A selection of recent sightings in Brooklyn and the Bronx to rev up your Monday morning
I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a good picture of a Gray Hairstreak with wings open before.
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This work by Matthew Wills is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Backyard and Beyond 
Wow, what kind of lizard is that?!
Italian Wall Lizard. Podarcis sicula. Introduced to the region via escape from the pernicious pet trade in the 1960s. In NYC, cemeteries with rock walls, and places with rocky outcroppings, like NYBG’s native garden, are where to spot them.
I had no idea we even had lizards here so thank you for sharing that. Sad that it’s related the the irresponsible pet industry, though. But so interesting that they’ve been so adaptive (assumedly).
Yes, they seem to have taken to our rocks very well! Cats maybe be a big threat to them (even NYBG has feral cats).
NYS does have 3 native lizard species, but not in NYC. http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7483.html
Skinks! It probably pays to leave the city sometimes, eh? I am trying to be better about that and hiking – it’s slow progress!
A great collection, though I’d like to know the names of what I’m looking at. I could make a guess at most – the wall lizard was a real mystery, though.
I get lazy sometimes… Italian Wall Lizard in da Bronx. I’ve also seen them in Queens. First heard about them was some years back when a picture of an American Kestrel with one in its bill made the rounds.
Laziness is a relative term. At least you get out there looking and getting pictures the rest of us slugabeds can enjoy.
Haha I was going to say the same thing. Lazy is not the word I would have used to describe leaving out descriptions of photos someone had taken while exploring, then uploaded and posted!