Day 6, August 10th

As we were waiting for the van to arrive to take us from the Cave Creek Ranch where we are staying to the Southwest Research Station, we saw this odd looking creature raid the peanut butter left out for the woodpeckers. I am told it is a relative of the raccoon, has a prehensile tail, and is called a coati. This morning, I worked with Junko and Nat searching for caterpillars in Juniper trees. We found around 25 caterpillars belonging to 4 different species. On the way back for lunch, I spontaneously decided to try a small, 1 foot tall juniper and off popped a monarch larva! Apparently, juniper is not its host species so it was most likely on the move, looking for a good place to pupate. We continued collecting for two more hours after lunch with less luck. Clouds rolled in and thunder rumbled in the distance. No rain but cooler temps. This evening we attended a very detailed lecture on self medication by woolly bears by Dr. Mike Springer. His research has shown that woolly bears will feed off a toxic host plant only when infected with a parasitoid.