Tweeters,
Regarding crows and tent caterpillars. The other day I watched a crow
perched on the rim of the bird bath. He/she had brought a beakful of something to
drop into the water to soak before picking it out to eat. There has been an
infestation of tent caterpillars in the neighbors apple tree many of which
descended into my back yard. Several had crawled up to the rim of the birdbath and
were moving around the rim. As a caterpillar moved around the edge it
approached the crow's foot, the crow side stepped to avoid the caterpillar staying
just a few inches away from the caterpillar. This continued for about a third
of the way around the circumference and over about a minute before the crow
flew away. It certainly appeared that the crow was purposefully avoiding the
"yucky" caterpillar.
The neighbors have subsequently sprayed the tree with a Bacillus spray and
the caterpillars are mostly gone.
Garet Munger
Seattle