Can you say mud?

Happy Earth Day!
I hope all of you are learning a lot about studying caterpillars, doing field research, and the natural history of this area of the country (the Louisiana Bayou). One of the reasons I came on this trip is to be able to share with you how facinating exploring the natural world can be. When I was a kid I spent a lot of time outside, in the woods, on the water, looking at interactions in the natural world. I wanted to be able to show you that there are scientists who dedicate their whole lives to studying the way organisms (living things) interact. Earth Day is a celebration of our incredible living planet!

Thank you all for your comments and quesitons! Most of you took on the challenge of identifying frass. Your ideas were really creative and you all included the correct answer. I'm going to wait until Thursday evening to tell you the answers so that other classes have a chance to respond.

Today I went out with another team of teachers, a graduate student from Tulane University and a naturalist/guide who is helping out the team. We went by Kayak and found a site to collect caterpillars. This picture shows what happened when I stepped out of my kayak. All day as we worked collecting and counting the mud sucked our boots into the ground. There was also an awful smell, which I think comes from decaying vegetation in the mud. I did find a cool caterpillar! It's related to the yellow one I showed you a couple of days ago. I post a picture as soon as my camer is recharged!

This was on the ground at the field site today. It's called a crawdad tower. Do you know what a crawdad is?

Challenge: What is another name for a crawdad? What do you think this is?

Thursday I'll be in the lab and spending my morning video conferencing with students at Sligo Creek. These are some of the things we use to help identify the caterpillars and the plants we bring back from the field.

Challenge: What are some of the tools you see and what do you think we use them for?