Ants are usually just taking advantage of cracking or bird damage, the skin is pretty tough for them to chew through on their own. Birds are particularly fond of pecking at apricots so that may be the problem. The remark about fruit soft prematurely makes me wonder if you are not getting some disease like brown rot. This could also be making the fruit more suceptible to ants. Scott

I tried this bird tape but it didn't deter the mockingbirds that went after my blackberries and grapes. I literally had the tape next to grapes, with a decent breeze, and the mockingbirds would land 1 feet away from them and get the fruit. Next year I will try making those mesh bags you guys suggested and putting them around each grape cluster. I know peach and plum trees need full sunlight on the fruit to properly ripen. Does anyone know if grapes are too shaded from the mesh, will they not ripen properly? http://www.amazon.com/Bird-X-TAPE-25-Irri-Tape-Repellent-Ribbon/dp/B000KGYXGQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346645924&sr=8-1&keywords=bird+tape Here is a link that might be useful: Bird tape

I think many birds will gladly eat them while they're smallish. Once they get large, it's probably only the more dedicated insectivores that will go for them. Like cardinals. Here's video of a cardinal eating a similar sized caterpillar that could be a hornworm. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktWIEnqKK34 (Warning: the video is a little gross, as the bird really mangles the caterpillar). I haven't personally seen cardinals in the act of eating a hornworm, but something must be doing so because I only find about 2 a year, but I see the moths in my yard. And cardinals do like to nest in my neighbor's hawthorn bush and use my garden as an insect larder.

Carol, you are right about caterpillars doing better in cool weather with the wasps disappearing. I have found 2 'wild' caterpillars in the last couple of days...the first living ones I have found since early July. The chrysalis, which are mainly attached to my patio fence, hardly ever survive - they are often 'adopted' by a garden spider. That is why I move them to a safe place whenever I find them. I keep them right outside my window, attached to a repurposed jewelry tree, where I can watch them hatch. They are protected by a 'moat' to protect them from ants, spiders.