Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Pest control





I have been trying to catch a shot of one of the many chickadees I have been seeing and hearing around the marsh lately, but they have eluded me up till today. I could hear them in this wild cherry tree, but couldn't lure them out to get a photo. I eventually moved closer to the trunk of the tree and looked up inside it, which paid off (another lesson learned). This series of shots, in sequence, shows this Black-capped Chickadee catching and eventually eating, an Eastern Tent Caterpillar. Notice that the bird's right claw is holding the caterpillar down.

A number of 'tents' have begun to show up in some of the trees around the marsh, including this one; Black Cherry is their tree of choice, apparently, but apple and hawthorn trees are also susceptible. The caterpillars feed on the leaves. Luckily caterpillars form a considerable part of the diet of chickadees - and apparently holes in leaves are a clue to them that caterpillars are present!

Addendum: I double-checked on the 25th - it was an ash tree the chickadee was in, in a clump of three, and they have several 'tents' on them. However, there are cherry trees on either side of the ashes, which may explain why the caterpillars are present there.

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