07/25/24

 While I was working in one of my garden beds the other day, this guy ran across my hand and then kind of stopped and looked at me as if to say, what did I just run over?  😁  We kind of looked at each other and I went back to working on my plants.  He stayed around, moving back and forth along the railroad tie that I have on the back part of the bed so I took a few shots of him with my phone.  It is a beautiful Blue Tail Skink with a very vibrant blue tail.

9/1/22

 Happy September, the year is moving along so quickly!  I was redoing the rocks on my waterfall in my backyard pond this past weekend and had this little guy visit.  This is a Great Plains Skink or Blue Tailed Skink, I believe.  He was very cooperative and I was able to get this shot with my phone which is all I had near me at the time.

5/25/17

Today's image is a little bit different.  This is a young Great Plains Skink.  When they are born they are all black with bright blue tails and as they grow to adulthood fade to the more mottled look and loose the blue color to their tails.  Skinks are also able to detach their tails when caught by them at will and then grow a new one back in approximately 3 months.  A great form of defense for them.  This Skink is one of the more common lizards found here in Kansas along with Collard Lizards.  I see these guys around in my garden fairly frequently when I am watering.  In this image I captured it on the patio.