Thirsty Anole at Harbour Club Villas

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It’s time for relaxing and ending the day with a beer.

Pretty much every evening we head on up our hill and sit and enjoy the view over Harbour Club Marina. On this particular evening, I set my beer on the wall beside the bench and to my amazement a little anole lizard cautiously approached. He evidently was thirsty and started to lap up the beads of moisture that had formed on my Corona. What a photo op and my camera captured this cute event.

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Lapping up the beads of moisture

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Anole lizards are interesting to watch and they do move fast.

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Just another little drink before I go!

Evening Stroll at Harbour Club Villas

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Zenaida Dove perches on the back stone wall by the pool area at Harbour Club Villas

A beautiful, still and calm evening for a stroll around Harbour Club’s grounds and down to the Marina. An over abundance of opportunities as I wander around taking photos of the flowering plants, animals and sunset views. Here’s a selection and I hope you enjoy seeing them.

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The pool at Harbour Club Villas in the late afternoon. Look at the flowering desert rose.

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A perfect bridal bouquet of orange island honeysuckle favoured by the hummingbirds.

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Pesky woodpecker that’s drilling holes in our coconut palms…….he’s a yellow bellied sapsucker.

 

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Cankyberry, a species of nightshade found on our islands with its sharp prickles.

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This little anole lizard was perched high on my frangipani licking I don’t know what off the budding flowers.

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A bright yellow spiny orb weaver. Quite pretty really even though I don’t really like spiders.

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Neighbours out for an evening sail coming in to the Marina at dusk.

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This little anole was curious and posed for the camera.

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The sunset glow of golden colours is so amazing looking towards Five Cays from Harbour Club Villas and Marina

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Aqua TCI divers boat gently rides out the evening in the Marina, ready and waiting for another great dive day in the waters of Provo.

All this in a casual evening stroll around Harbour Club Villas and Marina. Love the peaceful quiet as the sun sets over our islands.

 

Marta

 

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

Flora and Fauna at Harbour Club Villas

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An anole lizard wards off visitors on Harbour Club Villas’ office deck.

Another week of photographing some of the critters wandering through the gardens at Harbour Club Villas along with our beautiful wild orchids that have just started to bloom. I came home the other day to this anole lizard guarding our deck. He wasn’t too pleased to see me but did pose long enough for me to snap a photo or two.

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Cute anole and he had the most gorgeous colours on top of his little head.

 

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A pretty shell house for this little hermit crab……..he didn’t want to go to the pool!

We often find hermit crabs also know locally as soldier crabs ambling on through. Sometimes we even help them by giving them a choice of a new home. There’s also been some strange houses such as PVC pipe, an old film canister and basically they’ll use whatever they can find in the moment. This one had a very pretty shell.

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We often find hermit crabs and I’m sure I’ve photographed many of them.

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Here’s a gorgeous Encyclia Altissima wild orchid.

The wild orchids are blooming all over Providenciales. Found our first Encyclia Altissima orchid today just starting to bloom and what a beautiful scent they have.

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A cluster of wild orchids in the bush by Harbour Club Villas

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A Cuban tree frog ……….. look at those suction pads.

This little Cuban tree frog is not native to the Turks and Caicos Islands but they are spreading rapidly throughout.

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Pretty amazing to see how far they can jump!

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A yellow bellied sap sucker………this is a new bird for me and really exciting to see.

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Here he is pecking holes in our coconut palms.

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A row of old holes and then the new ones.

It was thrilling to catch sight of and photograph the yellow bellied sap sucker. Definitely not easy to do as they are very shy birds and hard to get a photo of them.

Hoping we can show you some of the local critters around Harbour Club Villas…lots of birds, lizards, geckos and some beautiful flowering plants and shrubs.

Marta

Turks Head Cactus Pods

Half eaten, rosy pink seed pod from the Turks Head cactus.

Many of the Turks Head Cacti here at Harbour Club Villas are flowering and throwing off seed pods like crazy right now. They are providing a feast for our local population of anoles and curly tailed lizards. I haven’t managed to snap a photo of them actually eating one but I keep trying.

This fairly young cactus does not have a pronounced cap as yet but it is producing so many seed pods.

 

An anole lizard has no problem with the cactus spines as he makes for the seed pods.

 

The seed pods are shaped more like a fushia coloured pepper elongated at the one end where it grows in the white part of the cap.

 

Close up of the indentation in the cap left by the seed pod with a curly tailed lizard.

No seed pod but still a fair sized Curly Tailed Lizard and we do have some pretty large ones at the villas.

The seed pods of the Turks Head Cactus provides food for many birds and lizards who injest, fertilize, eliminate the tiny black seed to propagate more cacti.

 

 

Marta

 

 

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

 

Anole Lizard

Hmm.......looks pretty good to a thirsty little anole lizard

A beautiful evening and time for cocktail hour overlooking the marina at Harbour Club Villas. An uninvited guest came to have a look but he’s been here before and I took photos of him then. He just loves to lick the moisture off the beer bottle. I’m thinking I will have to send these off to the Corona people as I think it would make a cute ad!

He wasn't afraid of me although he knew I was there.

Time for a nice cold beer, one with lots of moisture beads for this little guy to lick.

It's been so dry of late and I'm sure he enjoyed the drink.

Look at that stretch!

Hope everyone enjoyed these photos……I had fun taking them and just watching this little guy coming back time and time again to have a few licks of the beer bottle.

 

 

Marta

 

 

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

Frogs and Lizards

An anole lizard takes a closer look at Barry's forehead

An anole lizard takes a closer look at Barry's forehead

Hanging laundry out back can be hazardous as Barry found out the other day………..an anole lizard took a flying leap and landed on his forehead. Not quite sure what the little fella was looking for!! Of course he came looking for me to get some photos. I mean how often does something like this happen?

More exploration of Barry's head

More exploration of Barry's head

And for our entertainment today at Harbour Club Villas……….well, there’s a bit of a story here. We’ve been getting lots of rain and hearing frogs. So Barry decided to become a frog whisperer and call or croak to them. The frogs have been croaking back!!! The other night we heard a frog right outside our bedroom window somewhere in the bush. It was quiet for about 45 mins and Barry asked me if I wanted him to call the frog. Of course I said yes, he did and, THE FROG ANSWERED HIM BACK. I haven’t laughed so much in a while as we went through this excercise quite a few times and each time the frog answered.  Soooooo, this morning, Barry is in the shower when he calls me to bring the camera.
This morning a frog dropped by while Barry was having a shower

This morning a frog dropped by while Barry was having a shower

Barry must have charmed her last night with his croaking so she decided to come through the “whirly bird” fan above the shower to find her “handsome prince”  What a surprise she received and Barry too. He thought it was a crab initially and then it jumped almost landing on him. More photos of course and then Mike came up to lend a hand in the capture and release.
Mike tries to capture and release the little frog

Mike tries to capture and release the little frog

This little frog was really fast and a great jumper

This little frog was really fast and a great jumper

Frog whisperer Barry's photo.........great shot and angle!!

Frog whisperer Barry's photo.........great shot and angle!!

I just love the frog's legs.........suction cups for holding onto slippery wet shower stall tiles

I just love the frog's legs.........suction cups for holding onto slippery wet shower stall tiles

 

Ready to be let go in the bush....look at the suction cup like ends on its feet!

Ready to be let go in the bush....look at the suction cup like ends on its feet!

Ready to hop away from this nerve racking experience!!

Ready to hop away from this nerve racking experience!!

 Marta

 

 

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

 

 

 

Anole Cocktail Hour

A sunset drink with our friendly little Anole Lizard

A sunset drink with our friendly little Anole Lizard

We went up on the hill overlooking our Marina at Harbour Club Villas for sunset cocktails and were joined by our friendly little Anole Lizard. He’s joined us before but I only managed to get one photo. Well this time he decided to stay a while and enjoyed licking the beads of moisture off my Corona beer.
A good close up of his little tongue licking the bottle.

A good close up of his little tongue licking the bottle.

He wasn't the least bit afraid as he sampled the cold beads of sweat on the bottle

He wasn't the least bit afraid as he sampled the cold beads of sweat on the bottle

He was pretty thirsty but it gave me a chance to get some good photos.

He was pretty thirsty but it gave me a chance to get some good photos.

 

It was fun just sitting watching him as the sun started to set……….a great way to end a busy day!

Cheers!

 

 

Marta

 

 

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

 

Anole Lizards

Face off as two Anole Lizards prepare to do battle

Face off as two Anole Lizards prepare to do battle

I came out onto our deck today at Harbour Club to find some Anole Lizards sizing each other up as they prepared to defend their territory. I have never seen them quite this aggressive towards one another but I know that they are very territorial.

They were sizing each other up, would make preliminary lunges for the heads

They were sizing each other up and would make sudden lunges for the head

One Anole had a strong hold on the other so much so that his head was almost torqued right around

One Anole had a strong hold on the other so much so that his head was almost torqued right around. The fight consisted of grabbing the opponent with the mouth and then using the legs and tail for leverage.

A number of times these two disengaged and I expected one of them to turn tail but not this pair

A number of times these two disengaged and I expected one of them to turn tail. They seemed intent on settling the territorial dispute.

Ferocious looking fellow isn't he?

Ferocious looking fellow isn't he?

This one had some colourful markings

This one had some colourful markings

Head on shot as this little lizard saw the camera

Head on shot as this little lizard saw the camera

I'm not sure if this Anole sustained an injury but his head had reddish speckling

I'm not sure if this Anole sustained an injury but his head had reddish speckling

We find so many Anoles and Curly Tailed lizards on the grounds of Harbour Club Villas and Marina. Some are now getting quite big especially the Curly Tailed lizards. Hope you enjoyed these photos and I will look for some good ones of the Curly Tails for another post.

 

 

Marta

 

 

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

Opuntia Cactus

Beautiful yellow blooms on an Opuntia Cactus at Harbour Club Villas

Beautiful yellow blooms on an Opuntia Cactus at Harbour Club Villas

All this dry weather and no rain has been ideal for our large Opuntia Cactus also known as Prickly Pear Cactus. It is blooming to beat the band with large bright yellow flowers.

A dried Almond leaf reveals two lizard or anole eggs.

A dried Almond leaf reveals two lizard or anole eggs.

A dried almond leaf was caught up in the spikes by the flower I wanted to take a picture of.  I gently pulled it out of the way and discovered two eggs hidden inside the curled up leaf. I can’t tell whether they are anole eggs or those of the curly tailed lizard.

Close up of the centre of the Opuntia Cactus flower

Close up of the centre of the Opuntia Cactus flower

Take time out during your day to see some of the natural beauty around you!

 

 

Marta

 

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com