I was going to post some photos of the Baldy Mountain trail from last week, followed by some more of the 345 trail and then a bunch of wildflower species that just began to bloom. But then I ran into this unusual pair today and couldn’t resist posting a few photos of them. (My apologies to anyone who has an aversion to arachnids.)
I don’t understand exactly what the relationship is, but I see that the spider even has some of the orchid’s maroon color marking on its back. The crab spider wouldn’t leave the blossom even though I spent a half hour lying prone trying to steady the camera enough for a focused photo using both forearms, one hand and my hiking staff as a makeshift tripod with the lens only a couple of inches away from him. They must have some kind of mutually beneficial pact.
