Today was insect day for the second group of students and we weren’t blessed with such good weather. We started off on a great footing, with one of the students spotting Thorn bugs on the bigger Pepper plant by the back balcony.

By the time I’d done my introduction and we’d visited the pond (where we found an inch long terrapin) the rain had started, and it persisted as we set off on the saffron trail. The weather meant we didn’t see quite as much as yesterday but also brought some new things to light; Shield bugs, including Stink bugs, a Tarantula Hawk wasp, Katydids, a much bigger species of Earthstar than we’d seen before and an orchid flowering high up in the canopy. 

We were back just in time for lunch and, although rain threatened all afternoon, it didn’t come to anything. We got our sampling done and were busy number-crunching when someone spotted Howler monkeys on the edge of the clearing – much excitement, especially when a Toucan flew in too, but they were all too far away to see clearly. 

Jonathan and I planned for the final day of teaching, on the effects of disturbance, after dinner and skipped out on another night hike. I might go again tomorrow if I’m not too tired after dawn on the Bird Tower.