I don’t usually think of Western Fence Lizards as being very engaged with each other in a protective kind of way. However, this set of observations and events (see the “comments” on the observation) has made me reconsider this. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/366484327
Reminds me of this old desert iguana observation I made: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/1358663 Only speculation on my part, but it seemed like one desert iguana was on guard duty while the other climbed a bush and started munching.
We have some birds which will also sometimes crack into a brain, and leave the rest behind.
I assumed it was mostly a calorie thing, with brains being very fatty (1g fat =~9cals, ve 1g carb/protein =~4 cals), I guess eating a mouthful of brain, is like eatting a nice buttery piece of popcorn. If there is enough of them to snack on, you can afford to discard the less tasty parts.
I spent around 30 minutes watching a digger (or mining) bee excavating a burrow/nest.
I came across her at the very beginning of her excavation. Her abdomen was still poking out from beneath the rock, and she was throwing sand behind her. Periodically, she’d back up to spread, smooth, and compact the spoil pile.
As she dug deeper, she’d come out with much more sand. Instead of depositing it at the front of her nest, she’d roll it to the far end of the spoil pile, widening it before smoothing and compacting it.
I’m guessing her burrow went fairly deep during the 30 minutes I watched her, because she was taking around 60ish seconds to emerge each time.
I went back 24 hours later (thank you, GPS). The spoil pile was much larger than before, and the entrance was much wider. The photo without the bee in it was taken the day after.
I must have taken at least a couple of hundred photos with my phone and camera. The goal was to photo-stack; however, she moved at a furious pace and never slowed down or stopped.
Sandy soil in the sagebrush steppe. Rawlins, Wyoming. May 28 & 29, 2026
This is amazing! I would love to see this someday! And you got great pictures!
Thanks! I bought a used TG-6 last night so I can get more detail zooming in than I can get on my older iPhone. It should get here in about a week.
It’ll be a fun surprise to see what’s on my camera when I download the card. If there any good ones, I’ll either add them, or swap the ones I posted.
If you’re getting a TG for macro, I’d highly recommend investing in a flash diffusion ring that clicks into the camera and redirects the camera flash for macro lighting.
The Olympus version is ridiculously overpriced, but there’s a good third-party unit for about half that price on that online place which has something to do with women warriors.