After mid-September, when walking on the side of the road, you will often see caterpillars falling from trees to the ground, and sometimes there will be a dense patch of white flowers on the ground. Caterpillars still fall on the body from time to time and are brought home, which is very disgusting.
Later, I saw reports that this caterpillar is the larvae of the "American white moth", which is a very harmful invasive alien species, "The American white moth mainly eats plant leaves with larvae, and its feeding amount is large, and when the damage is serious, it can eat all the leaves of the host plant, and eat the bark, thereby weakening the tree's resistance to harm and stress, seriously affecting the growth of forest trees, and even invading farmland, endangering crops, causing reduced production and harvest, and even extinction, known as "smokeless fire". ”
Such a nasty caterpillar also has a nemesis, that is, the Northern Hawk Crane. In late September, a northern eagle crane from the Temple of Heaven, which specializes in eating caterpillars, flew around several trees in the Science Garden, almost non-stop to eliminate caterpillars. Unfortunately, only one came, and if there were a few more, then this piece of tree would be protected from caterpillars.
The Northern Hawk " has plumage that is slightly similar to that of sparrowhawks , but has no sharp hooks at the tip of its mouth , and its feet are thin and have no sharp claws. "Especially its golden eye circles are very cute.
Due to the abundance of food, the migratory Northern Hawk Crane stayed at the Temple of Heaven for a long time, and it could still be seen catching caterpillars after eleven.
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