A long, hot walk for a skink

Ever since I had learned of the existence of the mountain skink, Plestiodon callicephalus, I had wanted to see the lizard in situ.

There was just a special something about the blue in the tail of this skink that brought it to the top of my "I-wanna-see" list.

But when I asked Randy Babb to show me one of these skinks in situ, I had no idea it was going to involve a 20-mile power walk across sere desert beneath a blazing sun (about 140F ground temp!).

Or at least it seemed that hot and far to me, a Floridian who's unused to desert conditions. Of course, when Randy (a desert fox) relates the tale, it was a slow one mile walk on a moderately warm day along a cool path on the banks of a lake. How can his memory be so faulty? .

But at the end we saw not only one but several of the beautiful skinks. Mission accomplished. Thanks, Randy.

More photos under the jump...

Author, photographer, and columnist Richard Bartlett is one of the most prolific writers on herpetological subjects in the 20th century. With hundreds of books and articles to their credit, Richard and his wife Pat have spent over four decades documenting reptiles both in the field and in captivity. For a list of their current titles, please visit their page in our bookstore.