Roosters and Lizards

Tweet I was up at 3am -- blame it on jetlag.

I awoke to the night creatures -- creatures that I had missed while I was home in the states.

The two crowing roosters, in the neighborhood, one sounds normal, the other sounds like he uses one of those mechanical devices at his throat to crow. The normal sounding guy is the lead off, followed by Mr. Mechanical.

Off in the distance, I hear other roosters and the occasional dog -- except when the heavy rain on the roof drowns out everything else. The rainy season has finally begun!

The other night sound that I missed was the Toke -- a beloved lizard here in Timor Leste. If you have a Toke in your midst, you are very lucky. I like them, too, because they eat mosquitoes.

The Toke has a particular sound -- almost mechanical -- it almost sounds like it is saying To-ke, To-ke, To-ke -- hence the name. It's quite startling the first few times you hear it, but you do get a warning -- a scratching-like sound and then three or four To-ke's.

I've never seen the Toke, but my colleagues tell me these lizards can be up to five inches long -- much larger than the gekos -- which I also enjoy having around -- since they, too, feast on mosquitoes -- and make a more gentle, clicking-like sound.