December 28, 2023

My First Day as a Caterpillar Scientist with EarthWatch

December 31st 2022

I closed out 2022 and started the first week of 2023 on an EarthWatch Caterpillar Citizen Science Expedition in Costa Rica. On our first day at the La Selva Biological Research Station, I learned how to find a caterpillar in the jungle!

San Jose To La Selva Biological Research Station

After a quick shower and last minute packing, I joined the rest of the group in the hotel lobby where I got to see where I fell on the luggage spectrum. Turns out I was definitely on the lighter (if not lightest) side of the group! Everyone else had large roller bags.

The bus ride from San Jose to the Research Station was fairly uneventful, just about an hour and a half drive. We were received in the main congregating area – El Comedor (the cafeteria) – we were promptly fed lunch and orientated around the rules, most importantly: always wear your boots because a snake can jump out and bite your ankles at any moment! In the time it took to get room keys sorted out, I did some small exploring by myself. Walking past the comedor was a hanging bridge we would cross daily to access the rest of the research station and dormitories. On the other side of the river, I saw a coati walk just below me under the bridge and then spotted 2 giant iguanas climbing around in the trees! As I walked along the path, the huge number of wild tropical plants really spoke to my soul. This was going to be a good week for Nature Jessica.

Rustic Accommodations

Got roomed with the other California gal, Teresa. To get to the Estacion del Rio where our dorms are, we had to cross the large swinging bridge, turn right into the jungle past the closer living quarters, cross another bridge deeper into the jungle, before arriving at a small group of 2 story wooden buildings. The sleeping quarters are even more rustic than I suspected – 2 bare bones cots, 1 desk, 1 fan, 2 closets. Communal bathrooms.

How to Spot a Caterpillar

At 3pm we regrouped at the Ambient Lab for some caterpillar collecting instructions. We were armed with clippers, clear plastic bags, and sharpies. Lee took us on a plant identification hike, so we would better be able to identify common caterpillar host plants. The key is to look for leaf damage – windows (aka holes), rolled up edges, and flapped over bits. The rolls and flaps are silked down by the caterpillars to enclose themselves while they chow down. We slowly made our way down a path, flipping over so many leaves with holes in them, finding mostly nothing. At one point I bent down to have a look at a leaf and when I stood up, a buzzing went off at the base of my neck, followed by another on my shoulder, in my hair — I was getting swarmed by some sort of nonstinging but equally terrifying bee. Took my hat off and batted it all around trying to get them off of me, continuing to walk down the path. Eventually I lost all the buggers, but I was a little traumatized after that! Around the 400 ft mark (all the trails are marked every 50 ft) I finally found my caterpillar dude, rolled up in a leaf. The feeling of accomplishment was quite extraordinary! I gently placed him on his leaf in my clear plastic bag, labeled the trail and marker, the date, and cut off a bit of extra plant so he would have something to chow down on later.

At about 4:30pm, we brought all our critters back to the Ambient Lab and hung them up in the middle rack of the lab, then proceeded to the classroom for our lecture: why this research is being done (interactions between plants, caterpillars, and caterpillar-parasites), how to collect caterpillars and notate their location, and what the follow up steps will be: processing, animal husbandry (lol!), and photography.

I am having an interesting time learning about my fellow nerds as their plots unfold – the couple Evelyn and Jason currently live in Seattle and used to be part of a touring circus group – they had a partner acrobat act! Explains his excellent chops and her haircut that reminds me of a Lemony Snicket novel.

Non Stop Animal Sightings

After the class, we organized and cleaned up some stuff in the lab, had dinner (which was really good – soft cheese filled churro-like things for dessert), and then I returned to the jungle cabin for a shower. I was quite sticky icky icky. On the way back in the dark, I spotted several frogs! And a big swooping bird that I couldn’t really get eyes on. It was pretty spooky walking through the jungle by myself in the dark, but that is also kind of the point, isn’t it?

No luck getting the shower water to heat up so I just took a cold shower, got dressed, grabbed my book and returned to the comedor where the gang had assembled to play Resistance. Board games are generally not my cup of tea but I figured I should socialize with my caterpillar homies.