Resident horned toad!!!

Several days ago, I lucked out in the critter department. First, there was this LBB hopping about the front of my house, dangerously close to the human type animal (me). I suppose that it was a youngster, who hasn't learned the hard lessons about safe distances. (Well, maybe he had -- I see that this picture is more than a little noisy from being blown up too much.) No idea of what variety of bird, but it was sparrow or finch size.

But look at what I found over on the landscape river rocks at a neighbor's house. I haven't seen an adult horny toad in these parts in a couple of decades, though I did discover babies two years ago, meaning that there were grown-ups hiding out somewhere. When spotted, the horny one freezes, unlike most of the local lizards. That's why I was able to get several shots; note how he has moved his head ever so slightly slightly to get a better look at the big monster photographer (below). Also interesting: he is blue-ish, compared to the usual brown. The reason may be the blue-ish color of the rocks where he appears to be living. FYI, head/body length about 5-6 inches.

Nature Linkage: According to Foothills Fancies, it you see tufts of Ponderosa pine on the ground, credit the Aberts squirrel. Which reminds me that over in Bavaria, the beautiful red squirrels that visit Steve's deck now have a young one or two. Warren displays shots of gorgeous Easter Lily Cactus at a Tucson nursery, while From My Point of View takes a trip to equally gorgeous Fossil Creek in its new, free-flowing condition. And down in Kermit in Texas, the 2nd graders do a major dinosaur show; no, no Tippy-style costumes.

Critters for Christmas!

Some months ago, I bought myself a big horned toad over at Watters -- and two weeks later, proceeded to break off one of his horns. How wonderful this morning to open my door to a neighbor who handed me the replacement horned toad above, complete to Christmas ribbon. This lizard has lived in a house with cats, which probably explains Max cat's interest.

But that's not my only Christmas critter. On the day before the 25th, my mailman stopped by with a package from Alaska. The SIL had sent yummy Alaskan fish/seafood spreads, all packaged up in a gorgeous box with a Haida raven. The box now sits next last year's salmon box, which was chock full of smoked salmon when it entered my house.

Oh, yes -- there is yet another critter report. While the dotter was visiting, she heard a bit of commotion on the back porch and looked out, to find a raccoon investigating the wood pile. That's where my reputed chipmunk lives. Raccoon made good time making himself scarce.

Critters updated

Of course, we'll never know just what happened. Last evening, well after nightfall, I heard the local ravens shouting -- a very unusual event. My take? I suspect that the neighborhood raccoons were raiding a nest. Today I found out that the dawg next door alerted his family of nefarious doings in the wee hours. They've still no idea what was up. One more mystery.

However, this hawk was very much out in the open, if an extra long shot away, on that recent outing to the Santa Maria river. I handed the camera to Dana who took a fine, steady picture tho the lens was stretched a bit beyond its resolving power (below).

Meanwhile, back in the city, the acorn woodpeckers have been around and about.

And the last bird note: a tiny nest I discovered while photographing trees as they leaf out. My guess is that it was built by hummingbirds.

In the mammal department: a friend who hunts passed along this picture, taken at night by an automatic camera set-up at his regular haunt over near Camp Wood. It's a ringtail, first cousin to the raccoon. I checked my references and this critter is indeed found as high as 6000 ft. in the Prescott area, preferably in rocky locations. The one time I saw a real live ringtail in nature was down in the Agua Fria canyon near Badger Springs. And in the daytime -- very unusual for this critter who's active at night. Ringtails were sometimes tamed by old-time miners as pets.

Another friend, Bobbi, contributed this picture of a new beaver dam at Stillman Lake. She adds that as many as five young beavers have moved into the Verde headwaters. They got ambitious, too (below), tackling a tree that's 12-15" in diameter. Very interesting: the LH and I found evidence of beavers at King Springs over in nearby Hell Canyon, but that is the only place we ever noted beaver-cut trees in the Upper Verde area.


And here's a relic from the previous owners of my building: a beaver-cut chunk of tree that was mounted over one of the doorways.

A week ago, this mourning cloak butterfly was patrolling out front along the road. The day was chilly and, periodically, the critter would alight, wings spread and then close them, soaking up sunlight and warmth. I never did see him/her locate -- or look for -- a flower.


And, in the reptile corner, a picture of one of my many little lizards who actually sat still long enough for a portrait. The Max cat is big on chasing (and catching) lizards, BTW.

The finale: an H.M. (Highly Magnified) horned toad replica I found at Watters on a recent visit. How could I resist?

Critter Links: Read all about the chicken whisperer over at The One Acre Wood; Escaping Suburbia posted a cool osprey picture and World Photos offers swans and geese along the River Main in Germany (Steve also has a rival grey squirrel visitor at The Red Squirrel. You might also find the Daily Mammal and the Nature Blog Network of interest. If you have the time! There's just a wealth of Good Stuff out there...

Horney Toads Revisited

So I just received this interesting email re: my recent post on the birth of 12 little horned toads. Aunt Phibia wrote: I wanted to respond to the mention of horny toads shooting blood out of their eyes. It is true of only one species...found in CA. The two species around here...Eastern Horned Toad (east of what I wonder) and the Mountain Horned Toad do not have this ability...and they only do it when they are scared to death...or nearly. Also, of these two species one bears live young and one lays eggs...interesting eh? Finally, my concern was that they live in a den for much of their first year...so I hope that you put them back near to where you found the mom and that they don't think your table is their den.

First, I want to reassure Aunt Phibia about those youngsters. We are now several generations from the little guys whose pictures I showed. Either they found their den or they didn't. Not much I can do about it more than 20 years later! And, second, I wanted to pass along a curious fact I picked up at the archeology society meeting last night. If you see horned toad petroglyphs at sites down in the Verde Valley (and further north), they may well be Hopi clan symbols; this particular clan is responsible for water matters. Why, I would wonder -- for us white men, the horny toad is very much a symbol for the dryness of the desert.

Horned Toads by the Dozen

This lonely piece of new gear has been sitting next my computer since April, waiting to be fired up. Finally happened today. Oh, yes -- it's a slide scanner, given me by my mother. Purpose: bringing color slides out of my past to life again on the computer. You'll see why in a moment.

Yep, that's my little horned toad I've seen out front. As I mentioned a while back, this is the first of these critters I've seen at my house in about 20 years! By the way, this is a really wee guy, about an inch across -- note how he's trying to hide behind that leaf of grass. If it weren't for that fringe-y outline, he'd disappear right among all that gravel. Because they blend into the background, horned toads will sit still rather than hide; thus it can be easy to pick them up.

Just for purposes of comparison, here's a much bigger lizard -- about 3-1/2 inches from nose to end of body. This picture by was taken my late husband shortly after we arrived in Arizona, as was the sequence below. All were Ektachrome color slides.

One April day in 1982 we saw a rather fat horned toad, picked it up and brought it into the house to take its portrait. As soon as I put it on the table, the lady (for it was certainly a she) began to give birth! Luckily, my LH had the camera ready.

Like most reptiles, the horned toad does deliver a clutch of eggs; unlike most, the babies are quite ready to emerge. In essence, live birth.

Here's a close-in view of that egg, which at this point is simply a membrane enclosing the hatchling. You can see his legs and tail folded up against his body.

Here, the hatchling has stretched out and the membrane is starting to dry up.

While he finishes drying, his color pattern is developing out.

Already he's an alert little fellow!

And here are two of the 12 little guys that hatched that day. Slightly bigger than a thumbnail. We entered the slides into the photo competition at the Yavapai County Fair that year and the LH took a blue ribbon. Well deserved, too.