jwparker2's Journal
MTRP and the San Diego City Nature Challenge 2018
MTRP is a great place to spend some time and record observations of nature this spring, especially the last weekend of April. San Diego is competing in the international City Nature Challenge this year and your help is needed. First step is to join the iNaturalist project here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2018-san-diego-county
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/inat-observation-of-the-day
Check out the archives... UNREAL
Technical information shared in comments about DIFFICULT species identification with scorpions.
Invaluable for the serious scorpophile! From my resident expert Kari McWest Curator kjmcwest
Honestly, I could see little to no difference between photos of Fence Lizards and Side-Blotched Lizards...
alexb0000 provided the following guide for me:
The easiest way is their body scales, Fence Lizards are rough and slightly spiky while Side-Bloctched have smooth pebble-like scales. Side-Blotcheds also have a longer, pointier snout. If you haven't already, check out these galleries:
http://www.californiaherps.com/lizards/pages/s.o.longipes.html
http://www.californiaherps.com/lizards/pages/u.s.elegans.html
Also, to make things even more confusing, in the San Diego area we have a "subspecies" of the Fence Lizard:
The Great Basin Fence Lizard.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/11118875
