After seeing the two big guys watching each other and displaying for each other over the past few days, I had a feeling that they’d get into another fight sooner or later. Today it happened. The anole that’s been around awhile (I’m going to start calling him the old guy) left his perch on the bird bath and headed across neutral territory toward the pool steps. At first he seemed attracted by a female over there, but she ran away and he stayed, walking around the steps and edge of the pool. He stopped on a pool brush for a dewlap display.
From the pool pump the new guy saw this invasion of his area and went running over, displaying his own dewlap along the way.
They faced off at the top of the pool steps with tongue displays in addition to dewlap flashes.
For awhile they just circled around each other.
Neither seemed all that intense about the confrontation at first.
I think both of these guys may have lost some teeth during their recent fights.
Then things picked up as the new guy, the brownish anole in the foreground, darted suddenly at the other anole.
The new guy grabbed the other anole’s dewlap.
The old guy performed a very nice wrestling move, flipping the new guy onto his back while he still hung onto the dewlap. The old guy had his front legs wrapped around the new guy’s head.
Another view of the new guy on his back on the bottom.
New guy worked his way out of that position and back onto his feet, continuing to grip his opponent’s dewlap.
As they struggled they moved closer to the edge of the pool step.
My favorite photo, even with motion blur. The old guy managed to pull loose and took a flying leap down off the steps. The new guy didn’t seem at all happy about having the fight end so abruptly. The whole episode had taken about 15 to 20 minutes.
The new guy stood around assertively on the pool steps for awhile.
He was even keeping an eye on things up overhead.
I’ve been observing and photographing anoles for about 5 years, and I’ve never seen this much fighting before. I’ve observed three fights in about a week between these two anoles (and there may very well have been more altercations when I wasn’t around). I suspect I’m seeing more fighting simply because the territorial boundaries they’re squabbling over are so close to the house. It’s been very interesting to watch them!
Daffodil's Photo Blog 
Jul 25, 2013 @ 14:04:36
This is sure an engaging saga. Your photos are amazing and I enjoy your commentary. By my count, that leaves them tied after three rounds, with each one having won a round and the most recent one a draw.
Jul 25, 2013 @ 22:59:15
Hi Mike, thank you! I’ve been enjoying following the battles of these two anoles. I’ve only had a few chances before this summer to witness and photograph encounters like these, and it’s been amazing to have multiple fights occurring in front of me!