Al Crisalli took this photo of a Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporous occidentalis) sunning itself on a rock. Lizards and other reptiles are now in their hibernacula to avoid cold weather, though sometimes the smallest lizards will still make appearances on a warmer day.
Western Fence Lizards are by far the most common lizard in the Tehachapi Mountains, and the lizard most likely to be seen up on something -- others like Side-blotched Lizards, Western Whiptails and Alligator Lizards are typically found on the ground, but Western Fence Lizards like to spend much of their time on rocks, trees, boulders, logs, woodpiles, and as their name suggests, wooden fence rails and fence posts.
Western Fence Lizards are more commonly known by a simple descriptive term: "Bluebellies," because the males have beautiful blue areas on their bellies and throats. These lizards change color somewhat depending on temperature and surroundings, sometimes getting very dark when they want to bask and warm up in sunlight.
They are placed in the Sceloporus or Spiny Lizard genus because their scales are fairly rough and not smooth like the other three lizard species mentioned earlier.
According to the California Academy of Sciences, these familiar lizards provide an unexpected benefit to humans: a protein in their blood kills the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. Western black-legged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) carry the bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, in their guts, which they can transfer to a human after biting and remaining attached for 24 to 48 hours. But a tick that sucks the blood of a fence lizard is cleansed of Borrelia, and its bite reduced to nothing more than a nuisance -- a significant reason to appreciate Bluebellies.
The Nuwä (Kawaiisu or Southern Paiute) word for Western Fence Lizard is wogosinaz, pronounced WOH-goh-sin-naz.
NATURAL SIGHTINGS is a regular feature of the Tehachapi News edited by Jon Hammond which showcases photos of the natural beauty that enhances the quality of life in Tehachapi. If you have a good quality image of plants, animals, insects, trees, birds, weather phenomena, etc., taken in the Tehachapi area, you may submit it to the Tehachapi News for possible publication. Submissions can be dropped by the News office in the form of a print or CD, or sent by email to: [email protected].