The orchid, the spider and the fly seem like they are playing "cat and mouse",

Last week a Bulbophyllum Elizabeth Ann 'Jean' bloomed in my garden.  It started attracting flies. All the fly activity got the attention of a spider that moved to the flowers.  What I find most remarkable of this is that the flies don't seem to do anything on the flower, they certainly are not pollinating it, or drinking nectar, or even laying eggs, they just sit on the flowers and defends them from other flies with remarkable vigor.  What stimulus the flower is using on the fly to elicit this behavior is a mystery to me, although I suspect it is the fragrance.  The presence of a crab spider make staying on the flower a perilous thing.  The fly seems aware of the spider, however to my surprise, sometimes it gets dangerously close to it.  The spider in question is a crab spider, this spider doesn't make a web, instead, it is build up like a wrestler, with large front legs for grabbing and overpowering prey.  Getting near this spider is the last thing a fly should do, but in this case the flies seems almost desperate to sit where the spider is.  The spider, which preyed on a less alert fly last thursday, was noticeably fatter on friday.  Unfortunately I left home for the weekend and by the time I am back the flowers will have fallen and I will never know if these particular flies survived its obssesion with the flowers.

An amusing story about a Boa that lives around my house

For some mysterious reason I haven't been visited by salespeople or religious proselytist for years

Basking in the sun

Another view

My work requires that I cultivate a sense of serenity and non aggression when I am around the animals I manage, I try to send a "vibe" that I am not a threat. The forest animals around my house have noted this and have decided I am mostly harmless. Because of this they take great liberties when I am around. This six feet plus female puertorican boa comes to bask on the rail of my terrace during the summer and stays for a few months, then she disappears until next summer. One of my guilty pleasures is luring unwary visitors as close to the boa as I can without them noticing. When they see the boa, even the most frail have engaged in sudden and astonishing feats of athleticism, its like a miracle. Others have emitted a rich array of fervently pronounced vocalizations which sometimes include mighty colorful maledictions of all sorts. Generally they calm down quickly, and come to admire the animal, but some have traveled great distances in an amazingly short time. The puertorican boa is an endangered species that few in the island of Puerto Rico ever see in the flesh. The snake that lives at my home is one of the very few that can be seen reliably and the only one that shows itself in broad daylight in a place frequented by people every day. Sadly after it was tagged with a RIFD tag and it stopped basking on places where she could be easily caught. A Secretary of PR's Department of Natural and Enviromental Resources,  came to see this snake and had the opportunity to see some unwary members of his entourage engage in vigorous and sudden activity much to everyone mirth.