Caterpillar Phenomenon

     OK... this is weird. Last night I was cooking my wild hog meat. While standing at the grill and staring into the horizon, I noticed something strange along the outline of a large post oak we have in our yard. They were caterpillars... crawling along the side of the tree. It seemed like a line of caterpillars, one after the other climbing up the tree. A glance to the other side of the tree proved that the same was happening along the other side. I got a flashlight and looked very closely at the tree and oh my God! There were hundreds... thousands of caterpillars climbing the tree. It was truly amazing. I looked lower and discovered that they virtually covered the ground surrounding the stump. I alerted everyone to the phenomenon happening before us and they too were amazed. While standing and taking it all in I noticed that something was falling around us. It could be heard like rain easily against the calm of the night. We surmised that these were caterpillars falling. We guessed that they were climbing into the tree and falling out. Everyone started saying they were falling into their hair or clothes. It was wild. We checked the large water oak on the other side of the yard and sure enough they were climbing it too. We figured, after much deliberation, that they were feeding on the newly born leaves from the oak trees.... and why not? It's been a long time since that particular dish was on the menu.
    This morning when I woke and went to stoke the fire in the smoker I noticed that what was falling like rain the night before wasn't just caterpillars. It was mostly caterpillar feces... yep.... crap. They were crapping on us all night. climbing the tree, feasting and crapping like I'm sure they haven't crapped in months. It covers every surface. Tiny black specks... just about the size of the broken tip of a pencil lead. Thank god the smoker kept my meat protected but I'm sure we drank beer the night before that was full of it. Yeah... they really got us good. It makes me appreciate all the more that the twenty or so birds I've been watching in my yard all morning have been having a feast of their own... a feast of caterpillars.   :-)