Joann Merritt's Essays

Rock The Desert Midnat Style
August, 2007

Field trip at Crawford’s! Field trip at Crawford’s!

The call went out via E-mail and telephone and those that heeded the call had an exciting outing on July 28th. What better place could there be for Midnats to “Rock the Desert” than the ledges and outcrops of rocks on Crawford’s Ridge?

Headlining our concert was The Mountain Boomers, whose preferred stage of limestone ledges and rockpiles, was at the ready. As with all such events, lesser known performers gradually led up to the main attraction. First we have the Texas Spotted Whiptail, a plainly marked lizard that is fairly easy to find as he inhabits yards, vacant lots and alleys in town as well as different areas of the countryside. He sports a row of spots on each side of an otherwise striped body.

Our next rock star is the Side-blotched Lizard who is very nicely patterned with a blue spangled back (blotches, spots, speckles, and stripes), orange-yellow spots on the sides and its namesake dark blue to black spot, or blotch behind its foreleg. He’s right at home in arid and semi-arid regions with gravelly soil and low sparse vegetation.

Then a large Marbled Whiptail whips into view. He would run a short distance, then stop giving all of us a good look at this handsome specimen. Try as I might, I cannot describe this lizard except to say he is “marbled” and the male has a peach or salmon colored throat, chest and sides of abdomen. Come see one for yourself!

The excitement of Rock the Desert gains momentum with the appearance of the Blue-tailed Whiptails, whose proper name is Trans-Pecos Striped Whiptail. The male of this species has a brilliant blue tail, belly and sides of the head which are startling, especially in the drab desert surroundings where he lives. Can lizards in Midland be any more colorful than this?

Yes, they can!! The male Collared Lizard uses the stage name Mountain Boomer and takes center stage. He positions himself on a large elevated boulder so his flashy patterns and colors of orange-yellow and blue-green, accented by his trademark black collar, can be viewed and appreciated by all his admirers. Mountain Boomers do not actually boom, the only booming that was excited Midnats. One source said “his head is almost grotesquely enlarged” and if you get up close and personal you can see his black mouth lining. He is alert, elusive and pugnacious and when fleeing would-be captors can lift body and tail and dash along on its hindlegs, giving it the appearance of a little dinosaur. Some Midnats have witnessed this behavior, but I have not - yet!! These gaudy colors and display prompted Frank & Viola Merritt to name a resident male Boomer at their place on Lake Amistad, “Elvis.”

Gravid females are patterned with red-orange spots and bars on the sides and they, too, have a black collar. Young Collared Lizards show alternating dark and light cross banding. The young’un didn’t make an appearance that day; probably had other lizards to chase, but it had been seen previously.

Stories could be written about the 45 species of birds we saw that day or the butterflies and dragonflies identified as we rode in the back of Don’s pickup down to Soda Lake, but the Lizard Experience was the special event. Oh, yes, we Rocked the Desert, Midnat Style.