Journal Entry # 5

Today was a tiring but rather fun day out in the field. We spilt our team into two and divided the duties. In the morning I was on the field team. It was so much fun because wait until I show you the pictures of the area where we had to get to.

It was very cold this morning so I wore two pairs of pants, and we had to cross a huge swamp with water that at times was very deep. To get to the other side of the swamp we crossed on slippery rocks. Our research assistant was hitting logs with a machete to let the snakes know that we were there. When your standing on a very thin log with snakes possibly below you, it can be quite a nervous situation. But remember what I said, go on those adventures because when it was all said and done it was so much fun.

We spent the morning and some of the afternoon collecting caterpillars. We sampled a portion. Here is how it is done:

1. We have a 10 meter radius

2. We first try to collect as many caterpillars we can

3. We have to label and identify what each caterpillar is and what it eats. ( We take the caterpillars back to the bunkhouse to study them later)

4. Then while we are labeling the caterpillars, we also have to label what the trees are and how many leaves are in each tree, and how many of the leaves are eaten.

Needless to say this takes hours and you are exhausted when you come back.

We got back and then checked all the caterpillars in and decided what species each caterpillar was. ( This also took hours)

But check out some of the pictures of what I saw today... I am going to have the one with the spider framed! Look mom I'm no longer afraid of spiders!