Kayaking the Cypress Tupelo Swamp

Yesterday afternoon, Monday, we went to collect caterpillars with the scientist that started this research about 17 years ago. He came from Reno, Nevada to meet us and teach us about his research. We had to travel by kayak because the Pearl River is flooding and there wasn't any other way to collect caterpillars. You can see the kayak in the picture. It is a kind of boat. We floated in kayaks in the cypress tupelo swamp and looked for caterpillars. Do you know what cypress and tupelo are? At first it was hard to get the caterpillars from the trees and bushes and keep the kayak still. I had to hang onto the tree and get the caterpillar with one hand. Then I had to label the bag. Floating in the swamp was wonderful. We saw a woodpecker that was very big. We also saw some yellow birds, a frog, and some huge spiders!! One spider was in my kayak crawling on me and I didn't know it was there until we got back to shore. I'm glad I didn't know because I might have fallen out of the kayak and into the muddy water. This morning I will work in the bunkhouse to clean the caterpillars bags and record the new caterpillars with the computer. One of the caterpillars in the picture has camouflage that looks like bird poop. Tomorrow I will get to kayak again. I miss you all and will be excited to be back at James John next week.