This morning we woke up early to do a hike on part of the Yanayacu property to look for wildlife and birds and check out part of the beautiful terrain. We once again pulled on our big rubber boots for what would most certainly be a muddy hike after a night of rain. The morning brought us good weather though, albeit cool which was good for the long uphill route we would follow.
Our usual eating location proved to provide some good early bird sightings of birds coming in to check out the UV light sheet that would be covered with what seemed like hundreds of moths and beetles of all shapes, sizes, and colors.
The hike started out seeming relatively easy as the start of the trail was well-established and rock covered. Before long, though, the trail turned to boot sucking mud.
We didn’t see many birds but had a great time slogging through mud, then steep downhills along the Ridge Trail.
Upon return the Yanayacu we were greeted with another fine meal with lots of fresh fruit, watermelon juice, eggs, and pancakes with bananas. We were also greeted with an Earthwatch tradition here of a freshly cut Piper lanceolotum tree where we would do a final leaf and caterpillar count plus collection. Adding to the fun, we all made guesses at the number of leaves and caterpillars we would find. Although there were nearly 1000 leaves, we only found 35 caterpillars.
The rest of the day was fairly relaxed with a few presentations and time to wash clothes, shower, pack for our early morning departure back to Quito, and a late night flashlight hike to look for night creatures. We’re all looking forward to the planned stop at Termes de Papallacta (Hot Springs) along the travels back to Quito to soak away a week of mud, bugspray, and who knows what else is clinging to our bodies.
Climate Change and Caterpillars in Ecuador 2019 