Fauna and flora & sunsets of Sun City

I saw a lizard yesterday that was a kind I'd not seen before. When I see one around here there are that zoomy, fairly flat sort, but this one looked like a little iguana, it was probably 9 or 10 inches long and held its head up high, had a little crest on top. Interesting little critter, is it a local I've missed or . . . . .......... something else?

 

We had a larger lizard living in the greenery on the back wall. It was about 12 inches long, and it, too, appeared to be from the iguana family. We had affectionately named it "Godzilla" because of its speed and size. The dogs would love to chase it through the greenery, never getting close enough to cause the lizard and harm. Alas, either a hawk of owl got it, as we have not seen Godzilla around for many months now. We still have the gecko's and the other flat type lizard that hang around, but Godzilla was indeed unique. No idea what actual type of lizard it was, pretty much left it alone. Never gave a thought as to its origins of being local or imported though.

So we have had one in our yard, but no idea on answers if they are local or not.

 

As I recall (through the mist of time generated by 4 or 5 days) the guy U saw had more of a crest on his head that thins - but he has not re-appeard, that I have seen.

 

So I am adding "weather" and "sunsets" to this thread, rather than starting a new one. I hope that some (all?) of you caught the beautiful rainbow yesterday (Friday). i saw it just as it was starting and by the time it was done it was a a complete one, 180 º, from ground to ground. I did not have a wide enough angled lens to gat the whole thing, but here is some of it.

 

These guys watched too.

 

Carptrash, Good idea adding "weather" and "sunsets." I kept running outside knowing conditions were right for forming a rainbow, but never caught it, so glad you shared the pics!

 

Two evenings ago.

 

Gorgeous! Thank you for posting those pics.

 

You are welcome and I hope everyone one is at least seeing these, if not photographing them.
More shots would be nice.

 

Sunday's sunset was (opinion) better than the Super Bowl. Though I was glad to see the old guy win.

 

Here is more of Sun City's wild life from earlier this evening.

 

A question about Sun City fauna.
I saw 6 bunnies at one time yesterday - a lot. Too much?
And have seen no coyotes for quite a while. They being the ones who keep the rabbit population down.
I have also heard rumors from two different, unrelated sources that there might be someone (or more) out here poisoning coyotes.
Has anyone else heard this and is it a credible story?

 

There are plenty of coyotes in Phase 1 -- I actually had to slow down the other day to allow a coyote to finish taking a dump in the middle of the street. On average I'd say I see 2-3 coyotes a week. And, my yard has been increasingly overrun by rabbits lately, but that's typical this time of year. Don't know about poisoning coyotes specifically, but I'm always concerned that uninformed residents put out rat poison varieties that not only kill the rats but also kill any predators that may catch a poisoned rat -- coyotes, owls, and our pet cats and dogs, etc.

 

The solution to the pack rats is an electronic (four flashlight batteries) trap by Victor (or something, $40 - $50) that is about the size of a kleenex box. Using one of those the Sun City Rat Patrol has so far gotten 9 pack rats.

 

yup, Victor rat zapper!

 

It really does work. I have started keeping a slash tally on it, (now at 9) I wanted to get a dead rat stencil but couldn't find one.

 

I saw another really sick looking coyote yesterday, skinny as a rail, no fur to speak of and wandering around a parking lot at noon. Mopt a good thing.

 

Eclipse May 26, 2021
I looked up the time of the eclipse before I went to sleep so when I woke up at 3:54 a.m. I got up and got the tripod & camera that I'd set up before going to bed and headed out. I was cloudy. No moon. So I wandered around the alley in my lungi for a while trying to see if the moon was not where I believed it to be and it was not. I plopped down on a chair on the patio and waited, when suddenly it appeared. These are a couple of the shots I got, I just sent two of them off to the newspaper. One has the red color, the other was not. It was there to see, just the camera sometimes has a different take on these things.

 

These are interesting, been watching the progression on this one in my front yard.

 

Woah.
I'd not stand under that for too long.