Lizard camouflage

A late safari today, heavy rain yesterday evening, so an early session would not have been much fun with the mud, but still a productive session. Lots of damsel and dragon shots, ladybird bug shots, a few mantis, a golden orb weaver spider and two goes at green lizards. A very difficult choice between all the images as each had merits.

I probably had better shots of the other lizard, but I chose this image for the angle, background and you get to see the camouflage in action. I actually thought I had found a small monkey type creature, as it moved freely in the high branches and I got the odd glimpse of the tail. I was quite disappointed to discover just another green lizard.

I studied the ladybird bugs eating aphids for about half an hour, watching the interaction with the ants, who were also working the aphids. They try to avoid each other, the bug flicking its tail at anything that comes too close, be it an ant or another bug. There was no aggression and the ants did nothing to protect the aphids, just a co-existence with a touch of avoidance.

The farmers are really getting into the spirit of what I am doing. One farmer rushed over to me with the biggest frog I have ever seen, but tied at the waist with a piece of raffia string so that he could carry it. Kinda missed the natural world theme of my journal but you have to love him for the effort. I took a few shots of the frog, a few more of him holding it and thanked him profusely.

Dave