Oh, Tiny Skink

We've been having fires in the stove this month, since the weather has been cool and rainy.  This past weekend, a little hitchhiker caught a ride in the wood basket and joined us inside for a few days!

little hitchhiker

I kept seeing her here and there--first at the foot of the stove, then under the couch, then on the stairs.  We finally got her cornered, and Dave coaxed her into a bowl so I could bring her outside.  I spent several long moments watching her in the bowl, remaining motionless until she stopped her frantic wiggling and came to a rest.  She stared at me.  I stared at her.

looking at me?

I took a few pictures so I could zoom in later to wonder over her tiny details.  Perfectly interlocking scales on the back of her head.  Did you know that had elbows, like us?  And digits, too:  miniature toes, complete with claws a fraction of the size of a grain of rice.  She was so amazingly constructed; I shivered thinking that there were hundreds of thousands of perfect little lizards wandering around the gardens and hedgerows of New Zealand, invisible to us.  And that's just lizards--there are millions of perfect little spiders, perfect little songbirds, all types of perfect little critters, not just here, but everywhere.  Amazing.  One Great Dewdrop, indeed.

the smallest toes

She got frantic again.  It was cruel to keep her too long in a bowl.  I let her go.

one last look