No Tent Caterpillars This Year?

Tentworms on a choke cherry branch, 18 April 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)
Tentworms on a choke cherry branch, 18 April 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)

In a normal spring tent caterpillars would have constructed gauzy tents in the cherry trees just before the leaves unfurled. This year I haven’t seen any tent caterpillars and we’re already at “Full Leaf”(*) in Schenley Park. Did our unusually cold spring kill them?

The absence of tent caterpillars affects birds, especially yellow-billed and black-billed cuckoos who rely on them as a food staple. Perhaps the absence of tent caterpillars explains why cuckoos are scarce this year.

To find out what we’re missing, see this May 2007 article: Tents.

(*)”Full Leaf” is my own term for the point when all the trees have leaves.

(photo by Kate St. John)

2 thoughts on “No Tent Caterpillars This Year?

  1. Off topic. Excellent PBS program on Eagles last night. I miss my Harmar eagles and the activity at Pitt does not compensate.

  2. I saw a “tent” in my bushes sometime in April, but it disappeared after a bad storm. Haven’t seen any since.

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