One of the things we'll miss...

Many of you may know by now that we are moving from Texas to Indianapolis in the next month or two. We are very lucky to have had the opportunity to live in the Texas Hill Country and will miss so many things about it. The heavy rains we've had over the past week have reminded us of one little thing we'll miss once we get to the Midwest--the geckos singing at night. While there are a few gecko species indigenous to Texas, the ones I refer to here are none other than my old friends from my missionary days in Spain, Hemidactylus turcicus, or the Mediterranean gecko. I knew from my time in Andalusia just how loud these little guys could be, but we're still amazed at how vocal they are. It's still a cute little chirp, if you ask me.

Here is a stock photo:

And here are a few shots of the guy (gal?) that was singing above our front door tonight:



Here is a link to hear what they sound like. Not quite the classical "ge-cko" sound that gave the family Gekkonidae it's name, but I prefer the chirp anyway.

The Mediterranean geckos are just one cool species of Lacertilians we have around here. The boys favorite lizard is the ubiquitous Green Anole, which they love to catch so they can watch them turn from bright green to completely brown in just a few minutes. Of course, my favorite Texas lizard is probably the horny toad, which is not as common around the yard, but very cool nonetheless. Plus, horny toads eat ants!

That's probably enough herpetology for now, and I'm not too worried that the boys won't be able to find something to catch once we relocate. But for now, we'll enjoy hearing our geckos sing us to sleep.