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| Forest Tent Caterpillar |
If you live by, or travel past,
a hardwood forest in North America during the summer you know doubt have seen
the signature tent-like cocoon hanging
on some poor unsuspecting aspen, oak, basswood or birch tree. These unsightly sacks are home to a creepy
crawly called the Forest Tent Caterpillar and once every 10-16 years these leaf
lovers have a population explosion (lucky us!) and go on an eating
rampage. Fortunately, it’s a native pest
and does little lasting damage to deciduous
forests—except, perhaps, wound the pride of the glamorous hardwoods who must
suffer the ignominy of appearing buck naked during the showy autumn
season.
Around Bon Bon Pond, these
colorful critters have a hankering for black cherry trees. Their cocooning and subsequent transition to
moth-hood is supposed to occur in the end of June or early July but this
year, thanks to the late spring, the insects are way behind schedule and still in their
webs.
To learn more, visit the
Minnesota DNR’s website which offers more info than anyone could possibly want
to know about the ickies also known as army worms.
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| Certainly not the loveliest sight around Bon Bon Pond, but they have their usefulness as a food source for birds and in forest management. |
EWWWWWW! I have seen these before and I had no idea what they were, I was just so freaked out how they seem to 'spasm' in their sacks. I was creeped out, but I still couldn't look away. thanks for creeping me out again :)
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