Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Waging War: Gypsy Moth Control



Raining death and destruction on the ravenous Gypsy Moth caterpillar; a helicopter sprays a precise pattern on the unsuspecting critters.

Spray operations are now underway using both helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. Spraying began shortly after the caterpillar hatch in early May but was brought to a standstill by the heavy rains that visited our area for the best part of two weeks. With clear blue skies the spray craft are trying to make up for lost time.





War is also being waged by another bird. Pictured here is a Gray Catbird doing its duty reducing the Gypsy Moth population.

6 comments:

Mel said...

I preffer the bird's method..

Jack and Joann said...

We have had bad infestations of gypsy moths here in Virginia. They have stripped parts of Skyline Drive west of us. Most home owner associations in Northern Virginia set aside funds in the budget for spraying like this. It needs to be done. The birds can't eat fast enough to take care of the problem. Do you have Japanese beetles too? We have those too. They attack the maples, magnolias and my rose bushes. We pour a Bayer product around the roots of all the above mentioned flora and it gets absorbed into the roots, goes up the trunk and saves the leaves.

Anonymous said...

Yep the birds would help but there are not enough birds. There is something else wrong in Nature that allowed the Gypsy Moth to grow large enough to strip forests, but they did and nobody probably knows what that is but I would be my shorts and shoes it was caused by man and something he did.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Salty: Great pictures today, I hope the sprays don't hurt the birds who are helping the fight.

photowannabe said...

A true buffet for the birds. Hope the spraying will help.

Chad Oneil Myers said...

Nice photojournalism Dad.