Side-blotched lizards are the most common lizards in the deserts of southern California.

This side-blotched lizard was probably drawing a little more attention to itself than it intended.

I'm not certain about the subspecies for Uta stansburiana, despite the fact that helpful reader Jackson Shedd pointed out that Smith and Brodie's guide lists 6 subspecies and includes range maps. The problem is, these don't quite match the 5 subspecies listed in the EMBL Reptile Database. Unfortunately, the EMBL database doesn't include range maps. The Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles has yet to tackle this species, so I can't rely on them to settle the issue. I'll stick with the guesses I've got on this page until I find more authoritative information.

Red Rock Canyon is yet another thriving nest of side-blotched lizards. This one is female (the males, like the one above from Cholla Garden, are more speckly).

Here is a vividly colored male at the height of its breeding-season colors. The scan doesn't do it justice, but this was one colorful lizard.

This is how to make baby side-blotched lizards. The male has a firm bite on the female's neck. She looks like she just wants to get it over with.

This male was posing nicely among the beautiful and bizarre rock formations at Alabama Hills. Perhaps I should start a collection of lizards perched in rock crevices, which would include this side-blotched lizard from California, a fence lizard from Utah, and a gecko from Australia.

Having plenty of pictures of side-blotched lizards, I took this photo mainly to show off the purple flowers in the background. 2005 was a banner year for desert wildflowers in Death Valley and elsewhere in the southwestern U.S., and my wife's favorite color is purple.

It was so hot when I was in Anza-Borrego that most of the lizards went into hiding for the day after about 9:30 AM. As usual in the desert, the side-blotched lizards were the first ones out in the morning, and as usual in the desert, they were out in force. This was one of the first ones I saw, at about 7:30 AM. I stopped taking pictures of side-blotched lizards as soon as the less widespread and less common lizards started coming out, such as granite spiny lizards and banded rock lizards. I did keep counting them though, and I ended up seeing 77 side-blotched lizards between 7:30 and 9:45.

Here's an adult female Side-Blotched Lizard looking warily at me from its boulder perch. There weren't too many lizards out on that morning, but you can usually count on there being a few side-blotched lizards anywhere in the California desert.

This was probably the most obviously gravid female side-blotched lizard that I've ever seen. (For those unfamiliar with lizard lingo, "gravid" means "pregnant, but with eggs rather than babies".)

On a warm spring morning, it seemed like every boulder had a male side-blotched lizard at the highest point, trying to impress the gals. Some of them seemed to have succeeded in this endeavor.

We had hiked for a half mile or so on a cool morning (low sixties) with no sign of reptilian activity. I was beginning to think that it was to be a herp-free morning when I spotted this pretty female on a pink rock. I later saw a few more side-blotched lizards and then a couple of very dark fence lizards.

This genus was named after Utah, where these colorful little lizards were first identified in 1852.

I am guessing that the Zion subspecies is U. s. stansburiana, but it might be U. s. uniformis. Please send me email if you know more.

There wasn't much herp activity on a hot windy afternoon at Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge, but at least I finally got a photo of a local side-blotched lizard after several had escaped my camera earlier.

The next day I finally got a photo of one of the local male side-blotched lizards.

The side-blotched lizards here had evolved a nice reddish color for camouflage against the beautiful red rock formations of this park, which is near the similar but more famous Canyonlands National Park.

Plateau side-blotched lizards tend to be less colorful than other subspecies (hence the uniformis), and these two were no exception. They do blend in nicely on the red rock formations though. The first photo is an adult male, and the second photo is an adult female.

Here's another pair showing off how remarkably drab this subspecies is.