MagiStream

I tried using the search feature on whatbird.com, but I just don't have enough details to figure those little birds out. Still, maybe the site would help you if you can get any more details from the birds.

Not much else to go on, but perhaps this is similar:

Say's Phoebe

The profile of the bird is comparable to yours, it's found where you are during the summer, and it's an open country bird. While the calls don't match exactly, they do have the same pitch. If this isn't it, I'd look at related species (they all belong to the flycatcher family). Junco would be my next guess.

I got one for you guys. My daughter just found this little guy in our apartment, caught him and put him into a tupperware container, brought him to me to show him off (I snagged three pics, this is the best one), then had her let him go outside. I don't need a cat or dog thinking "snack" when they see him. And I definitely don't need lizard mess in the house because of that "snack" thought.

I'm asking around to see if ANY one knows what he is. He's only about an inch and a half to two inches long, and at first, I thought leopard gecko, then googled it, but no, he's MUCH cuter. So I tried putting in striped lizard and found a site that tried to help me, but the pictures they have do no justice to my little cutie. I think he's a Tokay Gecko, but not really sure



(this is the site I went to, http://www.discoverlife.org/20/q?guide=Lizards I just entered Body Top Pattern - spotted, Tail Top Pattern - banded, and Range - North America EAST, and had four types come up. The Gekko Gecko is the Tokay Gecko, which is what he resembles, but the colors are SO different, I'm just not 100% sure)

[url=http://magistream.com/creature/6252558][img]http://magistream.com/img/6252558.gif[/img][/url][url=http://magistream.com/creature/6252559][img]http://magistream.com/img/6252559.gif[/img][/url][url=http://magistream.com/creature/6256118][img]http://magistream.com/img/6256118.gif[/img][/url][url=http://magistream.com/creature/6256120][img]http://magistream.com/img/6256120.gif[/img][/url]

I listened through all of the phoebes and flycatchers and kingbirds... no matches. Dang.


Eirene, that's definitely a gecko. What state do you live in?
My knee jerk reaction when I saw it was "someone's escaped pet house gecko". Went looking up information on them, and check out what I found via Wiki. I think we may have found your lizard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_House_Gecko

That might also be a leopard gecko. It would depend on where you live and what the environment outside looks like. Here, leopard geckos are occasionally found in the wild but it's because some idiot thought Florida's tropical environment would be a good release environment. The tell-tale on those is the movable eyelids.

They're initially from Asia but have adapted readily to quite a few US environments.

Eirene~ I posted over in VBC, but I figured I'd post here as well and expand on it a bit.

That's definitely a House Gecko. They run rampant here in FL. lol.

Tokay Geckos are very bright blue (usually). They're also very aggressive, lol. They bite HARD and tend not to let go easily.
Leopard geckos are not true geckos in the fact that they do not have the setae on their feet, which are the teeeennny tiny microscopic hairs that make their sticky pads.

Glad it's not an intrusive species. To my regret, here in Florida we either have to destroy them or they become permanent pets as they're not supposed to be here. Florida, like Australia, has a pretty unique ecology which is easily upset.

I've been trying to catch the western fence lizard --- he looks like a cross between a horn toad and a skink --- but he's too fast for me. Doesn't want to be my friend. Pretty, though; they have bright iridescent blue-green bellies.

Now that we've got regular rains, the tree frogs are back. I'm not sure what kind because they're still in poor condition from the lack of moisture, but they'll soon be that pretty shade of green and gold or bright yellow again.

Which reminds me...I have to catch the Cuban and either dispose of him or make him a pet. Those in particular are NOT allowed here.

Just for the record, I'm Hawke, the TN is just there because "Hawke" is frequently already taken.

Leopard Geckos are very bright colored compared to house geckos too. I've had a few house geckos as pets. According to the information I found, they aren't native to the US, but haven't particularly made a nuissance of themselves here, so they're not a "kill on sight" species.

TX, how do you figure a cuban frog/toad got to your area?

TNHawke wrote:TX, how do you figure a cuban frog/toad got to your area?

They're actually common here and how they got here is debatable. Best guess is that someone slipped in quarantining goods which were shipped from the area in which the toad is native.

Here's an article:

Cuban Tree Frogs, an Invasive Species

U of F is just a stone's throw from here. I intend to capture the specimen and take it there directly for identification. I would suppose the person in question will either take it for study or euthanize it.

Ah, here's another U of F article by the same person which tells how the frog got here and shows a map of the extent of its invasion:

Cuban tree frog in Florida

The Cuban Treefrog, Osteopilus septentrionalis (Figure 1), is native to Cuba, the Isle of Youth (an island province of Cuba also known as Isle of Pines), the Cayman Islands, and the Bahamas. It is an introduced species in Florida, and the earliest confirmed records date to the 1920s in the Florida Keys. The first Cuban Treefrogs in Florida likely arrived as stowaways in shipping crates originating from the Caribbean. By the mid-1970s, they had dispersed throughout most of southern Florida. As of 2010, there appear to be established breeding populations as far north as Cedar Key on Florida's Gulf Coast, Jacksonville on the Atlantic Coast, and Gainesville in north-central Florida

Cedar Key is about an hour and a half from here, Gainesville about an hour, and Jacksonville about forty-five minutes away. That should give you an idea of where we're located.

It's too bad they're so damaging; I like the little buggers because they're very pretty and quite personable.