That Time I...
Found the Northermost Lizard in Michigan




Here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, reptiles are few and far between. We might get a snake or two occasionally but that's about it. Imagine my surprise then when I was sunning myself on a rock on an outcrop in the Huron Mountains and a lizard crawled past me! It was clearly curious who this big visitor was on its sunny patch. Once satisfied I wasn't a threat, it found its own sunny spot to catch some afternoon rays and settled in next to me. What a cute lil guy!
Once it was nicely warmed up, it burrowed into a crevice of pine needles to spend the night. The next morning, I checked to see if it was still there and it was! Just waiting for the sun to rise and warm the rocks so it could get on with its late-summer foraging.
Back home, I did some research and found that it was a five-lined skink. They're native to much of the eastern part of the U.S. and just barely nudge into the U.P. Their range extended all the way to the Huron Mountains where I was camping, and since I was on the last big outcrop of rock before you reach Lake Superior, it's feasible that I found the northernmost individual lizard in all of Michigan. How cool is that!
The views from thie outcrop were immense. The Huron Islands were stunning and the forest in all directions was prime. Well worth the effort to get here, especially with the bonus of having made a new friend. My human friend Alex joined me briefly on this adventure, but he left before sunrise for some weird reason. Never skip chilling on a rock in the sun for a minute!