More violence in my yard!

As you know, I am fascinated by the Northern Red Cardinal pair that flit behind and around my house. I love their sounds and their bright coloring. My new goal was to get photos of the pair together. I have had some luck! [See my two different photos in the Nature - At  Home page accessed on the sidebar.]

But one day as I used my camera to hunt the flighty, twitting cardinals, I caught the painful violence of nature. Sometimes violence occurs as species fight for territory. Sometimes violence occurs as species fight for food. And in the case I captured, I believe it is both. A Brown Anole is hungry and gets rid of an invading smaller lizard in the process.

Brown Anole on deck / in my yard / October 2015

Brown Anole on deck / in my yard / October 2015

Sometimes this violence occurs between species or within a species. From my photos, it is hard to tell if this was between or within species. I fear it is between species, the cheerful gecko losing out to the aggressive Brown Anole. See the photos below for the before and after. [There are more distressing close up photos on the Nature - At  Home page accessed on the sidebar.]

In the past, my friends and I have discussed the presence of the Brown Anole. Starr Environmental (a great local source I just found) My friends told me that the Brown Anole was more aggressive then the Green Anole. I hadn’t really noticed this. I knew that I hadn't seen a Green Anole around my trash can any more. I named it Bruiser (for the trash can). I felt confident it was catching flies there. It lived there for many years or maybe it was more than one generation.

Within the past year, I have exclusively noticed Brown Anoles jumping from plants to our new side yard deck and climbing on citronella lamp poles. The aggression my friends had told me about was noticeable as I when I wanted to sit down, I would actually have to make a move of aggression before the lizard moved! Some of the Brown Anoles I see also are the largest lizard around my yard with powerful back legs and long tails. 

In my research, the two Anoles are indeed named just by their colors. One website describes the aggression between the two anoles. [I just found this site and it is similar to mine with greater details and scientific information on local species. Another local Nature Blog] The writer notes that where there is overlap in ranges the Green Anole goes up within the trees and the Brown Anole stays down. I hope there are still Green Anoles higher up in the vines and canopies that dominate my neighborhood!