Caterpillars have many predators as they provide a range of nutrients to animals such as foxes, larger insects, amphibians, and reptiles. Birds feast on many different species of insects. So, do birds eat caterpillars too to get a supply of nutrients?
Yes, birds love eating caterpillars, but only certain species of birds will feast on caterpillars. Caterpillars provide birds with high levels of nutrients and proteins.
Having many vital nutrients and proteins make caterpillars an essential food source for many birds’ survival. Birds need these nutrients to help them grow strong limbs and feathers when they’re young.
Birds can’t get the required amount of protein from only eating plants, so they depend on caterpillars to fulfil their protein requirement.
Caterpillars aren’t only a nutritious snack for many birds but also a very easily acquired snack as birds can spot caterpillars from great distances due to their bright colours and as many species of caterpillars don’t have any defences, they make easy prey for birds.
Which Birds Eat Caterpillars?
Caterpillars have protein content higher than other insects and contain more phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, and potassium. Caterpillars also have many amino acids and fats, making them an ideal snack for many birds. Here are ten bird species that eat caterpillars:
Chickadee
Chickadees love eating caterpillars. Caterpillars make a large part of a chickadee’s diet and provide essential proteins. Caterpillars are also beneficial in many other ways as they contain carotenoids.
Carotenoids make a chickadee’s feathers fuller and shiny. You’d notice chickadees munching on caterpillars on tree trunks or branches during springtime.
Sparrow
Sparrows also love to munch on caterpillars. Sparrows have amazing vision and can easily see a potential food item from very far away.
They can easily spot caterpillars on leaves, trees, and bark from afar due to their vibrant colours. Sparrows also have an excellent sense of smell. Their excellent vision and smell help them locate food hidden in thick foliage or on the ground.
Sparrows can feast on whatever they can find. They can eat crickets, ants, moths, and beetles and aren’t picky when it comes to food.
Northern Flicker
Caterpillars are one of the favourite foods of a northern flicker. They love eating seeds, fruit, and insects but especially adore eating the larvae of moths and butterflies.
Northern flickers are famous for their odd eating habits, with studies that say that the Northern flicker prefers larval stages of insects over their adult stages.
Warbler
Warblers are songbirds that are quite small in size, and their diet includes a variety of foods such as fruits, seeds, and insects. In summers, they eat a lot of caterpillars as they can easily be found on leaves and plants and crawling on branches.
Wrens
Wrens are also songbirds that love finding caterpillars to eat. They specifically wait for caterpillars near their feeding grounds. They hide in the trees and bushes and look for any signs for the caterpillars to show themselves.
When they spot a caterpillar eating a leaf or twig, they fly down, grab the caterpillar with their beaks, and take it back to their nests or any tree above to eat it away from predators such as cats, foxes, or squirrels that could bother them.
Bluebird
Bluebirds are known for having a diet that mainly consists of insects and bugs. Caterpillars are also a part of their diet. They love eating several species of insects, including caterpillars.
Bluebirds consume caterpillars and other tiny invertebrates such as earthworms and slugs. Caterpillars are a necessary part of their diet and provide lots of necessary calories and nourishment, especially in the winters and breeding season when food is limited.
Robin
Caterpillars are one of the insects that robins love eating. Robins often are seen waiting on a branch or twig for a caterpillar to cross paths with them. When they see a caterpillar, they grab them and take the caterpillar somewhere safe so they can feast on its soft fleshy body.
Woodpecker
Woodpeckers are the famous birds that drill on trees. They like eating caterpillars, and some woodpecker species like them so much that they specifically depend on caterpillars for their main food source.
Woodpeckers heavily rely on caterpillars for their food and drill on trees, and use their tongues to gather several caterpillars to bring back to their nests.
Blue Jay
Blue jays are birds of prey, and they snatch several insects to bring to their nests to feed their young. One type of insect they truly adore eating are caterpillars.
Caterpillars are the most in numbers in springs, and blue jays especially wait for the caterpillars to hatch near the areas where their eggs and eating grounds are.
Swallow
Swallows can eat several types of insects, mice, and frogs. Caterpillars are their favourite and are the most common food for swallows. Swallows can often be seen carrying a bunch of caterpillars in their beaks to their nests or anywhere that is safe from predators.
Do All Birds Eat Caterpillars?
Most birds eat caterpillars, but not all birds eat caterpillars, and not all types of caterpillars are eaten by birds. Birds, mainly the smaller birds, love feasting on defenceless caterpillars that are nutritious and are easy to get, and they avoid caterpillars that are poisonous or have spiky quills.
Do Birds Eat All Caterpillars?
No, birds will not eat all caterpillars. They will (try to) avoid eating poisonous caterpillars. Birds can spot poisonous caterpillars from afar and can differentiate them from the safe ones as the poisonous ones often have spikes and very bright colours.
Summary
Caterpillars are a source of food for many animals and insects. Lots of different species of larger insects like ladybird beetles, ants, bees, wasps, and four-legged predators like raccoons, foxes, squirrels, and many species of small birds love eating caterpillars as caterpillars are easy to grab and feast on because they’re defenceless, are rich in useful nutrients, proteins and vitamins and provide nourishment to many birds and animals.
Not all birds eat insects but most birds depend on caterpillars for their main source of food.
Ryan is a keen gardener from the UK who’s spent years dealing with countless, common pests over the years so knows the ins and outs of how to deal with pests in the garden
