This typical fence lizard is pretty docile. If you look behind the armpit and ear, you can make out a cluster of small red dots, those are ticks. The lizard is actually able to clear Lyme's disease from the tick's blood, a pretty neat trick.
The heat before the monsoon (and it is the monsoon) is perfect for basking turtles. I have anecodatl reports of frogs being predated on by raptors like Coopers hawks, and I am pretty sure this little guy will have to keep an eye on the skies.
Dragonflies are notoriously hard to get to hold still. They are better behaved now, because there are just so darned many of them...
With the sun so hot, it is easy to notice while walking around how much more cooler it is under the shade of the cottonwood, which seem to soak up the heat. Of course, the catails seem to grow much less in the shade, but many other animals, especially birds, seem to benefit.
One of the insects that benefit from the tree roots, is the ubiquitous black beetles. Of course, there are actually many different types. This one got a closer look when I saw it's front legs were muscular and ribbed, meaning it is a burrower, not a wood borer or predator. Turns out its a scarab beetle, living in the soil
This is a fairly typical squash bug. I like getting side shots of bigger bugs to get some sense of their "personality". This one has a front leg missing, but I will never get to hear the story. Legs on insects serve a lot fo different purposes. Crickets and grasshoppers use theirs to make noise, and the "ears" are there, too. Butterflies use their feet to taste. But all of them will sacrifice a leg or two, if they can get an extra chance to escape from a predator.
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