I got a good amount of sleep, but awoke for 7:00am breakfast exhausted, which was unfortunate because we completed 8.6 miles of hiking today. We hiked down two trails—the first trail (it was very hilly) ran along the right side of the 50 hectare plot near Las Cuevas Research Station, the second trail was the Monkey Tail Trail.

Some cool miscellaneous things observed/experienced on the hike:

-Butterfly net doubles as a good hiking stick.

-I held an anole!

-I caught my first four butterflies with the net! One was a predominantly tan/brown swallowtail with iridescent purple spots on the forewing. What a beauty! The other three were pale green sulphurs.

Sulphur!

Swallowtail with iridescent purple spots

-Blue Morpho spottings: 5

-Closest distance I’ve gotten to a blue Morpho: ~1m

-Number of Blue Morphos caught: still none 🙁

-I made friends with a bee that sat on my shoulder for a portion of the trek.

-I wore a cicada shell like a badge.

-I ate a live termite and it tasted alright.

-I saw a large dragonfly (estimate about 15 cm)

-acacia ants

-spider monkeys

-I sat in a pile of ants.

-I adopted camera trap ‘Rice 2’. It is currently sitting along the Monkey Tail Trail about a 45 minute hike from the research station.

I observed that the most abundant species of butterflies in the area seem to be sulphurs (of white, pale green, and bright yellow colorations) and swallowtails (dominant black color with vibrant patches). Blue Morpho sightings were more frequent than I expected considering how well their undersides camouflage with their surroundings, but they were mostly spotted in flight. I am hopeful that I will succeed in catching a blue Morpho in the remaining days that the class will spend in the rainforest.

After a dinner of spaghet, the class ended the night with lectures on arachnids, epiphytes, and life in the rainforest canopy. Overall, a tiring and successful first day in the rainforest.