Attracting mates

Anatol lizards roam all over East Texas and the southern USA. They are especially abundant in the spring and summer. This little guy (above) had just snagged a bug on a branch, and the one below was looking for a mate.

Anatol lizards are easy to photograph, but you need a telephoto lens and a little patience to do it properly. They are skittish to say the least. I like the way this Anatole blends in with the pink flower petals and foliage. The telephoto lens nicely throws the background out of focus.

For the technical minded, I photographed this little Anatol lizard at 1/160 second at f/5.6 with an ISO of 100. The focal length on my lens was 183mm (telephoto).

I did some research, and I learned that Anatol lizards display their "dewlap" (pouch) to attract mates. I watched this fellow for a while, and he would "puff his pouch" for hours in a never-ending search for just the right lady-friend.

This is a bit of a stretch, but is this not what we humans do to attract mates?

Maybe this is my favorite anole picture. I noticed this little guy on my patio hunting for flies and winged varmits, when he made his way over to my patch of cone flowers. As he was peeking over the top I got down low. I took this photo with a telephoto lens.