Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii
Snapping some shots of this green anole lizard almost made me late for my meeting today. 99.9% of the time I only see brown anoles around here, but in the last week or so I’ve seen three green ones. I spent some time watching him (her?) change colors from flat brown to a tan gray to bright green. At their most colorful they have light blue all around their eyes. He/she still has some bits left to molt. I would have liked to see him display his throat fan (dewlap), I’ve heard that they can be bright pink instead of the usual bright orange of the brown anoles. The green anole is the only anole native to the United States, but it is not native to Hawaii. It’s often referred to as a chameleon because of its color-changing abilities, but it isn’t technically a chameleon: that’s a completely different animal.