Western Tent Caterpillar, Malacosoma Californicum Pluviale

Day 257 (bonus -and I use the word with some reservation- edition): When I was a youngster, Tent Caterpillars were very common in western Washington. They were the bane of homeowners and orchardists, the larvae and adult caterpillars doing significant damage to almost any type of deciduous tree. Countywide spraying programs and heavy fines for homeowners who did not exterminate the pests on private property were initiated as control measures, and were fairly effective. A few nests could be spotted from time to time during late spring and early summer.

It's been several years since I had an up-close-and-personal discovery of a TC in the wild. As a child, I used to collect them, much to my mother's horror. I was always particularly pleased when I'd find a blue one, something which occurred in a ratio of approximately 1:100. I know now that the blue ones were a different Malacosoma species, but a tent caterpillar is a tent caterpillar, regardless of its coloration, and not something you want to carry home to your fruit trees. I was rather surprised when I spotted a dozen or so among the salmonberry vines in an area managed by Cowlitz Wildlife today, and I resisted the temptation to fill my pockets with "woolly worms" as I had done so often as a child.