This week in the woods, the torrential rains over the past few days have been a hardship for nesting birds, threatening both ground nests and, to a lesser degree, nests in trees. We found three vireo chicks – at most a couple days old, not close to fledging – lying in wet grass with bits of waterlogged nest. Since the parents were still flitting around the nest tree, making a fuss, we donned some gloves and put the chicks in a makeshift nest (margarine tub with drain) and screwed this onto the tree. So far, this seems to be working. Two days later, the chicks are alive, chirping and getting food from their parents. Note: in the case of fledglings, the best option is almost always to leave them alone, and let their parents care for them. And in most circumstances, when dealing with distressed wildlife, you should call a state licensed wildlife rehabilitation organization as a first step.
Speaking of bird food, a widely cited figure, based on research by ecologist and author Doug Tallamy, is that a single chickadee pair will catch 6,000 to 9,000 caterpillars to raise one brood of chicks. Many caterpillars are most active at night, and/or out of sight under leaves and up in trees, but you can detect their presence in the “Swiss cheese” appearance of many leaves. Here are two fairly common caterpillar species that are active right now:
The top photo shows the caterpillar of a snowberry clearwing moth, a bee-like moth with transparent wings that you often find flying around flower gardens. It’s a species of “hornworm,” so called because of the showy spike on the caterpillar’s back end. As its name indicates, this species’ common native host is the snowberry plant. However, snowberries are in the honeysuckle family, and we most often find this caterpillar crawling on invasive honeysuckle.
The lower photo shows the caterpillar of an eight-spotted forester moth. Like the snowberry clearwing, this is a day flying moth that appears sometimes in yards. This is a small but beautiful moth with both yellow and white spots on its wings and bright orange patches on its legs. It’s easy to mistake for a butterfly. The host plants for eight-spotted forester caterpillars are grape species and Virginia creeper. We found this caterpillar on a wild grape leaf on the edge of woods.
What have you noticed in the woods this week? Submit a recent photo for possible inclusion in our monthly online Reader Photo Gallery.