Back when I used to have orange trees, we'd get these ugly caterpillars that looked like bird poop and would stick out these ugly red "antennae" when alarmed. They'd chomp holes in a fair number of leaves, and the neighbor, who couldn't stand a less-than-perfect leaf and wouldn't put up with any living creature in his yard, sprayed like crazy. His yard was "perfect"--and perfectly sterile. We left those ugly caterpillars alone, the orange trees survived just fine, and we really enjoyed our gorgeous eastern swallowtail butterflies. Another plus about identifying your caterpillars--if they're eating something you don't want them to eat, you might be able to plant something they'll like even better keep your butterflies.

LOL Tsuga. I think with the warmer weather we were having I was getting overzealous. I even started painting my garage, yet to be finished. I've been feeding suet all winter. In the past month, I've seen my first downy woodpecker as mentioned earlier, and another unidentified bird...same size as a sparrow, almost looks like a sparrow at a distance, but a closer look shows a muted red on its head and neck region, and when they spread their wings you can see a red spot on their back. Not bright red like a cardinal, a soft muted red. I've never seen them before. In one glance, I have robins, cardinals, juncos, the unidentified bird, chickadees, and usual sparrows in my yard. Tons of activity. They seem to be enjoying the new evergreen thuja green giant I planted last year too. I just purchased some black oil sunflower last night, have to figure out where I'm going to put it. I read the seeds inhibit plant growth.

It's been a while, but here is an update! Wrens did appear the day our chickadee nest was emptied, so we are guessing they were responsible. The mother chickadee spent one more night on her empty nest before abandoning it. We ended up putting duct tape over the hole so the wrens couldn't use it and boy did that make them mad! I've learned that we may have played a role in the chickadees demise. Three years ago chickadees nested in our yard, but the next year wrens did. We kept removing the sticks, but they promptly replaced them. The wrens are hard workers, I'll give them that. Finally we left the wrens alone and they completed a nest, etc. From what I've read, once you let wrens nest in your yard, they become very territorial of it and it is almost impossible for chickadees to have a successful nest there. Last year we put up two very low bluebird boxes and the wrens built dummy nests in them. Also we had put a few wood chips in our nest box. I think the reason chickadees like a box with wood chips is that it mimics an old woodpecker's nest. If woodpeckers successfully nested in a spot, there is probably a higher chance it will be successful for chickadees. So maybe we gave them a false sense of security. Well, we live and learn. Every once in a while now I will be outside and I'll hear two chickadees calling and they will fly close to me and flit all around and it makes me really happy. We now have flickers nesting in an old woodpecker hole in our birch tree. Starlings recently fledged from that hole, and there have been a few brawls, but I've got my fingers crossed. A few times I have gone out and banged pans to frighten the starlings away and it seems to work! Good luck with your nest boxes Donna! Thanks for the pep talk, it was nice to talk with someone who could relate! Annie

An 'overpopulation' wouldn't be there long. They would move on to adequate food. When it's gone at your house, they will find another garden. I agree you are overreacting. Just enjoy them, thank them for removing whatever bug might cause you trouble later, they aren't hurting anything. If you're lucky, maybe a pair or two will stick around and nest there. When I've had chickadees nesting in my yard, I'm amazing at how many times during the day they will go to the nest with chicks, carrying caterpillar/worm/larval type things....and likely each one of those components of the multiple daily meals would be otherwise feasting on leaves of my plants.