I see them all the time, but realized this year that I really have almost no photographs of our big desert Chuckwallas, Sauromalus ater. They’re big, relatively colorful (in some places) lizards that you can pretty much see anywhere one would hike in the Sonoran desert. Just look up to the rocky outcroppings and they’ll be standing watch or diving into crevices as you come by. I know that any hike in South Mountain Preserve in Phoenix should yield quite a few sightings without any work at all.
Here’s a big boy caught by my friend Diego in the Maricopa mountains. That guy can catch some lizards. He also nabbed a baby collared lizard that day, and that’s not easy.
Tags: chuckwalla, lizards, maricopa, sauromalus ater
