A small colour-shifting lizard lies still in the hope that my camera and I hadn't spotted it.

After returning from a dawn trip to birdwatch and after having a full breakfast, we spent the late morning relaxing in the gardens of our bungalow. We quickly realised that if we stayed still and just watched, life of all kinds returned to the garden. Birds of many different types flew in to continue building nests or hopped down to the ground to pick up food, insects continued slow treks across the sandy portions of the garden and lizards scooted down from trees and ran across to another. The moment we got up and moved, everything vanished within a few blinks.

To get this shot, I borrowed my brother's camera, lay on the grass and waited for a tiny lizard to continue his repeated round trip between two trees on either side of the garden. I took this shot when, after several attempts, the little guy paused within my field of view (moving the lens while prone scared him off).

Had I not paused to observe and then identify the patterns of movement of this lizard I would probably have spent the three days we had at the bungalow not even knowing he existed.

Mannar, Sri Lanka, 2016

Nikon D800 with Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD

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Make:	NIKON CORPORATION
Model:	NIKON D800
Exposure:	0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture:	f/5.6
ISO Speed:	100
Focal Length:	200 mm
Lens:	70.0-200.0 mm f/2.8