"Learn Your Lizards" Walk June 8, June 29 at 8 a.m.
also July 13, August 10, September 14
Arizona authors Kurt and Cindy Radamaker invite kids and adults who enjoy Arizona's most common, colorful and charismatic little reptiles to Learn Your Lizards June 8 on a Saturday guided walking tour starting at 8:00 a.m. There is no pre-registration required, just be in our visitor center lobby by tour start time; lizard walks and other nature tours are included with daily admission of $9 for adults or $4.50 for ages 5-12.
This tour repeats June 29 and also July 13 with reptile enthusiast Wild Man Phil Rakocias our guide -- that's Phil in the photograph shown at right, a portrait by Patsy Akers. Phil will also be here August 10 to guide the walk. And mark September 14 on your calendar - that day we'll have three excellent Lizard Walk guides -- Phil will be joined by Abi King 
from the AZ Game And Fish Department along with author Larry Jones. Daily hours during June, July and August are from 6:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. daily; in September the Arboretum returns to the Fall-Winter schedule of 8am-5pm, and the September 14 walk begins at 8:30am; all other walks during June-July-August are at 8am.
Preview Arboretum Lizard Walks with a
YouTube Lizard Walk video clip posted by Arboretum volunteer and videographer
Mike Rolfe. This short flim showcases our special guest tour guide and shows
you some of the scenes and gardens explored on this walk.
Lizard Walks are the most popular guided tour we offer for kids, so make sure to invite yours - or bring along grandkids, nieces
and nephews -- but please remind them not to capture or harass the Arboretum
lizards. Our trained volunteers are allowed to safely catch-and-release lizards during these once-a-month guided tours
in order to help educate visitors, but the speedy little critters prefer to
be left alone and can be injured if you're not careful catching and handling
them. Make sure to bring your camera for close-up pictures of lizards, because Wild Man Phil will safely catch and
release colorful lizards such as the ones shown on this page. Also make sure to carry a water bottle on the walk -- but leave your butterfly nets and lizard nooses at home.
Hundreds of Arizonans have
attended these popular walks -- and on recent outings we were rewarded with
a chance to see a Gila Monster, Collared Lizard, beautiful Side-blotched Lizards
(which look as though their scales are flecked with turquoise), and numerous
Western Whiptails and Ornate Tree Lizards.
Have
you ever stopped to wonder why Arizona lizards do those comical pushups to
display their "abs of azure?" Learn Your Lizard walks are a chance
to learn why. Mesa Community College Prof. Andy Baldwin is an expert on the
subject of lizards and scorpions. Participants in the guided walks this summer
will have many chances to observe unique reptile behavior and learn why lizards
have blue bellies and other Sonoran esert adaptations. Dozens of entertaining
reptiles scurry across the main trail at the Arboretum, where a variety of
species are common and many of the lizards are more accustomed to people walking
by than their cousins out in the desert. Summer mornings are hot,
so wear sunscreen, a wide-brimmed hat and carry a bottle of water. Carry along
binoculars for a close-up view of reptilian colors, and a field guide to reptiles
if you own one.
Visitors
will learn the meaning of the word "herpetologist" and are likely
to see a variety of "herps," and perhaps even a handsome western
diamondback rattlesnake basking quietly in the shade near the Boojum trees
in the Arboretum's Cactus Garden. Reptiles around the Arboretum trails are
more easily observed than along desert paths where their survival depends
on being wary and furtive. Just
ask Dr. Baldwin:
"Plants
provide lizard habitat, and what better place can you go to find shady forests
to open cactus deserts where all the plants are in prime condition than the
Boyce Thompson Arboretum? For great lizard diversity in a one-morning walk,
you can't beat it. In a couple of hours walking quietly around the trails,
we start to observe not only the lizards that are present, but the ways they
move, sit, and the type of habitat where you can find them. These are bits
of information that become very useful in identifying the lizard species.
"Every lizard walk offers
different species given the time of day, month of the year, the trail you
take, the weather -- your luck that day -- and who knows what else? Last Summer
our groups saw Tree Lizards, Greater Earless Lizards, Tiger Whiptails, Desert
Spiny Lizards, and even Side-Blotched Lizards. Less common are Zebra-tailed
Lizards, Collard Lizards.... and maybe even a Gila Monster. Sometimes, if
we're lucky, we will see a snake such as a coachwhip, gopher snake, or rattlesnake."
Dr.
Baldwin is on the Life Science Faculty at MCC. He earned his Ph.D. at the
University of Texas at Arlington with a study of evolutionary history of reptiles
and amphibians; his master's degree at Appalachain State University in North
Caroline with research on scorpions in west Texas and his bachelor of science
degree at University of North Carlina at Charlotte with a study of the ecology
of carnivorous pitcher plants. Dr. Baldwin's publications in herpetology range
from East Coast salamanders to Texas geckos and even cobras in South Africa.
His present ressearch is on scorpions of the Superstition range.
Do you want to see more images
of native Arizona reptiles? Check out the great website:
azreptiles.com
The impressive lizard closeup photographs on this page are used courtesy of
our Arboretum friends and photographers Patsy Akers, Gale
Racut and also Richard
Ditch. To see more of their work or inquire about copyright and reprinting,
check their websites via the links on this page.
Read more about Boyce Thompson Arboretum weekend
nature walks and EVENTS
