Atlantis Resort is an unbelievably luxurious playground on Paradise Island, a few miles from Nassau, Bahamas. Michael Jackson rented the fanciest suite of rooms. More than one James Bond movie has been filmed on site. Manta rays swim in giant aquaria mimicking the undersea remains of the mythical eponymous city. And, last but not least, little brown lizards hang out on the trees.

The subspecies of Anolis sagrei are in flux these days. Some authorities consider Anolis ordinatus a distinct species, whereas others consider Anolis sagrei ordinatus indistinguishable from Anolis sagrei sagrei. I'll just leave it as Anolis sagrei ordinatus until this shakes out a little more.

Nearby Castaway Cay is owned by Disney, and visited by Disney cruise ships. Perhaps I was on one of those. Perhaps.

Brown anoles, an introduced species from Cuba and the Bahamas, swarm over the Miami area and south Florida in general. My mother-in-law's yard in Coral Gables, for example, has dozens of these active little lizards. Here's a male on a downed palm trunk showing off his dewlap.

This young fellow was sticking to ground cover plants. Brown anoles are often in trees, but they're also often on the ground. Where the native green anoles and brown anoles coexist, you often see the brown anoles on the ground and in the lower branches, and the green anoles in the higher branches.

Here's another young one. The youngsters often have reddish heads. Brown anoles vary quite a bit in their shade and dorsal pattern.

This one seems to have an identity crisis. I think it liked the specific name "radicalis".

I've started a collection of photos of brown anoles on signs. So far I have two.

What better way to spend Christmas than photographing brightly-colored lizards in the yard, I ask you?

This was an excellent brown-anole-photographing day. Not only did I catch one in the act of showing off its dewlap, but I doubled the size of my collection of pictures of brown anoles on signs.

Studly adult male brown anoles sometimes display their extreme macho qualities with a crest on the head and back, like this individual.

Here's a couple of Christmas anoles. The first one is a studly male with its pronounced crest; the second is a beautiful female with its red head.

My collection of photos of brown anoles on signs is now 25% larger.

Mmmm, strawberries!

Mmmm, more strawberries!

And for my next trick...

This young anole was part of a hoodlum gang attacking this poor innocent grasshopper. They would take turns running in and trying to grasp the grasshopper in their mouths, but their mouths weren't quite big enough and the grasshopper repeatedly thrashed its way to freedom. I left before the happy or tragic ending took place.

I hadn't seen that many sleeping anoles on past trips to the Everglades, but that's because I spent most of the time after dark driving on roads looking for snakes. Turns out if you walk on trails there are plenty o' sleeping anoles to be found.