Leighton Photography & Imaging

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  • A pair of spiny softshell turtles - probably the Texas subspecies (Apalone spinifera emoryi)  which is only found near the Rio Grande - keeping a wary eye out for alligators in a pond in next to Estero Llano Lake in Weslaco, Texas. Large with a somewhat flexible, leathery shell, the spiny softshell turtle and all of it's subspecies can be found in most freshwater lakes, rivers and ponds where the water is clean and has a range from Southern Canada to Mexico in mostly the Eastern and Central part of the continent.
    Spiny Softshell Turtle (Apalone spin..era)
  • This spiny desert lizard (probably a  juvenile male)  pauses in its hunt for insects, spiders and the occasional centipede under the fallen palm fronds in the Coachella Valley Oasis.
    Desert Spiny Lizard
  • An adult male desert spiny lizard basks in the spring afternoon sun in the desert sand in rural San Bernardino County. This individual had very vivid blues and oranges in the sunlight.
    Desert Spiny Lizard
  • Close-up of the male desert spiny lizard. While the females tend to be a more or less sandy color, the males have very dark markings on the neck, with turquoise to blue under the jaw and along the belly - often with orange to yellow markings on the side.
    Desert Spiny Lizard
  • An adult female desert spiny lizard watches warily from mear the base of a desert fan palm in rural San Bernardino County in Southern California.
    Desert Spiny Lizard
  • This delicate little pteridophyte desert fern was found growing from the shade under a massive pile of boulders in the Chihuahuan Desert at the far eastern limit of its range near the Texas-Chihuahua border just south of El Paso in the Quitman Mountains. It is most often found on cliffs and shady overhangs throughout most of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico.
    Spiny Cliffbrake
  • This delicate little pteridophyte desert fern was found growing from the shade under a massive pile of boulders in the Chihuahuan Desert at the far eastern limit of its range near the Texas-Chihuahua border just south of El Paso in the Quitman Mountains. It is most often found on cliffs and shady overhangs throughout most of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico.
    Spiny Cliffbrake
  • We went specifically to see these exotic invasive lizards on the island of Boca Grande, Florida after hearing about how they are taking over the whole island. We saw about 100 in an afternoon.
    Spiny Iguana
  • The Texas rainbow cactus usually has a single stem, but may branch when older. Large yellow flowers bloom in the spring from the upper portions of the stem. The stem may have bands of tan, reddish or brown spines, giving it a rainbow appearance. This one was found and photographed in West Texas in the Chihuahuan Desert lowlands just north of the Chisos Mountains.
    Texas Rainbow Cactus
  • The cane cholla is a very common native cactus species found across much of Arizona and New Mexico in the United States, and Chihuahua and Sonora in Mexico. It prefers sandy to loamy soils at lower elevations, and has a lot of variety when it comes to flower color, and they are almost always very bright in color: yellow, pink, red, orange, etc. These were found just north of the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument near Ajo, Arizona growing naturally in the Sonoran Desert on a bright, sunny spring morning near the Mexican border.
    Cane Cholla
  • The cane cholla is a very common native cactus species found across much of Arizona and New Mexico in the United States, and Chihuahua and Sonora in Mexico. It prefers sandy to loamy soils at lower elevations, and has a lot of variety when it comes to flower color, and they are almost always very bright in color: yellow, pink, red, orange, etc. These were found just north of the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument near Ajo, Arizona growing naturally in the Sonoran Desert on a bright, sunny spring morning near the Mexican border.
    Cane Cholla
  • The cane cholla is a very common native cactus species found across much of Arizona and New Mexico in the United States, and Chihuahua and Sonora in Mexico. It prefers sandy to loamy soils at lower elevations, and has a lot of variety when it comes to flower color, and they are almost always very bright in color: yellow, pink, red, orange, etc. These were found just north of the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument near Ajo, Arizona growing naturally in the Sonoran Desert on a bright, sunny spring morning near the Mexican border.
    Cane Cholla
  • The cane cholla is a very common native cactus species found across much of Arizona and New Mexico in the United States, and Chihuahua and Sonora in Mexico. It prefers sandy to loamy soils at lower elevations, and has a lot of variety when it comes to flower color, and they are almost always very bright in color: yellow, pink, red, orange, etc. These were found just north of the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument near Ajo, Arizona growing naturally in the Sonoran Desert on a bright, sunny spring morning near the Mexican border.
    Cane Cholla
  • The cane cholla is a very common native cactus species found across much of Arizona and New Mexico in the United States, and Chihuahua and Sonora in Mexico. It prefers sandy to loamy soils at lower elevations, and has a lot of variety when it comes to flower color, and they are almost always very bright in color: yellow, pink, red, orange, etc. These were found just north of the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument near Ajo, Arizona growing naturally in the Sonoran Desert on a bright, sunny spring morning near the Mexican border.
    Cane Cholla
  • Despite it not actually being a crab, the completely harmless Atlantic horseshoe crab is an ancient marine arthropod more closely related to spiders and scorpions. Extremely common in Florida, this big female was in the shallows on the northern Gulf of Mexico on Bald Point, just outside of Ochlockonee Bay.
    Atlantic Horseshoe Crab
  • The Texas rainbow cactus usually has a single stem, but may branch when older. Large yellow flowers bloom in the spring from the upper portions of the stem. The stem may have bands of tan, reddish or brown spines, giving it a rainbow appearance. This one was found and photographed in West Texas in the Chihuahuan Desert lowlands just north of the Chisos Mountains.
    Texas Rainbow Cactus
  • An absolute stunner! Probably the coolest of all the orbweaver spiders, the spiny-backed orbweaver looks like it was designed by an anime artist and not something you'd find out in the wild, especially like this particularly beautiful one found on Sanibel Island in Southwest Florida. Harmless to humans, these tiny spiders are most often found after walking into one of their suspended webs while walking in between trees.
    Spiny-backed Orbweaver (Gasteracanth..mis)
  • The spiny-fruited prickly pear (Opuntia x spinosibacca) is a naturally occurring hybrid between two overlapping Opuntia species (O. aureispina and O. phaeacantha) found in the Big-Bend Region of Texas and is believed to be reproducing with others of the same hybrid in the wild, which is a common way over time we end up with distinct new species. In some circles, it is already being referred to as a unique species: Opuntia spinosibacca. Although they are considered rare in the wild, I happened to find many hundreds of them in bloom like this one spread out in the lowland region north of the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend National Park in West Texas near the Rio Grande.
    Spiny-Fruited Prickly Pear
  • The spiny-fruited prickly pear (Opuntia x spinosibacca) is a naturally occurring hybrid between two overlapping Opuntia species (O. aureispina and O. phaeacantha) found in the Big-Bend Region of Texas and is believed to be reproducing with others of the same hybrid in the wild, which is a common way over time we end up with distinct new species. In some circles, it is already being referred to as a unique species: Opuntia spinosibacca. Although they are considered rare in the wild, I happened to find many hundreds of them in bloom like this one spread out in the lowland region north of the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend National Park in West Texas near the Rio Grande.
    Spiny-Fruited Prickly Pear
  • The spiny-fruited prickly pear (Opuntia x spinosibacca) is a naturally occurring hybrid between two overlapping Opuntia species (O. aureispina and O. phaeacantha) found in the Big-Bend Region of Texas and is believed to be reproducing with others of the same hybrid in the wild, which is a common way over time we end up with distinct new species. In some circles, it is already being referred to as a unique species: Opuntia spinosibacca. Although they are considered rare in the wild, I happened to find many hundreds of them in bloom like this one spread out in the lowland region north of the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend National Park in West Texas near the Rio Grande.
    Spiny-Fruited Prickly Pear
  • The spiny-fruited prickly pear (Opuntia x spinosibacca) is a naturally occurring hybrid between two overlapping Opuntia species (O. aureispina and O. phaeacantha) found in the Big-Bend Region of Texas and is believed to be reproducing with others of the same hybrid in the wild, which is a common way over time we end up with distinct new species. In some circles, it is already being referred to as a unique species: Opuntia spinosibacca. Although they are considered rare in the wild, I happened to find many hundreds of them in bloom like this one spread out in the lowland region north of the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend National Park in West Texas near the Rio Grande.
    Spiny-Fruited Prickly Pear
  • The spiny-fruited prickly pear (Opuntia x spinosibacca) is a naturally occurring hybrid between two overlapping Opuntia species (O. aureispina and O. phaeacantha) found in the Big-Bend Region of Texas and is believed to be reproducing with others of the same hybrid in the wild, which is a common way over time we end up with distinct new species. In some circles, it is already being referred to as a unique species: Opuntia spinosibacca. Although they are considered rare in the wild, I happened to find many hundreds of them in bloom like this one spread out in the lowland region north of the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend National Park in West Texas near the Rio Grande.
    Spiny-Fruited Prickly Pear
  • The spiny-fruited prickly pear (Opuntia x spinosibacca) is a naturally occurring hybrid between two overlapping Opuntia species (O. aureispina and O. phaeacantha) found in the Big-Bend Region of Texas and is believed to be reproducing with others of the same hybrid in the wild, which is a common way over time we end up with distinct new species. In some circles, it is already being referred to as a unique species: Opuntia spinosibacca. Although they are considered rare in the wild, I happened to find many hundreds of them in bloom like this one spread out in the lowland region north of the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend National Park in West Texas near the Rio Grande.
    Spiny-Fruited Prickly Pear
  • This common weed is usually found in disturbed areas, such as this one on the side of US41 in Collier County, Florida.
    Sow Thistle
  • The rose-bellied lizard (also known as the rosebelly lizard) is a handsome little member of the spiny lizard family and is native to Central and North America with a range from Costa Rica to Southern Texas. This one was found near the bank of the Rio Grande in Southern Hidalgo County, Texas.
    Rose-bellied Lizard (Sceloporus vari..lis)
  • The prickly poppy growing in the Pawnee National Grasslands in northeastern Colorado under a big summer sky. The sharp spiny leaves will leave a lasting stinging sensation.
    Prickly Poppy
  • The rose-bellied lizard (also known as the rosebelly lizard) is a handsome little member of the spiny lizard family and is native to Central and North America with a range from Costa Rica to Southern Texas. This one was found near the edge of a pond in just south of Alamo, Texas.
    Rose-bellied Lizard (Sceloporus vari..lis)
  • The brown anole is a member of the spiny lizard family and native to Cuba and the Bahamas. Common, and invasive to the United States, it is spreading north from the Florida Keys, and in a little more more than a century it has established itself as far north as Georgia and as far west as Texas in recent years. The problem with this particular species is that it is outcompeting with the native and less aggressive green anole, with the additional pressure of adult male brown anoles having been known to prey on young green anoles. This one was one of many spotted scurrying around hunting among the trees one November evening in the Corkscrew Swamp near Naples, Florida and the nighttime insects started to come out.
    BrownAnole2021-1.jpg
  • The rose-bellied lizard (also known as the rosebelly lizard) is a handsome little member of the spiny lizard family and is native to Central and North America with a range from Costa Rica to Southern Texas. This one was found near the bank of the Rio Grande in Southern Hidalgo County, Texas.
    Rose-bellied Lizard (Sceloporus vari..lis)
  • Tucked away within the safety of a very spiny Mexican prickly poppy (Argemone mexicana), this Arabesque orbweaver patiently waits for prey to wander into its trap, lured by the bright yellow poppy above. This is one of the most common orbweavers found in North America, and the can be found all over the world. This one was found about 20 feet from the Rio Grande river on the US-Mexico border in Hidalgo County on a bright winter afternoon.
    Arabesque Orbweaver (Neoscona arabesca)
  • The brown anole is a member of the spiny lizard family and native to Cuba and the Bahamas. Common, and invasive to the United States, it is spreading north from the Florida Keys, and in a little more more than a century it has established itself as far north as Georgia and as far west as Texas in recent years. The problem with this particular species is that it is outcompeting the native and less aggressive green anole, with the additional pressure of adult male brown anoles having been known to prey on young green anoles. This particular individual resting on a  banana tree in Fort Myers, Florida is a female. Males tend to be larger and more boldly patterned. Anolis
    Brown Anole
  • The brown anole is a member of the spiny lizard family and native to Cuba and the Bahamas. Common, and invasive to the United States, it is spreading north from the Florida Keys, and in a little more more than a century it has established itself as far north as Georgia and as far west as Texas in recent years. The problem with this particular species is that it is outcompeting with the native and less aggressive green anole, with the additional pressure of adult male brown anoles having been known to prey on young green anoles. This one was one of many spotted scurrying around hunting among the trees one November evening in the Corkscrew Swamp near Naples, Florida and the nighttime insects started to come out.
    BrownAnole2021-2.jpg