caterpillar eater

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It’s called a teachable moment. I was leading a group of first graders along a woodland trail at the nature center and we were talking about habitat, in this case: forest.

A habitat provides food, water, shelter and space for an animal to live. Every animal has its own habitat requirements; a place for everything and everything in its place. (Personally, I would not survive very long in a desert, but some things do quite well. And caves give me the willies.)

On our walk, the seven-year-olds and I had found several hairy tent caterpillars (see April 12 posting) trundling along the ground, lots of leaf damage caused by the little eating machines and copious amounts of caterpillar frass, i.e. poop, on the tops of the leaves. They were eating; they were eliminating waste; they were putting on bulk. They were busy being caterpillars.

You would think that with all the moth-wannabes there would be something in the woods that fed on them. And indeed, we had paused to listen to the sounds of the forest when the unmistakable coughing-call of a yellow-billed cuckoo came from the canopy above our heads.

“That’s a cuckoo,” I said. “Do you know what it eats?”

Yep. That's it. “They love caterpillars, especially hairy tent caterpillars.”


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