THE GARDEN AS AS A BOUTIQUE HOTEL

FOR SOME time now it has been mentioned that a garden should be thought as part of the ecological whole, nature and our surroundings. But I remind our virtual
reader, anything at any time written in this blog is valid in an urban, outdoors garden. It is understandable, that some types of contexts are not agreeable with this rule.

The GARDEN AS A HOTEL, implies that exactly. Some organisms, insects, reptiles,
birds, visit our humble installation for short or long stays. Others just pass to
hang out, check or eat what is available during their constant traveling.

This was not easy. The Internet, or rather, people dealing with their main interests
sometimes are not willing, are unable to write and place a post that it is understandable for the lay person, nor it occurs to place a photo. Some are extremely scientific and useless for yours truly, since the fashion in which they are written committ the SIN of academic, egocentric, absurd, jargon.

I will be more adventurous. This academic writings are so absurd in their excessive minute detail, that often the result makes the object of study a silly excuse for the display of a mamout essay, paper, with a bibliography as long as Ulysses by James Joyce, and the need to satisfy the ego trip for the faculty. This I will add, can only make
us reticent to inquire within those quarters.

I am trying to present a list of reptiles and birds that inhabit my garden
with some rigourosity. It is not what I wanted, but is better than nothing and unusual. There is no one else presenting the garden as an ecological whole, ( not as an
me garden kick your's butt), as I prefer to perceive mine..

When one goes searching for urban anything: birds, reptiles, whatever, there is nothing in this regard. What is the point of presenting pictures ONLY in the rural context, if most of the people live in CITIES? What is the difficulty of taking photographs of these organisms and where most of the population resides? After all,
either they survive with/without our help, within the urban jungle dominating our scene or they will perish.

Here are some lizards the curious will search and see what they look like:
Sharp Anole- Anolis Acutus; Puerto Rican Amieva- Amieva Exsul; Crested Anole-
Anolis Cristalelus.

Birds: Greater antillean Grackle, Red legged Trush, Zenaida Dove, Puerto Rican Emerald, Green Mango (hummingbirds), and Puerto Rican spindalis.

Amphibians: None in my garden, however Puerto Ricans have elevated
their love to infatuation status regarding a little brown frog COQUI, to a star status. To such an extent that many lies were told to children in school as to this inability of the little frog to live anywhere else. JAHA, bilingual laugh!

If you search under Puerto Rican frogs nine out of ten sites pertain to this little one
hated to such levels in Hawaaii, where it arrived surely in some silly bromeliads; that
an insular scandal in that far away 50th state, became a national policy to destroy these cute brown amphibians with caffeine spray. Their crime? Their constant, coki, coki, coki squeaky calling through out the night was unbearable for those USA islanders .

Some insects have been detected, beneficial ones: Lady bugs, came at a difficult moment, when my Bean climber was attacked by all fronts, unable to stop this
epidemic with my secret soap formula, one day I noticed this cute army. The only thing they do is fornicate and eat, reproducing quickly helping to destroy the culprit.

Bees, daily visitors at all hours. Gluttons for the nectar in all my Turneras species: Ulmifolia, Diffusa and Subulata. Not so beneficial, but part of the Creation, Leaf miners, weevils, spider mites, and a few others arrive, do their thing and dissapear without much damage.

EPILOGUE BONUS : Bufo Marinus. The biggest of our frogs, probably imported to this former enchanted island, when SUGAR CANE, was KING. Brought to eat whatever was bothering this sugary grass moons ago. Since PUERTO RICO, BY THE WAY DOES NOT CULTIVATE SUGAR, there are no Puerto Rican Rums, the molasses
are imported from DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, Our literature has plenty of stories,novels, dramas, anecdotes of the sugar cane era, I will mention just one.
Yesterday when I was a child, there were hundreds, millions of these frogs in any possible context: urban/rural/ in betweenies, in the Puerto Rican isle.

During the last seven years I have seen 2. One in Toa Alta, one In Bayamon.
So what? Well, they eat insects like crazy...unfortunately, cement/asphalt have destroyed their habitat. NOW they are probably in the brink of extintion but silly
endemists, a la Alberto Areces Mallea destroy them, because they eat endemical
organisms! Farewell, remembering, the garden as part of the whole, not the ego, not a hundred kinds of orchids or whatever... Time to go.