Wildlife Spotting

Californiaherps.com is a great site for helping with ID. In this case, the color looks more like S. occidentalis than U. stansburiana. The size would have to be a fence lizard, too; side-blotched lizards are much smaller, but you should check californiaherps.com to confirm.

It's kind of hard to tell from your photograph what this species is as it is partially hidden, blends in so well to the background, and we have only a top view from which to try and identify it. But then reptiles really don't want to be identified...grin. You may, however, remember more than what your photograph shows. As a result, I'd suggest looking at this website: http://www.californiaherps.com/index.html. It's got a lot of really good information in it. In particular take a look at these species pages: http://www.californiaherps.com/lizards/pages/u.s.elegans.html, http://www.californiaherps.com/lizards/pages/s.o.longipes.html, http://www.californiaherps.com/lizards/pages/s.g.vandenburgianus.html. I'll be curious what you decide on. Thanks for being a member of Project Noah.