Like flies on honey...

Spruce budworm from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Sadly, we have a spruce budworm infestation on our two trees. Happily, the birds are taking advantage of it. I whacked some off, and fed them to the goldfish, who were quite happy!

They devastate the new growth, but the tree seems to be surviving, with new growth at the top. I toyed with the idea of removing the tree, to have a better view out our picture window...

I had to put the bird feeders away, and this is some solace!



In case you missed it, chipping sparrow whacking the worm bodies, perhaps to tenderize them??!!
chipping sparrow from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

spruce bud worm from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Then there are the eastern tent and forest tent caterpillars. They have been merciless in Canada. Winnipeg is bad. We have a mild infestation of eastern tent caterpillars here, but the forest ones are about, too. The tent caterpillars build a tent, and have a white stripe. Like the budworm, above, they won't hurt the trees so much as make some people uncomfortable!
We took the family to the Kiwi Gardens Open House & Art Show.
The girls found some caterpillars and quite enjoyed taking them around to the various are pieces. (News and film at 11!)

5 things you may not know about northern Ontario's caterpillar infestation

Tent caterpillar population swells every 10 years

Chipping sparrow & spruce budworms

UPDATE: I first posted this June 9th. I finally clued in. It's eating Spruce budworms.
Our two spruces are covered in these worms, with little silky nests at the end of each branch. There have to be millions. I took a stick and held the bowl under. I cannot believe it! I knew it, once I thought about it, puttering in the garden.

It's not a large tree...

Apparently, "they cause little damage at endemic levels!" (NRC infovideo). The tree looks pretty sad!

During a major outbreak, tens of millions of hectares of trees can be severely defoliated by the insect. An outbreak may last several years, and cumulative defoliation can cause significant levels of mortality and growth loss in mature softwood forests. More info here.

So, short answer: don't panic, and hope our little chipping sparrows can do a job on them.

spruce bud worm from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This chipping sparrow has been eating spruce budworms off the spruce tree!
First clip, it's been singing lustily in the  catalpa tree, which doesn't have leaves yet. You can hear the goldfish pond bubbling in the background.

The second part is the caterpillar bashing! I was inside, in my arm chair, taking the video through the window.

chipping sparrow from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.