The House Sparrows around my house seem to eat a lot of moths during
breeding season, but I don't know what proportion of the moths are coddling
moths. I have 5 apple trees. I usually don't bother to spray them. I
don't have time in the fall to deal with several hundred pounds of apples,
anyway. The intensity of the worm damage to the apples seems to depend more
on the winter weather than bird predation.

I would suggest she turn the apples into cider, if she has enough apples to
make a cider press worthwhile. Just don't think about those worms that got
pressed and strained. She could also try the non-pesticide control methods
like raking all the leaves and debris from around the tree and scraping the
loose bark in fall. The moths overwinter in debris and under bark. (Takes
away a source of bird food, however.)

Kelly Cassidy

> -----Original Message-----
> From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
> [mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf
> Of pslott
> Sent: Friday, September 15, 2006 6:32 PM
> To: TWEETERS
> Subject: [Tweeters] RFI: birds that eat moths
>
> Hi All,
>
> A friend of mine grows apples in her yard in north Seattle
> and asked if there were particular species of birds that
> might go after her coddling moths since she doesn't want to
> use pesticides. Any tips on attracting crepuscular flycatchers? ;-)
>
> Patricia S. Lott
> Seattle, WA
> mail to: VariedThrush at comcast.net
>
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