A Tasty Snack...For The Birds

Hornworm In Action

We were having lunch on the patio the other day when Cindy spotted a yellow bird among the leaves of the tomato plant nearest us.  The bird was a female Lesser Goldfinch, and at first we thought she was trying to add some salad in the form of tomato leaves to the Niger Thistle seed from our feeders.

As we watched her trying to hover in the air as she pecked at some of the leaves, we realized that she wasn't after leaves at all; she was after the enormous Tomato Hornworm that was chowing down on the tomato leaves.

She managed to take a pretty good chunk out of the Hornworm, but she flew away before she actually got the Hornworm off the branch, although that was enough to draw our attention to its presence.

Since we thought that was by far the best way to dispose of this pest, Cindy clipped the leaves off the tomato plant and left them, with the damaged Hornworm, under the bird feeder for the birds to finish off.  After about an hour, there was no sign of the Hornworm, so somebody took care of it for us.

Hornworm Down

A tasty snack for them and no more damage to our tomato plants.