Central Texas is constantly proving me wrong, especially when it comes to nature. It’s revealing my ignorance, my bias, my lack of understanding. As a native Texan, you’d think I would have known what I was getting into, but no. I suppose I didn’t pay much attention as a youngster and 20-something. Perhaps boys and parties were a bit all-consuming. Anyway, as I’ve said before, I honestly thought I was giving up the four seasons when we moved here, and, while things are certainly different, I’m finding amazingly beautiful markers of spring everywhere I look.
Currently, we are experiencing a flourishing of yellow flowers in our front yard, on the cactus, of all places. We have scattered stands of prickly pear cactus, and the last few weeks have been marked by buds, the growth of new paddles, and, most recently, abundant yellow flowers that are irresistible to bugs.
And where there are bugs, it turns out, there are bug-eaters.
This guy is a Texas Spiny Lizard.
Check out those back feet.
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