Before anything else, I want to bring out the brags for Linda and Raven. We recently returned from Kalamazoo, Michigan after attending the UKC Agility National Invitation. The top 50 UKC ranked dogs in the nation per division were invited to compete against each other in the All-Stars event. Our little guy got it done bringing home the “bigger than me” (Raven’s words) first place ribbon! Congratulations to him and Linda (can I take credit for being the Team Raven Sherpa!?!).
Even Ruger got into the action. He pulled the “but I’m cute” on his agility runs, but we definitely found his star event, the Dash. A few years ago at this event we tried out this 50ft sprint competition and he ran like a bat out of hell, but more focused on getting to Mommy at the end of the course than he was the “rabbit” that was supposed to lead him. Two years later and his brain has now clicked putting full concentration on the rabbit – even chased it all the way back on his own. This now sets him up for the lure coursing events which use a similar lead around a far more complex course.
In addition to all this excitement I was also able to take a huge chunk out of my blog backlog that has been absolutely gnawing at me. Big thanks to Brad for holding down the HQ while we’ve been gone. The Average Year 2023 is not completely up to date after putting in 50+ daily recaps (link here) and I’m all prepped for 3 massive posts for the Mothership that should be ready to go by the end of the week. While the bows are being placed on those, wanted to give you something to entertain you in the meantime. Brad has had the bird front covered, so going with another Not a Bird from the queue.
Hit the jump to reveal the featured creature!
Hmmm, maybe should have put a warning ahead of the jump in case Linda got to this post before a heads up…waiting for a scream followed by the dreaded use of my middle name, shudder. Well, in my defense, this is technically NOT a snake – more on that in a bit. First some context. Our slender friend was found on our annual trip to Texas back in January 2022. I know, I know, but trust me, this is nowhere near the current backlog length and in my defense, I’ve been doing a pretty good job of getting you fresh content this year.
Ron and I were visiting the Leonabell Turnbull Birding Center in Port Aransas, TX. This birding hotspot is one of our Gulf Coast favorites. This year we were surprised to find out they have added additional boardwalks for even better access to the multitude of waterbirds that congregate there. Plans are to also fix/increase the walkways to the left that were damaged during the devastating 2017 Hurricane Harvey (link here).
We were on that walkway taking pictures of Whooping Cranes flying by when we noticed this “Not a” Snake gliding by a few feet away. Normally, I am in the looks like a Snake, slithers like a Snake, scares the crap out of Linda like a Snake, then it’s a Snake camp. This specimen looked a little different than the forked-tongued ropes that we’ve come in contact before. Almost all of them have had some color patterns/ splotches and more scaly in texture. Hopefully you can tell from the images this one was much smoother and uniformly striped along its body.
Thanks to a perfectly placed sign near this spot, we learned this creature was not a Snake, rather a legless Lizard. To be specific, a Slender Glass Lizard. Note, for those curious, this distinction means diddly-squat to Linda – she even lumps cute Salamanders into a “legged” Snake sub-category. Both Ron and I mentioned to this specimen just how lucky it was she wasn’t there with us when it decided to reveal itself. The interesting characteristic of this Lizard is its tail and from what I can tell from our research, we were pretty lucky to find one with it intact.
Their “glass” namesake comes from how easily their tail can be broken off. This is a defense mechanism to escape predators and they can even break it off themselves should the need arise – assume it is their go to bar trick. Wikipedia provided some key characteristics that put our specimen in the Lizard category versus the Snake. They have “a moveable eyelid and an external ear opening” absent on the other reptiles. Between you and I… I’m going to take their word for it and keep a distance where those details are not obvious. The tail does not grow back to the same length it was before being detached, nor does it retain the original body pattern and instead is a shade of lighter tan. This specimen has a bit of pattern still on its tail and seems to have the same coloring, so it may be the original which is rather rare. Wikipedia commented that 79% of the specimens in a study back in 1989 were sporting new tails. In a truly shocking tidbit, these Glass Lizards include the Illinois Heartland in their range. Amazing that I have never seen one in all my years in this broke state – actually, never even HEARD of one in that time. I say we keep that little region detail from Linda…for the Lizard’s sake.
Hope you enjoyed another quick break from the feathers. Don’t worry, we’ll be back to those soon enough.
Life Intrigued 