Tent Caterpillars on the Move

Well, it seems to be tent caterpillar migration time. I've spotted a few of these fellows wandering about at work, looking for a nice place to curl up and pupate. I bet the local population of skinks is having a field day.

These unassuming brown moths lay a mass of eggs on wild cherry, apple, and crabapple, hawthorn, maple, cherry, peach, pear and plum trees. Although, sometimes they'll move to oak and beech trees if they eat themselves out of house and home. The silk contructs in the crotches of trees or tents stick out like sore thumbs. But what really gives away their presence is that they will wander away from the tree they "grew up" on and find a solitary place to spin a pupa. There's only one generation a year, so the trees can recover, if they aren't stripped bare by several colonies at once.

But they're still annoying, even if they do serve as an excellent food source for fish, frogs and reptiles.