A Gecko, a Woodpecker...
and a Few Fun Facts
Today's post starts out with a pop quiz! 😬 Don’t worry—you won’t be graded! 🙂
What do Western Banded Geckos and Gila Woodpeckers have in common (besides that they live in the Sonoran Desert and they're featured in this post)?
To what TV series does the title of today’s post pay homage?
The answers are at the end of this post.
Western Banded Geckos are native to the Sonoran Desert and we see them in our garage. The last few weeks we’ve seen an adult (about 3” long) and a cute little juvey (only about 2” long!).
🧐 A Few Fun Facts about Western Banded Geckos
They have vertical pupils & are nocturnal
They eat arthropods including Scorpions
Their tails can easily break off when threatened by predators and then quickly grow back (though the tails grow back shorter, with a different pattern)
When threatened they may squeak
They have “granular” scales (meaning, the scales look grainy—as shown in the circular call out in my illustration above—as opposed to “keeled spiny” scales which are overlapping & pointy like those on Desert Spiny Lizards)*
They are definitely cute (this is an indisputable fact, of course!) 😆
* I also did some research into what kind of scales dragons have. Although I didn’t find a definitive answer to that burning 😉 question, I did discover a tantalizing bit of trivia for The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit fans amongst us: some spiny southern African lizards belong to the genus Smaug, named for the dragon in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit!
Gila Woodpeckers are year-round residents here in the Sonoran Desert; we see (and hear!) them often in our yard. I always laugh when I hear them drumming on metal objects like gutters, downspouts and pipes, because the sound is really loud!
🧐 A Few Fun Facts about Gila Woodpeckers
The males (like the one I painted) sport a red “beanie” on the top of their heads
Gila Woodpeckers excavate holes in Saguaros, to use as nesting sites. The holes need to dry and callous over for several months before the Woodpeckers can use the holes to raise their young
Once the Gila Woodpeckers are done with their holes, other species will move in—including Owls, Kestrels, Flycatchers, & Cactus Wrens
They eat mainly insects but will also hang on hummingbird feeders and lap up the sugar water!
I’ve given Gila Woodpeckers the nickname “Squeaky” because their calls sound like a squeaky toy to me. You can listen to more Gila Woodpecker sounds at All About Birds.
❗ Answers to the Pop Quiz
Western Banded Geckos and Gila Woodpeckers make squeaking sounds!
The format of my post title echoes the format of Young Sheldon episode titles, many of which follow the format “ A ___, a ___ and a ___” such as "A Solo Peanut, a Social Butterfly and the Truth" and "Hobbitses, Physicses and a Ball with Zip".
I know I said you wouldn’t be graded on the pop quiz, but if you read this far then you get an A+! 🤗