Intern Account: Jiny:
Day 1: “We are now on Poopoo, where a non-native grass has completely taken over, with the exception of a very few other plants. The islet has a lot of burrows, which are hidden under this invasive grass. We have to walk carefully to avoid the destruction of these shearwaters’ nesting sites. I would have much rather slept overnight on Mokumana because this grass has pokey seeds and it is very hot here. Our tent is set up for the night just in case it rains. The islet seems to be very accessible to boats because every tour boat is speeding through the channel. The guests on the boats are waving at us. This feels weird because it seems as though we are on display. We take a break and walk down the cliff to the tide pools to cool off. There are funny fish that come right up to us when we get in a tide pool. This time has to be cut short because we need to work before the sun goes down. We go back to the top to set our pitfall and pan traps. Hopefully, we catch something good with all this dry vegetation. As we wait for nightfall, we collect more insects. We enjoy our extravagant dinner of bagels with hummus, cliff bars, water, and Ghirardelli chocolates! This is definitely a special treat. While waiting for nightfall, there are quick crickets, which Jaap and Heather are trying to catch. I still don’t see what they look like; I am much too slow. I find out that the shower curtain that we used as shelter last week has a purpose for insect collection. We lay it down and collect whatever lands on it. It’s really funny to get so excited over a bug (I have conditioned myself to investigate every insect that lands on me or around me even when I am in the comfort of my own home).” Day 2: “The day is hot, the rain never came and there are fire ants all over. There are also other flying and crawling bugs which I collect with my aspirator first thing in the morning. Getting eaten is one of the perks for camping which I do not look forward to, however, the view, being outside, hearing the birds, ocean, and insect noises are what make this trip worthwhile. I also have come to find that I need to rearrange, or clean, my bag from all the ants eating the food that I brought. It makes for good collecting, I guess. We set out to see what has ventured into our traps overnight. The crickets are all in the pitfall traps, which makes me finally happy that I get to see what Heather and Jaap were excited about the evening before. I now try my hand at collecting the intertidal insects. I catch a lot of tiny flies, which may be endemic to these islets. (I’m excited again.) We have a little time to jump in the tide pools before our helicopter comes for pickup.”