Eastern Fence Lizard Gallery

The Lizard Tree

These pictures are all of a single lizard. While visiting family in Mississippi, I found this lizard on multiple locations on the same tree. I looked for it every time I went past and nearly always found it, either on the tree itself or on a stump hidden in a bush. A beautiful little model and I’m thankful for each opportunity I had to photograph it.

Close-up view of an eastern fence lizard's head

Jurassic

A macro shot drives home the point that these little lizards have a look that seems to belong to the Age of Dinosaurs rather than the Age of Men. Even though lizards aren’t descended from dinosaurs, it’s not hard to see why early scientists gave dinosaurs a name that means “terrible lizard”. The macro and telephoto shots kind of hide one little fact though: these pseudo-dinosaurs are only a few inches long. I love the orange ring in the lizard’s eye, it really helps define the eye.

The lizard seemed to have a bug of some sort hitching a ride, wedged in the small gap in the scales there in the neck. When I first saw the bug in my pictures, I looked for it when I next saw the lizard and was surprised by how small it was, it only seems large in the pictures.

Eastern fence lizard sitting on a stump inside a bush

Hiding Place

This was one of its favorite hiding spots, a tiny stump in the middle of a bush. The bush sits right beside the tree where the lizard spent most of its time, so it was easy to either hide on this little stump hidden by the bush, or escape to the tree. The first time I saw the lizard, I just saw a flash of movement and couldn’t find the source. The next day I would discover its hiding spot and this picture was one of the last ones I took. I like how most of the picture is obscured by the out-of-focus leaves of the bush, but the lizard and its stump peek out from behind the foliage.

Fingers

The eastern fence lizard has long, scaly fingers that it uses for climbing vertical surfaces like trees and fence posts.

Easter fence lizard clinging to a tree in Mississippi

Hiding in Plain Sight

Like most small lizards, vertical surfaces don’t present a problem for the eastern fence lizard. They can climb up, down, or circle around a tree with lightning speed and stay there for as long as they desire.

The lizard’s coloration lets in blend into the trees where it spends much of its time. There were times where I’d have to stop and slowly circle the tree to find the lizard, and sometimes was looking straight at it for a few seconds before spotting it.

It might seem that if you’re looking at the lizard from the side (as in the first picture), that the lizard will be easy to find since it’s not being seen against the backdrop of the tree. However, these trees have many knots and branches that are similar in size to the lizard, so the raised profile doesn’t really draw much attention.

It was movement that usually alerted me to the lizard’s presence. If you’re quickly moving past, you’ll likely never see it. And in fact, despite there being many similar trees in the area, this was the only fence lizard I saw.

Other Eastern Fence Lizards

I came across these lizards in Natural Bridge State Park in Kentucky’s beautiful Red River Gorge.

Eastern fence lizard clinging to a tree in Kentucky

	Jurassic A macro shot drives home the point that these little lizards have a look that seems to belong to the Age of Dinosaurs rather than the Age of Men. Even though lizards aren’t descended from dinosaurs, it’s not hard to see why early scientists gave dinosaurs a name that means “terrible lizard”. The macro and telephoto shots kind of hide one little fact though: these pseudo-dinosaurs are only a few inches long. I love the orange ring in the lizard’s eye, it really helps define the eye. The lizard seemed to have a bug of some sort hitching a ride, wedged in the small gap in the scales there in the neck. When I first saw the bug in my pictures, I looked for it when I next saw the lizard and was surprised by how small it was, it only seems large in the pictures.
	Hiding Place This was one of its favorite hiding spots, a tiny stump in the middle of a bush. The bush sits right beside the tree where the lizard spent most of its time, so it was easy to either hide on this little stump hidden by the bush, or escape to the tree. The first time I saw the lizard, I just saw a flash of movement and couldn’t find the source. The next day I would discover its hiding spot and this picture was one of the last ones I took. I like how most of the picture is obscured by the out-of-focus leaves of the bush, but the lizard and its stump peek out from behind the foliage.
	Fingers The eastern fence lizard has long, scaly fingers that it uses for climbing vertical surfaces like trees and fence posts.