: Mother Earth and the good lord above can hire Van Helsing to rid the world of those bloodsucking parasites along with ticks and sketters anytime and I won't mind. :thumb:
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Kelly Mc
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Re: Collared Lizard Swarm at Joshua Tree

Post by Kelly Mc »

Oh wow I did say 'cool' didnt I? haha well they are successful little monsters here on planet Earth.

And no way do I mean waif in any negative way ;) Its a nice type. More intriguing than the Barbie doll kind of chick..

Your diversity, emotional intelligence and other things you share really make me wish for you that your wish comes true - you better PM me when it does so I can tell you I told ya so! :beer:
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Porter
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Re: Collared Lizard Swarm at Joshua Tree

Post by Porter »

Kelly Mc wrote:Oh wow I did say 'cool' didnt I? haha well they are successful little monsters here on planet Earth.

And no way do I mean waif in any negative way ;) Its a nice type. More intriguing than the Barbie doll kind of chick..

Your diversity, emotional intelligence and other things you share really make me wish for you that your wish comes true - you better PM me when it does so I can tell you I told ya so! :beer:
Cool :thumb:


I don't like thinking about it, but I have to admit, they are some colorful little buggers. These are some really cool shots btw :beer: I got my lifer last year and it was awesome. I never touched her and she just hopped up on a rock right in front of me in a perfect pose. I tired to get some nice colorful shots like you have here, but she wouldn't let me get around to the other side of her, hopped down, and ran a little ways away . I got a couple color shots after slowly walking back up to her, but not quite the angle I wanted. She ran again and I let go on her way after that. I dig the variation your shots display as well. Artistically, that chuck shot steals the cake for me tho :thumb: great balance and interesting pose

Here's a close up of the mites on the male (2nd) one saw last year. You can see them somewhat dispersed around the clusters if you zoom in

Imagecollard liz1 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr
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Kelly Mc
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Re: Collared Lizard Swarm at Joshua Tree

Post by Kelly Mc »

They look like the flavorless but colorful fish row they sprinkle on sushi. But really thats a great zoom-in they look like forms that chew on skin, its remarkable what a mass of tiny things can do.

Once I retrieved a shed out of one of my snakes enclosure during a time we were having these periodic raids of a very tiny and decidedly protein seeking ant, I left it on the table and forgot about it and, I guess it was a couple days later I reached for it to throw away but there was something odd about the way it looked so I bent forward and as a breath exhaled from my nostrils the scales shifted and floated apart like leaves on a driveway on a windy day - shape of the snake softly shattering apart, each scale a tiny isolate coin - the ants had eaten away all the interstitial skin! I was kind of freaked out about it, I just immediately feared for my frogs and possible infestation in my cages, but they only went for dead things, dead dubias, the raw meat stuff i feed my cat, and weirdest of all the shed. I wiped the table down and there were a few stragglers.

Just as suddenly as they appeared at our house the ants left.
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Re: Collared Lizard Swarm at Joshua Tree

Post by mark buck »

Thanks for the info and additional pic Porter 8-)


Went digging to find a shot from the last time I had a Collared in hand,
sure enough you can see a small cluster of orange mites in the middle of his collar...

Image
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Porter
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Re: Collared Lizard Swarm at Joshua Tree

Post by Porter »

That's a beautiful looking collard lizard :thumb:
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Porter
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Re: Collared Lizard Swarm at Joshua Tree

Post by Porter »

mark buck wrote:Thanks for the info and additional pic Porter 8-)


Went digging to find a shot from the last time I had a Collared in hand,
sure enough you can see a small cluster of orange mites in the middle of his collar...]
Welcome. Yeah, it's a trip because they are the same color of bright orange that you see on the lizards. Like the Earth knew what color to make them to keep us from brushing them off :lol:
Still BT
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Re: Collared Lizard Swarm at Joshua Tree

Post by Still BT »

NIce pics. What camera/lens/settings?

Long range?
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Will Wells
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Re: Collared Lizard Swarm at Joshua Tree

Post by Will Wells »

Nice shots of some cool lizards!
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