Just look at this handsome critter! These desert iguanas are my favorite of the yard lizards. I think today it was a little spooked by the bright blue Band-Aid on my thumb.

Unfortunately I have to leave for California soon so I won't be around to see how tame it will get. But this is the third year it's been around, so hopefully it'll still be here in August when I get back.

The skittish spiny lizard finally figured out that I'm nice and a source for tasty mealworms. He also figured out quickly that whistling means food. I expect him to be following me up onto the porch soon.

This is very well maybe Bill from last year. He's hanging out in the same spot and is the same size. It may have just taken a while to remember me and that whistling means food. He looks different, but that's to be expected because I think they are in there mating season colors now.

My desert iguana buddy this morning. It's shy. I think it'll really warm up to me once I have live mealworms.

The same tiger whiptail in the previous post eating a dried meal worm. Note the little hula-wiggle it does near the beginning. I don't know what this is, but it seems unique to whiptails.

Out in the desert, even getting close enough to one to snap a photo is difficult. But with an open area where you can throw food that they can see, they'll tame up very quickly. I whistle when I feed them to get them used to that meaning food. It seems to work with some animals, but others ignore it.

Today's lizard report:
got the iguana, the wee spiny lizard, the zebra-tailed lizard and this tiger whiptail (Aspidoscelis tigris) to eat out of my hand. Oddly, the large spiny lizards (Sceloporus magister) that were so easy to tame last fall are all being skittish and my buddies haven't shown up at all.

This is the tiger whiptail taking a dried mealworm from my hand.

Went #BikeHerping and found this lil fellow, Western Banded gecko, Coleonyx variegatus, the native one. Then I got home and found a wee baby one in the yard.

Only other herp I saw on my ride was a sadly squashed little Western Diamondback rattlesnake.

I saw a second desert iguana in the neighbors yard today and two very large spiny lizards in the woodpile that I hadn't seen before. Everybody is out, finally!

The zebra-tail lizard came back but wouldn't get closer than about 4 feet again. And the big spiny lizard on the wall yesterday is still skittish. But I did get a whiptail to take dried mealworms from my hand. The iguana ate out of my hand again. Pretty amazing to get a whiptail to take worms directly from me. They are usually super fast and super skittish. The iguana is very shy but I think wants to be friends, just isn't sure yet.

I've decided that if I were a cartoonist, I would draw animated cartoons of the lizards' behavior and personalities because they're all so different!

Just after I posted this, I looked outside and a big fat Desert Spiny lizard (Sceloporus genus, probably S. magister) was sitting on the wall. I've got it eating dried mealworms from about 4 feet away, but hasn't taken any from my hand yet. These seem to be the easiest ones to tame.

This is the same species as Bill and Harriet, and about the same size as Bill, but it's not him.