As I watched the birds on the beach at sunrise on a recent trip, I noticed their actions reminded me of my own morning routine. Perhaps yours is similar.
Do you start with a wash? This sandpiper decided not to dip under the water for its wash. No, instead he or she was sucking up the saltwater and squirting it directly at the area of the wings that needed cleaning.
Then a friend joined in the morning washing.
Sometimes, the desired spot is a little hard to reach.
I’m not certain about the species of this sandpiper but believe it may be the Long-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus).
Then do you grab a bit of breakfast before you fly off? Do you fix something at home or grab something on the go?
Yum, that clam was good.
But I think I want a bit more. I wonder what might be in the refrigerator, pantry or beneath the surface?
I thank this Little Blue Heron, Egretta caerulea, for allowing me to watch as he or she ate breakfast. I do like watching animals enjoy their food.
People think we’re so different from animals in the wild, but we aren’t, really. We all have our morning routines.
Until today, I didn’t know the collective noun for iguanas. I should have, since I’ve had more than one for around 30 years. I knew that a group of tortoises was a “creep,” and it’s a “bale” of turtles. The general term for lizards is “lounge.” I think some of my iguanas are willing to lounge around.
The collective noun for iguanas is a “mess.” Why, you and I might ask? Iguanas may intertwine in large groups, especially when they are gathered around a heat source. It’s hard to tell where one iguana ends, and another begins. They are ectotherms, or cold-blooded, so iguanas get their body heat from the environment or my body, as in this photo of Calliope and me. She is my writing muse, named after the Muse of Long Poetry.
One of my friends from the Southern US mentioned that “mess” refers to something else, as in a “mess of greens.” The greens she was referring to are collard, turnip and mustard greens, all of which are enjoyed by my reptilian family members, too. Of course, in my case, it may be accurate to say I do have a mess of greens: a mess of green iguanas.
How much or many is a mess? It is undefined, but in food, it is usually enough to feed a family.
I’d agree that my mess of greens is always exactly the right amount for my family.
Youngster Chile being his curious self.
Ezra, who is in his 20s, on the grass in my backyard
Book Note: While I haven’t yet written a lot of books about iguanas, I have written one important one called Silent Rocks. It is about how to save the endangered Rock Iguanas of Cayman Brac, and teachers can use it to show how human activity endangers the lives of other species.
I’ve also written an adventure tale that includes an iguana, called The Dragon of Nani Cave. It features two lime lizards, Gene and Bony, who must do the bravest thing possible–find the dragon of Nani Cave, and survive!
The Lime Lizard Lads, Gene and Bony, LOVE exploring their island home, where the bravest thing possible is to go see the Dragon of Nani Cave. An Adventure Tale For Readers Age 8+ 48 pages Fun and Colorful Illustrations of the many animals they encounter, including the Dragon, by Anderson Atlas
In my work as a citizen-scientist helping on iguana conservation projects, I had the privilege of meeting the very talented artist, John Bendon, of the United Kingdom. You don’t have to take my word for his talent – some of his drawings are included in this post. A few years ago, I purchased a couple of his drawings at a fundraiser. The detail in the drawing is incredible. These are more than accurate scientific drawings—they are works of art. I purchased the prints because of their beauty but didn’t know the story behind the drawings. At a recent conference, John gave a talk. I learned the background of these animals.
John was in the Galapagos on South Plaza Island which has both land (Conolophus subcristatus) and marine (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) iguanas. He came across the animal depicted above and suspected that this iguana was actually a hybrid of the two species. The scale patterns of the iguana he was studying didn’t match either of the other species. Instead, the physical characteristics seemed to be a mix of the two. This lizard has a bit of the yellow coloration found in the land iguanas but also the black coloration of the marine. The head shape is different, too. Fortunately, John was able to reproduce the detail of the scales and head in his drawings. These drawings are not only works of art but important scientific records.
For children’s books that include iguanas in the stories, visit My Booksat elaineapowers.com.
The Lime Lizard Lads, Gene and Bony, LOVE exploring their island home, where the bravest thing possible is to go see the Dragon of Nani Cave. An Adventure Tale For Readers Age 8+ 48 pages Fun and Colorful Illustrations of the many animals they encounter, including the Dragon! By Anderson Atlas
November 6 is National Nachos Day, a day set aside to celebrate a delicious culinary delight. Nachos are crunchy with melted cheese, a perfect combination of taste and texture. Nachos were created by “Nacho” Anaya from Piedras Negras, Mexico in 1943.
Over the years, other ingredients have been added to the tortilla chips and cheese. Even though I regularly enjoy beef on my mine, my favorite is seafood nachos topped with shrimp and crab meat. I’ve found just about anything goes well with the basic chips and cheese.
Try being creative with your nachos. Today, go ahead and nosh on some nachos!
(Above image courtesy of José Vanegas López from Pixabay.)
And when you and the kids are done with the nachos, check out the activity sheets and workbooks at my publisher’s website, Lyric Power Publishing LLC. They’re entertaining, educational and economical and were created to coordinate with myfun science books for children.
The Lime Lizard Lads, Gene and Bony, LOVE exploring their island home, where the bravest thing possible is to go see the Dragon of Nani Cave. An Adventure Tale For Readers Age 8+ 48 pages Fun and Colorful Illustrations by Anderson Atlas of the many animals they encounter, including the Dragon!Forty-one pages of information, worksheets, and activity sheets that will give students in grades 2-5 an all-around understanding of rocks and minerals and how they are formed. Includes three word searches, a crossword puzzle, opinion essay writing, group chart activity, cut-and-paste the rock cycle, check lists for collecting rocks in the field and sorting and classifying them in the classroom. Homework project: How to build a sedimentary sandwich, with full instructions.
Here, my youngest iguana, Twizzler Spiny-tail Iguana, is demonstrating that he is literally climbing the wall.
by Elaine A. Powers
If you’re like me, you’re spending more time at home than usual. Of course, this should help my writing output, but I often get distracted by the news of the world. Fortunately, I live with an assortment of animals who help me maintain my mental wellbeing.
At first my reptiles, many of whom free-roam my house, enjoyed having me around. They’d join in at my work area and sit at my feet, or wander by, walking over my feet or pushing my wheeled-chair. I liked the attention.
But over time, I noticed they weren’t around me as much. They had been accustomed to me traveling and having other caregivers while I was gone. Absence made their hearts grow fonder. Now, they have found favorite spots to hang out in in other rooms, especially the spare bedroom.
Was it something I said? Maybe I’m watching too much news or it’s been too long without me taking a trip. Well, we’ve all got our own space, so we should be content, right?
Nope! Today I realized that my reptiles may be experiencing enough stress to drive them “up the wall.” The phrase means being irritated or angry enough that one feels the need to escape, even if it means climbing up and over walls.
Twizzler was eventually able to relax and made his way back down and settled into the day’s activities.
Here I am with Rhino Iguana Rango. Isn’t she a beauty?
As you can see above, iguanas can become quite large. So, when I wrote The Dragon of Nani Cave–well, the dragon isn’t really a dragon. It’s an iguana and only seems like a dragon to small Curly-tail lizards, the Lime Lizard Lads, who work up enough courage to go find the dragon (with a little help from their friends). While the lizards are having an adventure, young readers are learning all about ecosystems (and they don’t even know it). That’s what we do around here–make learning about science fun!
The Lime Lizard Lads, Gene and Bony, LOVE exploring their island home, where the bravest thing possible is to go seethe Dragon of Nani Cave.
An Adventure Tale For Readers Age 8+ 48 pages
Fun and Colorful Illustrations of the many animals they encounter, including the Dragon! By Anderson Atlas
Gene and Bony are bored. They go see Old Soldier Crab who tells them wondrous, dangerous creatures live up on the bluff. And, if they go, they must prove themselves worthy and return with a piece of Caymanite.
They must journey through Skull Cave and meet bats, and a cat with sharp teeth. Then they meet Kat, a fellow Curly-tail Lizard and she knows the way to Nani Cave. But she warns there might be more than one dragon.
Meeting one danger after another, they finally arrive at Nani Cave. There he is: the dragon! He’s HUGE! And look at all those teeth!
What will Gene and Bony do now?
KEEP THE FUN GOING! COORDINATING WORKBOOKS AND ACTIVITY SHEETS AVAILABLE AT LYRIC POWER PUBLISHING, LLC:
Among the many reptiles I share my home with is a rhinoceros rock iguanawho usually free roams my house. She basks under the heat lamps with the tortoises, shares the plates of veggies and finds sunbeams to relax in. Mid-afternoon, it’s time to head under some rocks for a nap.
No, I don’t have rocks in my house, but I do have pillows on the sofa, which is her designated sleeping place. Recently, however, she has discovered my bed. It, too, has pillows. And it has a blanket where she can stretch out her entire body. She’s over four feet long.
I head to bed late in the evening, looking forward to laying my head on my pillows, all four of them, only to discover my bed is already occupied.
“Hey, Rango, that’s my bed!” So, I picked up the sleeping lizard and carried her to the sofa.
Then, things came to an interesting point. I needed a nap this afternoon, so I got into bed. I hear the tick-tick-tick of approaching iguana feet – they have nails on the ends on their toes which click on the tile floor.
“Uh, oh, will someone be joining me in bed?”
I feel a body knock against the frame. A body impact with the mattress. But no one comes up—I think. Later I turn over to see me being watched by a very confused iguana.
What in the world was I doing in her bed!
Note: You might be able to tell how much I enjoy sharing my home with iguanas. To learn more about these intelligent and interesting reptiles, see My Unit Study on Iguanas at Lyric Power Publishing’sWorkbook page.
Thirty pages of Iguana information and fun activity sheets for grades 2-4. Includes coloring pages, fact sheets, T/F about reptiles, parts of an iguana coloring page, compare animal traits, name matching, count and classify, reptile spelling page, life cycle of the iguana cut-and-paste activity, ecology word problems, iguana word problems, creative writing prompt, opinion writing exercise, mean, mode, median, and range worksheets, counting iguanas, histogram worksheet, grams-to-pounds worksheet, trace the words and color, short i sound, create an iguana puzzle.
And one of my fun children’s science books (written in the form of an adventure tale) features The Dragon of Nani Cave which, when you’re a small curly-tail lizard, is an iguana!
The Lime Lizard Lads, Gene and Bony, LOVE exploring their island home, where the bravest thing possible is to go see the Dragon of Nani Cave. An Adventure Tale For Readers Age 8+ 48 pages Fun and Colorful Illustrations of the many animals they encounter, including the Dragon! by Anderson Atlas Gene and Bony are bored. They go see Old Soldier Crab who tells them wondrous, dangerous creatures live up on the bluff. And, if they go, they must prove themselves worthy and return with a piece of Caymanite. They must journey through Skull Cave and meet bats, and a cat with sharp teeth. Then they meet Kat, a fellow Curly-tail Lizard and she knows the way to Nani Cave. But she warns there might be more than one dragon. Meeting one danger after another, they finally arrive at Nani Cave. There he is: the dragon! He’s HUGE! And look at all those teeth! What will Gene and Bony do now? KEEP THE FUN GOING!
One day, my friend Rango, a Rhino Iguana, and I, a perfect curly-tail lizard, were discussing over Zoom our favorite basking spots. I prefer a nice piece of karst, myself. I like a spot where I can put my front feet up a bit, angle my back to the sun and soak in the rays.
Here I am on karst near my home!
But Rango the Dragon, as I call all iguanas—can you blame me?— lives in a house, not on an island like I do. Oh, she has a lovely place to bask under a suspended heat lamp or in a sunbeam through the window or door. She even has a servant who brings her meals while she basks. I guess there are advantages to living in a house. I have to find my own food and make sure I don’t become a snack for a seagull where I live!
I learned Rango likes to bask at an upward angle, too. Her substrate is flat tile, though, not bumpy karst. So, what does she do? She finds something else to perch on–a comfortable height and something hard that can hold her weight.
The other family members include tortoises of various sizes. Rango has selected the smaller tortoises as her desired perches. I don’t know how the tortoises feel about being used for this purpose, but they don’t wander off.
I admire Rango for her creativity, but I do hope she thanks the tortoises, especially Myrtle, who is a very famous tortoise. She has her own book, for Pete’s sake! That’s it below, a rhyming book favorite of the wee ones! (Human wee ones, that is.)
Thanks for stopping by at Elaine’s author website. Hope you’ll look around. See ya next time!
Don’t call me Myrtle the Turtle! I’m a tortoise! Learn the differences in fun rhymes inside!
Geology is the science that explores the earth’s physical structure and substance, its history, and the processes that act on it. Geology is often included under the topic of Earth Sciences. You might be surprised to learn that I often include geology in my fun science books that feature lizards. You can’t really study biology without knowing the geology of the ecosystem.Everything is interconnected.
One of my favorite inclusions in The Dragon of Nani Cave in the mineral, caymanite.
Hidden in the limestone karst of Grand Cayman’s East End and the Bluff of Cayman Brac is an uncommon variety of dolomite, CaMg(CO3)2. Caymanite is prized for its layers of earth tone colors, which are the result of different metal contents. Its harness allows for it to be shaped into jewelry and carvings.
InThe Dragon of Nani Cave, the Lime Lizard Ladsare sent on a quest to find a piece of caymanite for Old Soldier crab. It’s the most dangerous thing a lizard can do on Cayman Brac, because that’s where the dragon lives! One of the fun things about being an author is having a say in the design of the book cover. I had mine when I asked that the book title be colored just like caymanite.
With the Lime Lizard Lads, it’s one adventure after another. They know how to make science fun!
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Do you start with a wash? This sandpiper decided not to dip under the water for its wash. No, instead he or she was sucking up the saltwater and squirting it directly at the area of the wings that needed cleaning.
Twizzler was eventually able to relax and made his way back down and settled into the day’s activities.
