Shedding Green Anole

This caught my eye - a weird, white animal basking on a Firecracker Plant, Russelia equisetiformis.  It's a Green Anole in the midst of shedding!  My shameless staring disturbed his repose.  When he retreated inside the thick foliage, the branches tugged on the sluffed skin.  Then the anole munched away, consuming his old attire.



Shedding Green Anole, Anolis carolinensis, on Russelia equisetiformis



Shedding Green Anole - notice the old skin on his toes.

Green Anole eating Monarch Butterfly

So sorry for the lapse in posts;  I was without a computer for a while.  

Yesterday, I spotted my first female Monarch Butterfly of the fall.  She was busily laying eggs on the leaves of each milkweed, A. curassavica, in my garden.   After about 5 minutes of egg laying, she rested on a milkweed flower.   For another first, I reported my sighting to Journey North:    

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/   

About an hour later, I was back in the garden with the dogs and was dismayed to see a female monarch becoming a meal for one of our green anoles, Anolis carolinensis.  Monarchs contain toxic cardiac glycosides so many creatures avoid eating them.  Unfortunately, with our drought, there are not many insects at all.  Anoles must eat what they can find.  I am glad the Monarch was able to deposit her eggs. 

This Texas drought has made food scarce for insectivores.

See the anole's ribs? He must have been hungry.

The Monarch is still fighting.  She stuck her foot in the lizard's ear.

The next day:  Lizard resting with a fat tummy.  Does he feel ill?