Day 6 of Arizona backyard photography.
Today’s pictures are a good example of the fact that without a picture showing full markings or body, it is very difficult to identify a creature with any surety. There is a lot of diversity in the markings of the lizards found in Arizona, so I wasn’t able to give a definitive guess.
I was quite lucky with the hawk (or eagle), although not enough detail for me to identify for sure. In many species there exists much variation in markings, in some you have distinct “color morphs” as seen in the red-spotted purple butterfly, eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly, and several of the lizards found in Arizona. Red-tailed hawks in particular exhibit a fair amount of variation as you can see from the linked article.
Also caught a clear picture of what was likely a desert cottontail rabbit. Like most rabbits, they have few defenses against predators such as hawks, snakes, or coyote so they make up for it in excessive reproduction. They’re able breed at 3 months of age and have at least litters each year which include 2-4 baby rabbits.
phototerrascientia 