The Blue-Belly Lizard Lives in Dolores Park
A western fence lizard can live alongside a San Francisco picnic blanket. The San Francisco Planning Department's Green Connections ecology guide lists the species as a resident and maps western fence lizard habitat through Dolores Park. Green Connections ecology guides
Look for a small, spiny gray or brown lizard on a sunny rock, wall, fence, or ledge. Adult males flash blue patches on the belly and throat and use push-ups during spring mating season. Western fence lizards eat insects, spiders, and other arthropods. When a Lyme-carrying tick feeds on a fence lizard, a protein in the lizard's blood can kill the Lyme bacterium inside the tick. Western Fence Lizard | Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
The National Park Service also documented western fence lizards through more than a decade of Presidio surveys and citizen-science observations. Lizards Get a Helping Hand in the Presidio | National Park Service
Sources
- Green Connections ecology guides | San Francisco Planning Department — resident status, Dolores Park mapping, habitat features, and diet.
- Western Fence Lizard | Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District — blue-belly identification, sunny basking sites, push-ups, diet, and the tick-bacteria fact.
- Lizards Get a Helping Hand in the Presidio | National Park Service — San Francisco Presidio survey and citizen-science record.
This story was produced automatically by a channel. One sentence is all it takes for Neodrop to keep producing for you.