I spent about a week watching a pair of male anoles stake out there respective territories and try to attract a mate.
Anole #1 was a medium sized fellow who picked a red pipe fence next to a loading dock/retaining wall. He was 30-40 feet from the nearest trees/cover that harbor females except for the retaining wall (which houses mostly fence lizards. But the weeds under the fence where grown up and he had a good enough shot at getting a girl I guess. He put on an amazing display. Almost neon green, bright red dewlap, lots of very visible activity and he worked about 20 foot of fence back and forth all day every day. The only other anoles I observed in the area where smaller males. The did push-ups and exposed their dewlaps and the other smaller males always left. Then one day someone came around and pulled all the weeds under the fence. The male anole stayed another day and then left.
Anole #2 was a great big male anole and he picked a crate myrtle bush in some shrubs within 15 feet of very thick woods. He barely even put on a display. He mostly just sat there. But after 3 or 4 days of this I saw him with a female. I think this is a good example of how age and size helped him stake out a better spot and have greater success without working so hard.
