Lots Of Gall
by Gerry Sibell
Title
Lots Of Gall
Artist
Gerry Sibell
Medium
Photograph
Description
This is an in-flight image of a chickadee taken in the backyard. Also shown is a gall from a goldenrod plant. Gall flies will attack goldenrod and a gall as shown forms. Eggs are laid by the gall fly, which hatch into larvae and burrow into the gall. The larvae mature inside the protection of the gall.
Downy woodpeckers are best known for getting these larvae. They create a hole in the gall with their beaks. Their long tongues are then able to snake out the larvae.
Chickadees are supposed to be able to also do this but because of their shorter beak, have to a make a larger hole to get at the larvae.
I remember as a kid, we would use the goldenrod larvae as bait to fish for sunfish during the winter.
Uploaded
April 24th, 2015
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Viewed 225 Times - Last Visitor from Cambridge, MA on 04/23/2024 at 4:04 PM
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