Everything That Slithers and Flies
30 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
in Just life! Tags: hummingbirds, leaf eating caterpillars, orange-striped oak worms
Well, I’d never make it as a compassionate entomologist. We recently discovered an orange-striped oak worm (caterpillar) invasion on our front yard oak tree. By the time we noticed one oddly naked tree branch stripped of its leaves, by the next two mornings, the bottom third of our tree was eaten off on one side! After some research by myself and some friends, we realized this needed to be treated ASAP. These worms are basically unsatisfied stomachs with legs!
Well, I killed those oak leaf gnawing caterpillars today and quite enjoyed the hours of carnage viewing as they wriggled around all doped up on Sevin spray to the point of lifelessness.
(Click images to enlarge. BIG files, so it will take some time.)
We started noticing naked limbs first…
Then found the little buggers that were wreaking all the havoc. Orange-striped Oak Worms.
And after a good dousing of a special Sevin spray, the sluggish spiral to death begins. For the caterpillars. Not MY tree. :)
Ahhh. Victory!
But I did do a good deed today in the name of God’s creation. Put another hummingbird feeder on the front porch because hummingbirds are just as stubborn as caterpillars when it comes to claiming something to feed on and not giving up.
We had this ruby-throated male hummingbird that claimed territory to our deck feeder and wouldn’t share nicely with the ladies, so we put another feeder on our front porch.
Here’s our non-sharer…
New feeder…
And within minutes of putting it up, our female ruby-throated gal makes it around the house to find a feeder she can claim!
Isn’t God mysterious and wonderful?
