gila here

Pronounced: hee lah here.  As in... here in our back yard! 

Gila! See it?

Ok... here!

 Lookin' at me lookin' at him.

He sized up the brick wall a while. And kept looking towards me. I was quite far away... mind you.

I think he thought I would get bored watching him, snapping away, one digital frame after another. But, I didn't. I kept watching him. In fact, I have now blown my afternoon list of things I WAS going to do. Oh well. A little excitement in the yard is rather... exciting. Just last week I was thinking how it has been pretty calm around here in the Wild Kingdom. And then the Reptile Wrangler said he uncovered a  hibernating snake while cleaning out the flower beds. Good to know! And then, a bobcat was in the yard feasting on a bird. See, we put the bird feeder out to attract the pretty birds, cardinals and such. And it attracted lots and lots of quail and dove and the quail and dove evidently attract the bobcats. And so it goes...

Back to this guy. He turned around and hid out behind the pot for a couple of minutes and then started out the other direction.

 They are not very fast movers, but he did begin to pick up some speed here which made me decide to "quickly"step back a little further, forgetting I was by the pool and nearly finding myself a little wet.

I noticed he was flinging his tongue out as he was moving along. So, I put the camera in sports mode so I could do some rapid fire clicking and managed to capture a few tongue shots.

And then he looked like he was coming straight at me and for a mere second I forgot my camera was  zoomed in so far and thought "hey, Norma...he's coming after you!" I've told you how skilled I am at fast moving. As I was backing up after taking the camera away from my eye, I got the "real perspective" and decided I was plenty far away.

However, when these things are in the yard and I am in the yard...I'm one big scardy cat and keep looking around me for fear that others creatures are close by. What? It could happen.

And now he was on a mission to move.

One slow step at a time. Because I have seen these guys before, I know they are slow movers. Otherwise, I would NEVER be this close, let alone outside at all. Especially on a day like today when the Reptile Wrangler is at work.

 He stuck to the path for a bit.

And then took a little turn.

A detour through the vegetation.

And the landscape decor.

Ack... there is that tongue again. It's forked!

If you are new to my blog, or just want a reminder of the venomous bite these critters have, click here to read more. And that is why I love my zoom lens.

I will say they are pretty amazing looking. And I will go on the record to say this is the sixth one our family has seen since living in Arizona. For all the people that tell us they have lived here all their life and have never seen one... well hmmm.

He actually picked up a bit of speed here. You can see that when they walk their head portion sways from side to side. See the wrinkle in his neck skin? The tail swishes in the opposite direction.

He stopped to check out this leaf for a while. He was actually licking it but that tongue is so fast, even on rapid fire clicking, I missed it.

He moved under cover in the vines for a bit. I could hear him walking around on the dead leaves... which, made me wonder about all the times I hear that noise and think it is just the cute little baby lizards. I could be wrong. And then I thought about the times I stick my hand in those vines to clear out the dried leaves. More and more I'm thinking yard work is for...others.

I went in to the house for a minute and when I came back out he had moved around to the side of the house. Just meandering around.

He eventually got himself over by the gate and investigated it for awhile.

                               He gave me a little "nanner nanner... phlethhhh.

His tail is quite nice and if you look closely, it almost looks like some skin is shedding behind his leg. I wonder if they shed their skin like snakes. I'll have to research that.

                                                        Photogenic gila monster.

And then he found the gap between the gate and the brick wall. As he was making his move I dashed in through the back door of the house. Out the front door. And out through the garage.

 Just in time to see him squeeze himself through. And I was happy that he was on the outside of the yard at this point and would find his way away. Away away. Away from our backyard.

 Look at the red spots on his feet.

And his claws. Ugh.

Is he smiling at me? Doubt it. They really have a face like a snake and a body like a lizard. Quite interesting. And in this shot, not too sinister, really. Some people say they are beautiful!

Oooh...there is that tongue! Sinister. REALLY!

And then he went around the plant and kept on going.

 Until he found his way back to the gate and squished right under it.

All the way under. Back into the yard!! No.......

Last I saw of him, he was under some bags of yard clipping from last weeks flower bed clean out.
Oh Reptile Wrangler.....

I got a phone call as I was uploading these pictures. I told her what I had just seen in the yard. She gasped. "In your yard?" She proceeded to tell me another really great desert creature factoid.
She said..."You do know you are suppose to put the legs of your bed in small buckets of water to keep the scorpions from climbing up into your bed, don't you?" Perfect.

Do you think I will be having nightmares tonight?