Little Lizards

A small lizard appeared from the shadows of a milkweed plant 

and creeped along one of the long leaves as if he were checking things out-

"Things look pretty quiet out here right now".  After a few moments, he was gone.

Seconds later, another lizard was seen easing along the edges of a leaf.

Only this one was smaller- a wee baby lizard.  So tiny and defenseless, 

so vulnerable to predators that are everywhere around him.

So new to the lessons of survival in this great big world around him.  

I hope he's a quick learner.

Porch Critters

Good afternoon everyone!  It's a great Saturday for me- I'm off work! Yipeeee! I did do some sweaty yard work this morning- pulling and digging up weeds from my flower beds, but after a nice shower, I'm taking it easy for a little while.  My oldest grandsons are visiting this weekend and my husband cooked a fantastic meal, so I'm a clean, fat and happy grandma right now ;)

I hope your weekend is going well.  Today I'm sharing a few critters that hang around my back porch- 

Southeastern Five-lined Skink- I used to think these were called Salamanders, but I'm not sure why

Cute little frog- not sure of his biological name, just a green frog to me

I love tiny frogs!

This lizard surely appears to be at peace in his surroundings- zzzzzzzzzzzz

An itsy-bitsy spider dangling from the tin roof

Closer view of the itsy-bitsy spider- can anyone identify it? 

A carpenter bee bore a perfect round hole in one of my porch beams.  

I knew nothing about carpenter bees until I saw them drilling holes in my porch beams. During some research, I learned the difference between bumble bees and carpenter bees- most importantly, one will destroy your home while the other one watches.  We plan to seal the holes and put a finish on the porch wood soon (we just built the porch about 6 to 7 months ago).  

Thank you for visiting!

Linking with our friendly hostess Eileen at Saturday's Critters

Small Critters of Summer

This week I'm sharing a few photos of the smaller living things

 that shared our porch and yard during summer...

Lizard displaying his dewlap and bobbing up and down...either he was trying to catch
the attention of a female or he was trying to intimidate trespassers

This one usually hid in my spider plant

Did you know that lizards like grape jelly?  I didn't know either- until I saw this one lapping it up

I had put out the grape jelly to draw in the yellow jackets- this helped keep them away
from the hummingbird feeders.

Walking sticks are so strange.  Plain-out weird-looking.  This is one of only two I've seen this year.

I almost sat down on this fuzzy little cutie that trespassed upon my lawn chair.
Does anyone know what species of caterpillar this is? Update: This is a Banded Tussock Moth caterpillar-
thanks to Theresa at Run-Around Ranch for her help in identifying it :)

I still see you! A couple of grasshoppers tried to camouflage themselves
in the green foliage of a nearby field.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend thus far.

Thank you for dropping in!

Linked with Eileen at Saturday's Critters,

Thank you, Eileen for hosting this fun and interesting meme!